Cars, you see, have different gears for different jobs. It's easy to forget because track racing in video games is about a race to the redline, ploughing up the gears and only dropping down when forced by corners or other racers. But out on the open road it actually makes sense to keep your Ferrari in fourth and your accelerator halfway down because sometimes the traffic is dense and sometimes the road is narrow and sometimes you just want to take the world in.
Sim racing is well-known for its clinical nature and forensic attention to detail, but Horizon is the first of its kind to carry a personality. The series was never about how much the designers could show off; but instead hiding all the immaculate design work and putting every second of focus on the cars. Forza is the Iceman of video game racers - form following function, design at arm's length, the car's the star.
Horizon is even more flamboyant, almost to the point of obnoxiousness, and is so conspicuously Dad Cool it comes off as crass. But the Horizon Festival element amounts to a tiny proportion of the game compared to how much is dedicated to driving endlessly on the open road, forever being given things to do.
When you're not racing towards a finish line, you're still competing using Forza's own version of Project Gotham's Kudos system where every risky move gives you more points and more popularity and unlocks new events to compete in.
Colorado Me Good
Horizon's Colorado is a world where point-to-points make sense. This isn't Forza 4's segmented version of the Nurburgring or Fujimi Kaido, but endless open road where the scenery and terrain changes as you head closer to the finish line.
It's a world of hill climbs and steep descents, of mountain roads and country lanes, and the first place Forza has ever gone off-road.
The moment you take your two-wheel drive Koenigsegg onto a dirt track you'll realise Playground's version of Forza's handling model is more forgiving than Forza 4. It lets you get away with murder off the track and turns you into an unstoppable battering ram on the open road, where civilian traffic can be barged aside, with only a modest drop in speed being the trade-off. But it's still undeniably an authentic Forza game wrapped up in an arcade racer's cuddly exterior.
Form doesn't follow function the way it does in Forza 4 and it's a more personal piece of design for Playground with lashings of the team's Codemasters heritage, but the cars are always centre stage, never better than when they're let loose on the best driving roads ever featured in an open-world racer.
Back on the track those cars have no room to breathe but out in Horizon's open world you can explore every one at every speed on every surface. Suddenly it seems absurd you were ever constrained to tracks in the first place.
Horizon doesn't match the sheer scale of Test Drive Unlimited 2 or the clever gimmicks of Need for Speed, but it captures the absolute freedom of a fast car on an open road better than any other open-world racer and better than Forza 4's closed tracks ever could.
Holes
In fact, Horizon's only real problem is Forza 4. By comparison, Horizon is a game of holes. The usual Forza tuning options are off the table which means you can't take that 370Z and turn it into a drift machine. Or set up your GT-R so it hits the redline on sixth gear at the exact right moment on game's longest straight.
There's no way to auction your cars online, though you can still buy and sell decals. Forza 4's technical HUD is missing, as is its punishing crash physics and semi-realistic damage model. You can only race against seven opponents rather than Forza 4's fifteen, and you'll meet only sparse traffic on the roads of Colorado because the 360 is being pushed hard enough, thanks very much.
The car models aren't nearly as detailed for obvious reasons, but why does every car have the same speedometer when Forza 4's were bespoke? And where's the Top Gear license Microsoft spent so much money on?
Forza 4 was so comprehensive you have to feel bad for Dan Greenawalt and Forza 5's designers who have to conjure stuff up just so they have something to write on the back of the box. Horizon isn't built like Forza 4. Playground's game is a starting-point utterly rammed with things to do but missing some essentials that make Forza 4 the game it is.
Yes, we want the option to switch between Forza 4's jagged-edged physics and Forza Horizon's safety scissors version, but we can't say we'd ever use it. Yes, we want the technical HUD even though we'd never see it. And yes, we want the Clarkson voiceover even though it was crap. Why do we want all that stuff? Because Forza 4 has taught us that's what Forza is all about.
It's not fair to call Horizon a rush job, except of course, it was a rush job. The credits list a dozen smaller studios working on everything from character animation to car modelling because that's what it takes to go from zero to AAA racer in under two years.
Between them, Playground, Turn 10 and everyone else have made the best open-world racer on any console, and it's just a foundation; give it two more years and see how many holes are left in Horizon 2.
Comments
19 comments so far...
budge on 19 Oct '12 said:
I didn't like the demo of this to be honest. It seems as if it's trying so hard to be a Dirt game, I really couldn't believe how similar it was.
clayf1ghter on 19 Oct '12 said:
Awesome have this pre-ordered anyway but still nice to read another positive review.
On a side note CVG didn't you say in another article that you had delayed the review to get a better feel for how the online component is? yet you don't mention it in your review. Correct me if I'm wrong.
El Mag on 19 Oct '12 said:
I gave up on the demo after trying and failing to beat the ghost time of Altitude.
