Possibly the most fun you can have on four wheels!
Back in June, one of the highlights of E3 was the reveal of Forza Horizon 3 and the video showing the stunning look of the game got people very excited, but would the game live up to expectations on its release? The answer has to be a resounding Hell Yeah!
The opening scene of the game introduces you to the action by having you speed through a an Australian rainforest to reach a stunning beach, and the only reason you wont slow down to marvel at the scenery is that the feeling of the speed and power of the car is too exhilarating. In the first two Horizon games we we raced through representations of Colorado and the Cote d'Azur but with the masterstroke of setting the third installment in Australia we get dramatic changes in scenery with areas not only of rainforest and coastline, but also the wine country of Yarra Valley, city streets of Surfers Paradise and the dusty terrain of the outback.
The beautiful scenery is matched by the look of the cars, over 350 of them, and with much more variety than we've seen before. Whether you like driving fast supercars, the classic sports models of yesteryear or outrageous looking off-roaders, you'll find a ride you love. Playground Games have done a superb job of ensuring you notice the difference in the handling of the different cars and how they drive on each surface. The rumble feedback of the controller in your hands enhances the feeling of drag as your car ploughs through water, and while your Ferrari grips the road on tarmac, you'll feel the car sliding one you try racing it on the beach. As you hit water or drive through rain it looks amazing splashing onto your screen and the reduced visibility realistically makes driving a little trickier. The way the day/night cycle moves though the game is also amazing to see and really adds to the ambience of the surroundings. As usual for a Horizon game there is a superb soundtrack as you tune your car radio to different stations and you can even link to your Groove music account or your OneDrive for your own tunes.
On to the story and you play the part of the boss of the Horizon Festival, taking part in races and PR stunts to gain a bigger fanbase, which enables you to make the festival bigger, open new venues and unlock more features. The variety of challenges on offer is bigger than ever from the sublime to the ridiculous. At the start of the game you race against a Jeep that is being dangled from a large helicopter, and my particular favourite so far has been racing a freight train, which had me whooping with delight as my car jumped the train in full Dukes of Hazzard slo-mo style. You also level up with XP and gain credits to splash out on new cars to put in your ever expanding virtual garage. Your PR will contact you and add new races to your map as you unlock them, but a great new feature is that as Festival boss you can customise those races, rename them and save them for you and your friends to try out.
The racing is always competitive because there are a multitude of ways to change the difficulty to your liking. With assists turned on or off on braking, racing line, gears changes, ABS, car damage and many others, it means no matter what ability of driver you are from complete beginner to racing sim expert, you can get straight into the action and make it as easy or difficult as you want. The game encourages you to challenge yourself and as you improve as a driver you get more rewards for upping the difficulty level. You don't compete with mindless AI drivers either, but against the now famous Drivatars, which are representations of other players, using data from their games to replicate their style of driving. It adds an extra element of fun when you go cross the line just ahead of the Drivatar of your dirty driving mate, and while your Drivatar is appearing in other peoples games, its also earning you credits. You also get to recruit a team of 4 of these Drivatars to join your race team and boost your points earning potential.
Other games that race only on the track will reward you for clean precise racing, and while you also get points for this here, you'll also get rewarded for knocking down fences and road signs, ploughing through vegetation and drifting round corners on the edge of control. String all these things together and you earn a skill chain which will unlock some perks as the scores build up. I sometimes found myself sacrificing going all out for the win to knock down some extra roadside signs to keep the chain going and get the extra multiplyer.
Forza Horizon 3 is not all about racing, but encourages you to get off the road and explore every inch of the map at your own pace. Barn Finds make a welcome return where you will find classic cars hidden in remote locations for your mechanic will take away and renovate before adding them to your collection. There are billboards all over the map to locate and destroy for a bonus and beauty spots to discover and just enjoy the view. As you drive down a route for the first time its ticked off a list and that encourages you to try and discover all of the 400+ roads and tracks.
Every good racing game these days needs a good multiplayer element and Forza horizon 3 delivers that in spades with not only 4 player co-op where your friends can join you in your career mode, but also with online racing, which you can seamlessly drop into from your single player game. You don't have to tear it up over set courses either, instead try the playground areas where you play Infected and King, which are like motorised versions of tag, or perhaps just team up with some mates, get in convoy and have a bit of a road trip and just lark about.
Forza games have built up a very strong community of racers, and you can join this by using Photo mode at any point to take artistic pics to share, or be creative in other ways by using the incredibly versatile livery editor to design paint jobs to show off on your cars in game or share with the wider community via the Storefront. Budding mechanics can tune and customise their cars to maximise performance, but if your'e like me and a stranger to what goes on under the bonnet, just buy the ready made setups from those that know what they're doing.
Forza Horizon 3 has struck a perfect balance between realism and fun, and with the massive amount of things to do you can happily play for hours on end without fear of repetition or boredom. If you own just one racing game for your Xbox One, you really need to make sure its this one.
Developer: Playground Games
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Genre: Open world racing
Price: £49.99 - £79.99
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying the review copy.