Forza Horizon has finally come out and it’s better than expected. Forza Horizon is an open world racing game that had great potential which it easily surpasses.
Forza starts off with you and a bunch of random guys at a dinner. Playing through your cars stereo is the voice of a woman and she’s explaining that Horizon is the huge racing event taking place in the area where 250 racers compete to see who’s the best and that they only have 10 spots left. The next 10 people to enter the competition’s main gate gets in for free. You and everyone else run to your cars to try to get in to try to get there, and so starts your racing career.
Forza Horizon is absolutely the best Forza to date, keeping all the true reality of previous editions while changing it slightly to make it better. No other racing game compares. Having free roam in a racing game is hard to do, because when people hear racing game, they think all you’re going to do is race after repetitive race and that gets boring quickly, but this game emphasizes that you don’t even have to race; you can just drive the country side and enjoy the quiet serene calmness that comes along with that, or you can get into an adrenaline filled pink slip race to try and win a car.
The graphics for this game are stunning to say the least. The game is set in Colorado and the scenery goes from flat desert regions to cities and mountains. Other racing games take no time putting detail into other things than cars while this game puts detail into every little thing.
Horizon has many different races to offer the player from the actual competitions to unofficial street races, pink slip races, and showcase events. Competition and unofficial races are almost exactly the same where eight people race a track to try to win first place for prize money. The only difference is the competition races give you experience to achieve your next driving level and the unofficial races give more money. Pink slip races are where two racers go head to head and put their cars on the line; whoever wins walks away with both cars. Showcase events are much like pink slips except, instead of racing against another car, you race against another vehicle like planes, hot air balloons, or helicopters. The game designers also put you in a new car that you don’t own, so if you win the race, you get to keep the car.
Horizon also has two other major features. First, you can go around and find signs that say the word upgrade on them, and if you destroy them you get a 1% discount. With 100 signs to destroy, you will eventually be able to buy upgrade parts for free. The second feature is barn cars. Randomly throughout the game you get notifications about someone seeing an old broken down car in a barn in an area. You can drive to the area and look for the barn, and once you find it, you’ll be able to take the broken down car and restore it. The cars you find from the barns are also cars you can’t buy, so that’s the only way to get them.
Overall Forza Horizon is worth every dollar you pay for it, and any fans of racing games should buy it because it’s so different from the rest of the genre!
