Platform: Xbox One, PC
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Rating: E for Everyone (full details)
Platform Reviewed: Both!
When Microsoft announced at E3 that Forza Horizon 4 would be available on Xbox Game Pass from the first day it launched, I was admittedly skeptical. It seemed like a last ditch effort to support a dying console. Nevertheless, I still took them up on their offer. I took almost two months to play the game before writing this because I wanted to really spend some time with the game before making a review.
Forza Horizon 4 is set in England, the site of the biggest autosport festival in the world. People from around the world come to England for a whole year to experience all the best in racing: track, rally, offroad, drag, and everything in between. The opening gives you a fun look at what's to come, and does so in glorious fashion. The story might not be the most deep, but it's a racing game. What do you expect? Political intrigue? You want to Race! Microsoft knows this, and drops you right into each of the gameplay modes right out the gate.
For the different modes, you get a choice of three different cars. Some of them are definitely better than others, but you'll quickly slip into a car you like. Chances are, you'll love the car so much that you use it for pretty much everything. Like my with my Subaru Impreza 22B. I love that car!
Yeah, I took that picture in the in-game photo mode. You can pause in the middle of a race to take a picture. How awesome is that? It helps that the game looks incredibly realistic. I showed a couple pictures to colleagues, and they commented on how real it looks.
One of the more unique things in Forza Horizon compared to, say, a Gran Turismo game, is the open world aspect of it. You can explore England (it's technically Scotland, you're right outside Edinburgh) through all four seasons. Drive up to the track, race, and then go on to the next one. On top of the races, there are speed traps (set a personal high score), danger zones (go off a jump and see how far you can fly), and even story missions! There's a stunt driver story arc, a Racing Blogger arc, and a Drift Crew arc. Each one has about 10 missions, with different cars provided to you (for the most part). One of the Stunt Driver arcs pays homage to C'etait un Rendezvous, a classic Art House film. Instead of running through the streets of Paris, you're flying through Edinburgh as fast as you can in an old Renault Alpine. They're a nice diversion when you're tired of racing.
After winning enough races and gaining influence, you'll unlock a showcase event. These are ridiculous, over the top races that most sane people would completely ignore. But us? We stare down our opponents in the face. Like this!
This is probably the most bombastic of the showcase events. You also race a train (yes, you read that right), a motocross group, and a hovercraft. I think the hovercraft is probably my favorite of the showcase events. Not quite sure why, but it is. All of them are ridiculous, over the top, and awesome. Arguably some of the best setups in 2018 gaming.
Every now and again, you'll get a notification about a barn find. These are special cars that can only be obtained in this way. There's 15 of them, ranging from a Triumph Spitfire to the aforementioned 22B to a Lotus Elise GTI:
Beautiful car, isn't it? The barn finds are pretty much always worth pursuing. Half the fun is the hunt. you get this round area to search, and you don't know where in the area it's located. Regardless, driving through a forest, off the road, seeking out the blasted thing is challenging but rewarding.
For as arcade-like as Forza Horizon 4 may be, they definitely come from Racing Sim roots. With the right upgrades applied to your car, you gain access to incredibly detailed tuning options. I showed them to my dad, who owns a 1984 Mazda RX-7 and actually races it on the track. He was impressed by the detail involved. Racing Sim fans will have their opportunity to tinker and fine tune to their heart's content.
There's one very important thing you need to understand about Forza Horizon 4. There's a starting story, but you really don't get to sink your teeth into the game until you complete it. It's less of a story mode and more of a long form tutorial. Once you complete the Spring Showcase event, that's when the map truly opens up. That's the point where Forzathon events show up. You don't get to truly experience what Forza Horizon 4 has to offer until you drop a good 15 hours or so into the game. So really go into the game expecting that.
If you're not familiar with Forza games, there's a really, really talented Art scene in the Forza games. And they make all sorts of incredible artwork. Check this out:
That was rendered with blobs and lines. Piece by piece. How awesome is that? Granted this was Forza 6, it still goes to show just what the community at large is capable of. And Forza Horizon 4's community is already taking off. People are sharing all sorts of awesome logos and designs. It's really, really cool to see what the community pulls together! I went through and downloaded a bunch of logos to put on the side of my car, as well as a few vinyls to add later.
The one thing I really, REALLY wish Forza Horizon 4 had is easy multiplayer. Sure, you're in a multiplayer session and you can see other people. But searching for an open race is an exercise in futility. There's no session browser to let you find an open race. You have to go to a location, choose the blueprint, and hope someone joins you in 45 seconds or the race won't start. It's sad, because that aspect would be so much fun.
Microsoft may be the underdog in this current console cycle, but there's something here that they do very, very right. It's called "Xbox Play Anywhere," and it's the best thing to come out of Redmond in a very long time. Select games that are purchased digitally for your Xbox One can be played on a Windows 10 PC without any special configuration or hoops to jump through. You just have to use your Microsoft account to log into your Windows profile, and make sure the game is downloaded and installed. I tested this on both of my computers, and found that the game supports a pretty wide array of PCs. My desktop is definitely better than my laptop, but to my laptop's credit, it was able to play the game on low settings. And that's a two year old, $1000 laptop! Not even designed for gaming! Granted, it took a bit of a visual hit and had some framerate issues, but other than that, it handled it really well. The picture of the Subaru 22B Impreza drifting was taken on my desktop. The pic of the Lotus Elise GTI was taken on Xbox. And they both look fantastic!
I think the biggest takeaway from Forza Horizon 4 is the sheer volume of content available, even in the Standard Edition. There are so many races, so many cars, and so much to explore. It's amazing to think that a $60 game could be worth so much value, and yet so overlooked. For what it offers, it's defintely worth far more than I spent on it.
Image source for the box art at the top. All other photos are taken by me. GTA V speed painting not by me, but the jet video is one that I recorded.
