When the next title in the Forza Motorsport series — Forza Motorsport 5 or FM5 for short — was released a running conversation began among mates about the game, what we were all looking forward to, and the value (or lack thereof) of playing the previous titles in the series before playing FM5 if just to have the experience.
These are racing simulations with absolutely no story or campaign mode beyond the actual racing experience, so it is not like there is a need to play the previous games in order to be able to effectively play the most recent title.
Still there are some reasons to play the previous games – for example if you happen to be a committed and serious fan of auto-racing simulations, or a member of the Forza Faithful (though in the latter case why haven’t you played FM3 before??) that is good reason enough.
As I am known to be a fan of the series, I was asked – and because I am a fan of the series my response to those who asked me was to say “heck yeah you should play the previous games in the series!”
Forza Rewards (rewards.forzamotorsport.net)
That enthusiastic response was actually given BEFORE the remembering of the newest loyalty program offered by studio Turn 10 (the creator of the Forza games) which is called the Forza Rewards Program, and just like it sounds, rewards players for playing the Forza Motorsport games.
Specifically FRP rewards players for whatever progress they made in pretty much ALL of the previous titles with the exception of the first game in the series, which was an Xbox original title and therefore has no Achievements or network save-related data associated to it.
Since the FRP system uses the network save and Achievements data to award points, it is quite obviously in a players best interest to have unlocked as many Achievements and goals in the games as possible.
The following criteria is used for the Forza Rewards Program:
Forza Motorsport 2 (500 Points Total)
- Achievements (500 Points)
Forza Motorsport 3 (1,000 Points Total)
- Achievements (300 Points)
- Days Played (200 Points)
- Miles Driven (100 Points)
- Cars Owned (200 Points)
- Driver Level (100 Points)
- Paid DLC Owned (100 Points)
Forza Motorsport 4 (2,000 Points Total)
- Achievements (350 Points)
- Days Played (300 Points)
- Miles Driven (250 Points)
- Perfect Passes (50 Points)
- Cars Owned (250 Points)
- Driver Level (250 Points)
- Paid DLC Owned (250 Points)
- Tokens Purchased (300 Points)
Forza Horizon (2,000 Points Total)
- 1000 Club Challenges (200 Points)
- Cars Owned (150 Points)
- Miles Driven (250 Points)
- Perfect Passes (50 Points)
- Achievements (400 Points)
- Days Played (400 Points)
- Paid DLC Owned (250 Points)
- Tokens Purchased (300 Points)
Forza Motorsport 5 (3,000 Points Total)
- Achievements (500 Points)
- Cars Owned (250 Points)
- Driver Level (250 Points)
- Paid DLC (350 Points)
- Tokens Purchased (350 Points)
- Badges and Titles Unlocked (400 Points)
- Days Played (500 Points)
- Miles Driven (350 Points)
- Perfect Passes (50 Points)
The cumulative points that are gained via the above games add up to the Tier Level for the rewards system, which translates to a reward of credits and, depending upon the game, also a reward of cars. As far as I can tell the games that have rewards from the Tier Levels are FM4, Horizon, and FM5.
Feelings of Guilt
So having made the recommendation to my mates the notion that the previous games in the series may have reached their official “End of Life” as far as Microsoft and Turn 10 are concerned just never occurred to me.
Seriously – and if it had, while I might have entertained the notion that the original Forza and perhaps FM2 might have reached that point, as I distinctly recall having recently seen brand new copies of Forza Ultimate 3 on the shelf at my local GameStop, the idea that FM3 might be in that nebulous and very unfair status again simply did not occur to me…
So imagine my shock and horror when my mate rang me up telling me that following my advice they had gone and purchased a copy of Forza Ultimate 3 ($29.99 new) and, after getting it home and installing it as per the onscreen instructions, were unable to use the download codes that came with the game because – wait for it – the game it seems has reached its End of Life and as such is no longer supported.
Which means that ALL of the game-related DLC has been removed from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. When means that NONE of the codes that are included with the game will actually work.
I did some digging and discovered that the so-called End of Life declaration went into effect in August of 2013.
If You Got It You Still Got It
The really terrible part of this story is that while new players who are just discovering FM3 for the first time are basically locked out of the DLC (save for whatever appears on the companion disc for the Ultimate version that is) gamers who previously owned any of the aforementioned removed DLC can still download it whenever they like.
I know this for a fact because of an odd situation…
You see my original copy of Forza 3 was scratched by an evil cat who somehow got it out of its case and really did a number on it – and boy don’t I wish I knew what I did to the cat to make her do that to my game!
Because the disc was damaged to the point it was not playable, I too went and purchased a new copy of Forza Ultimate 3 – but when I tried to play the game all sorts of things went wrong! Tracks only half-drew, some tracks would instantly show the bad disc warning, it was as if the disc I was using and the game installed on my hard drive were two different games!
Well, they were actually… It seems that my game save and saved game were calling for memory locations that were wrong on the new game disc, and that was creating all sorts of problems – so I had to completely delete the installation of the game from my hard drive, at which point having done so I realized much to my horror that that included all of the DLC content!
Without expecting much to happen, I went to the downloaded content list on my 360 and the first one I found in this very ancient list was a car pack – a car pack that no longer exists on the Marketplace. But you know what? It downloaded just fine thanks.
For the record I was able to re-download the following DLC, in this order:
- Hyundai Car Pack (Game Add-on)
- Motorsport Legends Car and Track Pack (Game Add-on)
- Community Choice Classics Sample (Game Add-on)
- Forza Ultimate Sample (Game Add-on)
- World Class Sample (Game Add-on)
- VIP Car Pack (Game Add-on)
Needless to say I was shocked. The content is not available to anybody who has a valid code, it is not available for purchase, but if you have previously downloaded it, it is present and available?
I can see how someone who has just purchased the game for the first time would find that to be more than annoying – they might find it to be insulting…
I know that I felt guilty all over again – having sung the praises of the game only to have it turn out this way.
So, and I know this will not mean much to you all, but I am very sorry for leading you all astray in suggesting that you purchase the game… I know that you can still play the game (it is not broken) and that that bonus install disc has a lot of DLC content, but it is still not quite the same as what you were expecting – and having codes you cannot use must really rankle bad.
Sorry mates…
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