There is nary a racing series that exudes car culture and unbridled love for all things auto as much as Forza. This love for real world and digital racing is what sets Forza ahead of the pack, so I was curious when Forza Horizon was revealed and almost looked like an arcade racer.
While some racing series have flirted with doing a complete shift in styles, Horizon certainly isn't following suit where driving is concerned. It's a new tone for sure, but with the same handling and physics as Forza 4, Horzion's laid-back approach is actually pretty exciting.
Forza Horizon has no fancy partnership with Top Gear. The tone is decidedly more relaxed than past entries in the series, with a summer music festival at the heart of it all. Developers Playground and Turn 10 have really ran with the summer music theme too. Horizon offers three radio stations to choose from, playing rock, indie, and electronic (so expect plenty of the wub wub). It's not a huge variety, but what is here is tuned well for the new feel -- all curated by British DJ Rob da Bank.
It's probably this surface change that's fooled folks into thinking that Horizon is an arcade racer. It may let its hair down, but the physics are taken straight from Forza 4, making the moment-to-moment driving feel as true to the series as any fan could hope. The only thing different in the racing is in the events you enter.
The biggest switch is Horizon's open world. Based on the roads of Colorado, the locales range from flat plains to farmlands, from rivers and lakes. Being that this is an open world, expect a good amount of distractions. We only got to see a few of the side activities, the first being hidden barnyards in which you'll find busted old cars that you can restore in your garage. Another involved speeding through traffic cameras, with style points being awarded every time you hit a new top speed.
If you want to partake in Horizon's more structured offerings, there is a good amount of events to partake in. You have your traditional staples such as circuit races and point-to-point types, and street races with start and finish lines but no directed route to take. But even the most traditional of races are given a bit of a facelift. Rather than the standard goal of shaving tenths of a second of your best time and placing first, Horizon challenges players to drive stylishly. Placing first in races is still important, but in order to win fans and rise in the ranks as the nobody you are cast as, you need to drift, draft, and otherwise make your driving look as sexy as possible.
Unique to Horizon, though, are more insane race types, such as the "Mustang vs. Mustang" race we played. The goal here was to drive though a series of checkpoints while using a classic Ford Mustang, the twist being that your opponent is a World War II-era P-51 Mustang fighter plane. The idea is definitely arcade-like, and the event itself speaks to the unique atmosphere that Horzion is going for, but to reiterate, the moment-to-moment driving is still very much Forza. Sharp turns require lowers speeds, and slamming into someone while going 100+ mph is as bad an idea as ever.
Horizon will also be bringing a lot of the online modes from series with it, and all the car skin designs you lovingly slaved over can be imported into this game. What's most important to take away from all this is that we are not loosing the Forza we know and love. It's just wearing a different coat of paint.
7:00 PM on 01.20.2013 //
Jonathan HolmesLuigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (formerly known as Luigi's Mansion 2) is almost here. True to the game's ghostly allure, details around the game's corporal existence remain shrouded in contiguity. Is this thing even... more
4:30 PM on 01.20.2013 //
Chris CarterMonster Hunter 4 is no doubt going to be a massive win for the 3DS. The combination of traction Nintendo's handheld already has, along with the massive install base, and the incredible success of the Monster Hunter ... more
8:45 PM on 01.18.2013 //
Chris Carter
Some time ago, Jonathan Holmes reviewed BlayzBloo: Super Melee Brawlers Battle Royale. It was a pretty quaint release that was forgotten almost immediately.
But now, it looks like a full sequel is upon us, ready to grace the... more
4:00 PM on 01.18.2013 //
Allistair PinsofAn hour after taking the stage to unveil Disney Infinity, "Disney's most ambitious video game initiative ever" (a press release states), I sat down with Avalanche Studios chief creative officer John Blackburn to discuss where... more
2:30 PM on 01.17.2013 //
Chris CarterYes, finally! I've been waiting quite some time for the US re-release of Kirby's Star Stacker (3DS eShop), and now it's finally upon us.
As for everything else, it's not a whole lot this week. There's a free demo for Fire Emb... more
1:00 PM on 01.17.2013 //
Dale NorthWant to know what's coming for your Wii U and/or 3DS? Nintendo has us covered with a list of first- and third-party releases for both systems as well as their respective eShop titles. Hell, they even threw in the kiddie DS ti... more
8:00 AM on 01.17.2013 //
Chris Carter
Nintendo has posted a new video for Fire Emblem: Awakening, and it's a great introduction for people who have never played the series before.
It goes over the basics like the general story, troop placement, and general tips ... more
7:18 AM on 01.17.2013 //
Chris Carter
It seems as the North American and European release date for the long-awaited Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is finally upon us: March 19th and 22nd respectively.
It'll launch in both 3DS and Wii U form (the latter of which is ca... more
10:30 PM on 01.16.2013 //
Kyle MacGregorAccording to a Nikkei report, Nintendo plans to merge its console and handheld divisions next month. On February 16, the company is prepared to bring 130 console engineers and 150 handheld engineers together under a single ro... more
10:30 AM on 01.16.2013 //
Chris CarterIn a recent interview, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata dove into some interesting topics, most notably the Miiverse and how it came about. Iwata also reiterates that the Wii U GamePad can transcend just a gaming audience with... more