The first big change to the formula comes from the inclusion of seasons, and in typical Forza Horizon fashion, those are introduced via the opening race, which has you going through a bit of each season before arriving at the festival proper. It'll feel like nothing has changed, but there are plenty of changes that instantly make the title feel fresh. All of this is wrapped in an open-world United Kingdom that's roughly the size of the last game, letting you go anywhere, whether or not there's a road present.įor longtime fans, there will be some instant familiarity when they boot up the game and take their first car for a spin.
Your driver still has the ability to unlock and wear new clothes as well as new emotes for race intros and victories, and those emotes include lots of instantly recognizable dances. The game also facilitates this freedom by not killing your combo unless you completely smash into a car. Every action you take, from drifting to crashing through walls, gives you points that eventually feed into various forms of progression. Cars can be purchased in the game's shop, but you'll find some of the best rides hidden away in remote barns. There's a variety of events to choose from, including off-road racing, standard street races, checkpoint and lapped races, and even showcase and stunt events, where you'll do things like jump through windmills or race against a speeding locomotive. The car selection is robust, with over 450 vehicles and representation from almost every manufacturer. All of those choices have some impact on your winnings for each event. For those who want further tweaking, you have plenty of options to change things, such as the appearance of the racing line or the effect that damage has on your car.
The simulation handling of the mainline series is present but tweaked to give the game more of an arcade feel.
Luckily, Forza Horizon 4 does everything right to maintain its standing as one of the best racing titles.īefore we get into what's new, everything the series has seen in the previous three iterations is still here and relatively intact. Based on the previous games, Forza Horizon 4 has some big shoes to fill, especially since the title was specifically built for the Xbox One X instead of patching in support later. The new features merged with the solid base mechanics, and some players consider the Horizon titles to be better than the main series.
Forza Horizon 3 brought the series to the PC and added the concept of racing in different biomes in Australia. Forza Horizon 2 moved the series to the Xbox One and introduced off-road racing in Southern France.
The game was phenomenal and ended up being one of the last hits for the Xbox 360. Released in 2012, Forza Horizon was a spin-off of the Forza Motorsport series that brought the driving mechanics of Microsoft's premiere racing titles into an open world and added some arcade sensibilities.