Finally it’s here! And we couldn’t be happier. While the rest of the world is caught up on what simulation game to devote their lives to, Forza Horizon brings us into a new free roaming, enthusiast driven game.
We’ll admit, while we love to tout an “I’m a better than you” at driving during our regular Forza 4 battles, there is something to be said for a game that gives you simulation graphics with Mario Kart-like thrills.
As we’ve reported in the past, this game isn’t for those who are looking to improve their lap times of the world’s best racetracks by a tenth of a second. Its more for the millions of other players who find themselves two to three career races in and just want to cut loose, drift, bash cars and spent countless hours customizing their cars.
We can’t begin to express the amount of fun we have been having playing Forza Horizons. Great music (consulted by a leading DJ from the UK), amazing scenery (best roads of Colorado) and of course cars we fantasize about driving are all the basic DNA that makes up Horizons.
Yes, the characters that act out our hobby, some worse than others, are actually tolerable. We are thankful most for the fast forward button or else we would loose our minds listening to the banter. Some games we’ve experienced you actually have to listen to the plot in order to race your car. Never made sense then, and doesn’t make sense now.
Exciting aspects about Horizons are barn finds and challenge races. Barn finds are wonderful new addition that is made available after a certain amount of championship races are achieved – nine total. We unlocked out first one and enjoyed a spirited dirt road drive to get to our BMW M1 hay collector.
Challenge races can occur when you find yourself behind highlighted driver. All you have to do is activate the challenge (hit the x button) and you are off. Winner makes a withdraw from the looser wallet. Be careful though, some cars maybe more advanced than others. We tested our challenge skills against a Lotus 2-Eleven in our VW Corrado VR6, it wasn’t pretty.
There are plenty of fun aspects Horizons brings to the user, but if you are looking to challenge your driving skills even further there is hope. Before each race you have the option of calibrating your vehicles performance, and for a profitable gain. Traction control, braking assist, manual transmission, opponent difficulty, and more offer 5-15% increases in winnings. With everything turned off and set to the most difficult level we tallied up 135% more of a payout – if you win.
Another wonderful feature to add to Horizons is a seemingly unlimited DLC support network. Offering monthly expansion packs filled with cars, parts and even new races. One DLC we can see on the horizon is due out just in time for Christmas offering rival events, online hoppers, new contests and much more.
Forza Horizons is set to hit the shelves October 23rd, 2012 will prove to be a thrilling edition to your racing game library. Offering a simulation capable, open road, enthusiast driven experience. The cars, the people and most of all the community make this game worth owning. Forza Horizons is the perfect in-home car culture experience while your car is parked waiting for the next great car show experience.