Forza Motorsport 2: X-BOX 360

Damn those register monkeys at EBGames!" I bellowed as I put the shiny new DVD into my Xbox 360. "They gave me the first Forza instead of Forza 2!"\nOr so I thought as I played the first few races.\nAs far as sequels go, Forza 2 is more of a sidestep than any sort of evolution of the series. Several of the tracks and many of the cars from the first game are back again, the controls are exactly the same and hell, even the graphics are only marginally better than in the 2005 original.\nTo be fair, the first game was a fantastic driving simulator, at least on par with Sony's "Gran Turismo" series and even surpassed it in terms of accessibility and physics. But I had just hoped for a little bit more from second go-round (the first on Microsoft's next-gen system).\nThe tracks in the first game were great, but I would have preferred new ones instead. And while the game's career mode is lengthy, it again features a lot of the same class restrictions as the first one did. \nStill, it's not all bad. The extensive customization options are back, allowing you to slowly earn the credits to turn a four-cylinder POS into a 200-mph beast on the racetrack, complete with flame decals.\nIt's this RPG-like building process that makes "Forza 2" so satisfying, despite its shortcomings. And one of its few brand new features, an online auction house for buying and selling custom cars, only enhances this aspect of the game.\nIf you missed the first "Forza," this is a no-brainer; it's a great driving sim you need to try out. But if you played the hell out of the first one, you might be better off playing it a bit more until there's a price drop in the new one.