Forza Horizon

[nakamura]

Driving at night with the music on low with some ambient dance playing and listening to the rumble of the 4B11T is a defining moment in gaming.

Anyone know a lot about the online modes? Can you race with AI cars and traffic?

[teddymeow]

Racing in the dark after the first proper race is incredible. You can see the festival in the distance and the fireworks and laser light show from the stage where people are dancing is incredible. Actually made me smile.

[Destrukticor]

love this game, enough free roaming drive about stuff, backed with the under pinnings of forza. Shame there isn't anyone online to race with as its not out yet. It's graphically very nice indeed and tickles my car itch without me having to be too sim about it (though i could if i wanted) well worth what i paid for it.

[teddymeow]

It's what I imagine PGR5 to have been and the respect stuff reminds me of Blur.

[nonny]

That's one of the main reasons I preordered this. You can see nods to all the developers previous works and given how much I still adore PGR4 I was always going to give this one a go.

This and the fact that horizon can sit alongside Forza 4 very nicely to provide a complete mix of racing across both titles. Honestly MS should do a Xmas deal with this, a full DLC version of Forza 4, the console and might as well throw in their wireless wheel thingy as well.

My copy is going to turn up tomorrow as I've received all my car codes by email and it shipped Thursday.

[teddymeow]

Day off Sunday.

Can you say 'marathon session'!!

[Destrukticor]

if anyone has the game and perhaps wants some sweet retro pixel art for their ride i have made dig dug, pooka, mario and purple tentacle from DOTT, yours for just a thousand credits search retro videogames in the store and buy one today i think they look cool.

[BaronSqwelch]

Gave this a good go finally. Very impressive...somehowmanaged to beat the aeroplane
As usual with racing games tho I cant control the super cars, but with all the assists they give you I gradually got th ehang of it and switched them off 1 by 1.

The "dudebro" thing in this is very understated imo, after Dirt Showdown I think I can def handle this. Flicking through the radio channels the music is not too bad either assuming all 3 have a decent amount of tracks.

I think I may actually buy this!

[nonny]

I picked up my copy from the post office this morning. Will be giving it a run out tonight.

I've seen quite a lot of people stating the off-road handling feels a lot better when using a wheel so I'll be seeing it that's the truth tonight.

[nonny]

Well I am just going to say it. This is everything I hoped it would be. It's Forza, it's open world, its parts Blur, PGR, Dirt etc.... It's everything it should be from its development stock and most of all its fun.

First off the music, dj, announcer etc... If you don't like it, turn it off. I've turned off some of it and turned the music down but you can use left and right on the dpad to switch radio station and keep pushing right switches off the radio anyway.

You can fast travel to the festival hub for free. Takes about 5-6 seconds for me with a HDD install. There are also other hubs you find per region which cost credit until you finish all their races then they're free as well. In short, getting around isn't time consuming in the slightest. The festival is absolute central so close to everything & there is always some event only 2-3 minutes down the road.

The races are good so far. Mixture of point to point, street, circuit plus within that some mixed and off road terrain. So far off road feels good. I don't know if its better with a wheel (apparently it is) as I was playing late last night but so far it slides well and with the music off you can hear and feel the surface difference.

Rival races sort of remind me of Blur, without the weapons. Driving around gaining skill points for sponsor challenges is a straight kudos nod to PGR. Knocking down signs all over the place for upgrade parts burnout paradise. Underneath the hood though, this is all Forza. Aside from the minor damage collisions the handling is spot on and all Forza traits are here.

The in-car views are great here. In fact some seem better? Like driving SUV or trucks really conveys that higher ride height. Graphically it's smooth as hell. Never misses a beat and how they got the rewind feature to work in-game when free roaming I don't know, but its there and it works.

I don't think it's as crisp graphically as Forza4. It's shiny yes, but not as detailed. I think some things were sacrificed for the scale but thankfully that was the right decision. Full day/night cycles. Traffic and other competitors on the road. Long draw distances and scenery that just oozes quality. It's the locale the draws you in here.

I must have spent a whole hour just driving around looking at stuff and gettingy bearings. Looking for that fastest long stretch, that hidden off road track. The amount of variation in this landscape is what wins you over. This is sort of the fun compendium of Forza driving.

I'm about four hours in so far and this has won me over completely. It's not quite a balls out arcade game like NFS so no hidden ramps and massive air with dramatic takedowns. It's also not quite a sim like Forza. It's somewhere in between where you appreciate the handling, nod towards realism and then go out and abuse that in a fun way.

[nakamura]

Right that has convinced me!

[Family Fry]

Just read this has Xbox Smartglass connectivity, displays realtime area map and tracks your progression for collectibles and stuff.
App will be hitting iOS in 2013 or 26th October via Windows 8 devices.
Hope it works with WP7, shall see.

[nonny]

I think if you like the Forza handling but didnt quite like the sterile structure of that series with its seasons and so on you'll appreciate this. It has arcade racer traits but when you get into the races you appreciate that underneath all that arcade gloss there is still that same physics and handling that makes its simulation brethren so good.

The racing here is more about grinding past opponents, expect contact and cutting corners etc... but the AI is on a par with Forza. I was racing one rival guy in a street race last night and he made an awful mistake late braking and ended up in 4th. So much like Forza4 the AI doesnt just follow the racing line and is actively competing with other racers on the track.

It's just a healthy mix of seriousness mixed with fun. On that note I think it will distance itself quite well from NFS and other more balls out arcade racers. You could play multiplayer in this and play it seriously, or just kick back and do arcade stuff. It seems to have it all, under one roof.

[nakamura]

I do love the actual driving in Forza but yes the whole thing is sterile as hell. There is a cold and calculated feel to everything in the game which is a pity as so much of it is good. I never found this with the Horizon demo. NFS looks decent but I imagine it will play much like the above average Hot Pursuit. Personally I think EA have strangled Criterion software in recent years and now they are reduced to producing NFS games.

[nonny]

Yep and that is main difference here. There are of course a range of races to enter and a focus on earning new wristbands to gain access to higher class races but you can just ignore that if you want and go for a drive around doing random stuff.

I actually loved NFS: Hot Pursuit for what it was but free-roaming in that was pointless because the main races were just accessible from the map and there was no incentive to hit the open road and take a look around. In this there are lots of hidden things such as cars to find located in barns dotted around the map (9 in all), upgrade signs and an achievement for driving on every piece of road in the game. Plus other competitors are hooning around as well and you can challenge them just by driving up to their bumper and issuing a spot challenge.

Plenty to do basically, besides actually entering the races... and you can do it in whatever order you choose.