This is a weird one. I very, very much enjoyed Forza Horizon and the Forza series on the whole but there are a few aspects of the game, ones more about its production than its gameplay that irk me.
First and foremost though, this is a fantastic racing game. Sort of paradoxically it's more focused and streamlined a game than the mainline games despite its openworld structure. There's an obvious goal here (become the top racer at the Horizon festival) and that goal always seems attainable, unlike Forza's 1-4 and their monolithic requirements to get to the top.
Horizon is also a shorter game. The ingame counter clocked me at 20 hours altogether. For comparison after 20 hours in Forza 4 I had beat about 10% of the game. If Forza 4 is Final Fantasy XII then Horizon is VI a much tighter and engaging experience.
That doesn't mean to say Horizon rushes along at breakneck pace though, far from it. A lot of your time will be spent idly cruising along Colorado highways or down winding dirt tracks just soaking in the ambiance. Horizon can be a very relaxing game inbetween its bouts of tense racing action.
Sometimes it's almost, dare I say it, Outrun-esque.. Unlike the mainline Forza games, the spotlight is on
driving as opposed to racing. A good example would be when you're browsing for a new car; in Forza 4 you're looking for a car that'll help you win. In Horizon you're looking for the car that is the most fun to drive.
The game is less about car porn side and more about the
reasons behind why people love cars. It's a powerful mix combining Turn Ten's already genre leading game engine with a more open and inviting racing experience. It got its hooks in me that's for sure.
There are those niggles though. Firstly, it can feel like a jack of all trades, providing you with street, rallying, touring and circuit racing without any of them feeling truly distinct. I think the most glaring example of this was a mostly offroad race in which most of my opponents were driving extremely low profile Italian supercars. No. Just, no.
The game also has this annoyingly smug sense of self worth that only corporate mandated products can have. The titular Horizon festival is supposed to be this big counter culture melting pot but the way everyone acts and speaks shows they were written by guys in their 50's and the (mostly) terrible radio stations with their bland and inoffensive dance/rock music say otherwise.
Most annoyingly though you can sense the oily fingers of the Microsoft execs in the game design itself. There are spots called Outposts that allow free fast travel once you reach them BUT only if you complete a set of mini challenges first. The speed and photo challenges are a doodle but the trick challenges are among the trickiest parts of the game. So the hardest parts of the game are placed in the areas which should be there for player convenience. But guess what, for a low, low price (of real money) you can but the convenience of travelling back to places you've already visited from the xbox live marketplace. Yaaaaaaay.
I usually don't complain about this sort of stuff as it's mostly harmless. like paying to unlock all the kits and weapons in Battlefield or whatever. That's fine if you want to waste your money. It won't make you better at the game but it might improve your enjoyment while not impacting others. But here, this is a change to the way the game is actually played and I'm totally against that.
I feel bad for Turn Ten really. They are an obviously very talented bunch of developers but every time some slimey Microsoft exec wants to drop in microtransactions or parcel off a quarter of the cars as DLC they have to acquiesce to their demands.
As I said though, Horizon is above all an exceptional racing game. On the track it may not do one thing brilliantly well, but as an overall driving experience it can't be beat. This is enough to distract from a somewhat corporate feeling and some questionable difficult spikes.
While I'm here, I'd also like to note how good the PS3/360 generation was for racing games. Some really excellent titles across broad spectrum of racing types.
. Now onwards to Uncharted 3 
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