I'm pretty sure he cheated or my control was broke. Or both.
zinaptik on 19 Oct '12 said:
that's exactly what I though it was so smiler to dirt 2 and with rally DLC coming up even more so, but I kept playing the demo until completion. but wont be buying the game, its too in your face look at me I'm awesome yeah dude wooooo.
eltonbird on 19 Oct '12 said:
"Car models aren't nearly as detailed". Really? They look the same as Forza 4 to me.. (civilian traffic aside)
StonecoldMC on 19 Oct '12 said:
Sold!
altitude2k on 19 Oct '12 said:
What's this?!
metallicorphan on 19 Oct '12 said:
I quite enjoyed the demo,yeah there were some DiRT feel,but not all and hearing that this game is quite large i am certainly interested in it
I loved the Car Vs Plane race,not sure if some was scripted though
I loved the day to night, and the map looks quite a decent size as well(before rumoured map size upgrades in DLC) and with reviews being mostly in the 90s all round,yeah count me in for this(maybe not launch day,because i still have Dishonest,Sleeping Dogs and Spider-Man to finish)
El Mag on 19 Oct '12 said:
I was just sat there playing nicely and got to the rivals challenge race. Loaded it up and suddenly see your ghost take off and never look back.
I'm not accepting I was a bit crap so it definitely cheated!
altitude2k on 19 Oct '12 said:
There's something you need to understand about me. I can't be arsed. Generally. If something's easier, I'll take that option. Cheating in games requires research, dedication and a willingness to learn stuff. That, to me, sounds like too much effort.
Face it, I'm just plain awesome!
Mastermue on 19 Oct '12 said:
Yeah... I'm not convinced by the demo. It feels like a lot of fun, but not enough fun for the full price. I think I'll wait until it hits around 20 quid then take another looksie.
Drusus on 19 Oct '12 said:
Taking all the assists off in this isn't too bad to be honest. It's closer to Forza 4 than I thought. Definitely a £20-£30 buy though, I'll wait for a bit. Forza 4 is still getting weekly play sessions as it is though.
alan666 on 19 Oct '12 said:
I thought the demo was pretty good, anyways i have the collector's limited edition version thing on the way
KK-Headcharge78 on 20 Oct '12 said:
Based on the demo, I'd give it a 5 out of 10, a confused racer that feels too arcadey while trying to be sim-like, a mish mash of Burnout's unrealistic handling, NFS's cheesy interactions and DIRT 3's 'all flashy colour and little substance' Just my view but I got not immersion from the demo whatsoever.
Noobsaibot on 20 Oct '12 said:
I found the demo to be absolute horse s**t. Nasty handling, ghastly "DiRT 2 style, in your face" presentation and just eye wateringly dull. To be honest, even Need For Speed Most Wanted looks superior to this and that looks simply ridiculous. I desperately wanted to like this after the tragedy that was TDU2 but I have no idea how this game is getting such high marks from reviewers. Perhaps a few promo copies contained free money or hostage photos of friends and loved ones.
SavageEvil on 20 Oct '12 said:
That's an easy one, people like theatrics. Just a few posts above your you can see some guy loving the car vs plane race, which to me was completely stupid and bogus as hell. Every time you made it anywhere near a gate the plane was pretty much about to pass it at the same time of just before or after depending on how cleanly you drove. Big gimmicky nonsense that fill people with awe these days.
You are correct with the stupendously odd handling which only gets weirder once you go off road, 4WD handling like they are on rails and RWD cars tend to grip erratically and then lose it just as erratically when the game see fit. Too much drifting, too much grandstanding, too much empty scenery, too much over the top American theatrics which I don't even think exist in American auto festivals, sure they have music but I doubt it's all MC by some annoying Dj wanna be.
I thought Turn 10 understood what we wanted, Forza on the open road...not a game with Forza's name on it, with arcade physics, 1/4 the garage and the rest will be sold to you at a price, no type of online race setting or anything of the sort and worst offense of all complete lack of tuning, so what in the world are upgrades for? This game went forward 3 steps and took 5 giant leaps backwards. Losing the very essence of what Forza was, a community game and just having liveries to sell and little else is kind of pointless since everyone's car is basically the same under the hood right down to the tune...back to bland land. This game gets a rent and return when it serves it's purpose, can't believe they dropped the ball on this big time and then want to sell you a Season Pass for $50...how many idiots will fall for that tripe?
budge on 20 Oct '12 said:
After seeing the high scoring reviews and positive posts for this game I thought I'd give the demo a few more tries to see if I was missing the point or something. But no, I just don't see anything original in it at all, a mish mash of other arcade races with flashy graphics and 'cool' music. To me, the cars' handling is very arcadey and that's with no assists on.
I wanted to dig this game because the last Forza I bought was FM3. I seriously think that if it didn't have the Forza brand attached to it (or dare I say, have been a Gran Turismo game), this game would've scored pretty average.
superfruit on 20 Oct '12 said:
Is there something C&VG are trying to tell us?
Another review, which upon reading I was expecting to see a 7.5 or something around that mark. No it's a 9. Bought score?
Seem to be a few of the 'it's pretty mediocre stuff but..' and then it gets 8+ type reviews on the site lately.
Don't bite than hand that feeds and all that.
Anyway, as to the game, I would have loved Forza 4 just set on open roads but it had to be Forza with arcade handling and added dumbness. Maybe I'll buy it when it hits £20.
KK-Headcharge78 on 21 Oct '12 said:
Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the demo was duff, open world racing should not be curtailed by tacked on crap and a totally false and benign immersion. Oh and the DLC is campaign makes the typical Activision/EA efforts look generous, new cars as DLC is terribly tenuous particularly when, going on the feel of the demo, each differs very little from the next car. I don't usually go this far but i hope this game bombs as a lesson to not nick all the ideas from long established games (Burnout, NFS etc) and bundle them under anther established name while branding it as something it isn't before detailing a frankly disgusting DLC schedule.
lazy Turn 10, really lazy.