170°
9.0

IGN Forza Horizon Review

IGN - Forza Horizon is what happens when you assemble a crack team of talented racing game veterans, plucked from a bunch of the UK’s finest driving developers, and shove them all under one roof and set them loose with Microsoft’s money.

Blankman854204d ago

Yet another stellar entry in the best rated racing franchise of the generation.
I still don't trust IGN though.

MAJ0R4204d ago

Amazing how Turn 10 can crank out Forza games ever year and maintain AAA status.

hennessey864204d ago

Didn't make this game, playground games did

MAJ0R4204d ago

Oh really... I probably should have said the Forza series then. I guess this was just meant as a cash in for Microsoft, and Turn 10 is making Forza 5 for 2013 release.

Knight_Crawler4204d ago

Put your tin foil hats on people and lets start the Conspiracy theory fiasco.

So shall I start...OMG MS paid IGN.

MikeMyers4204d ago

"I don’t know how a game of this size, with everything going on, can look this good and still support a rewind utility, fully functioning car interiors and a full day/night cycle. I don’t know how the frame rate for this enormous game remains resolutely locked, because whether you’re racing under headlights or screaming down the freeway at over 400 kilometres per hour it never, ever dips. It might as well be witchcraft. I don’t know how it does it. It just does."

Good to hear.

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HarryMasonHerpderp4204d ago

I've never played Forza I'm more of a Gran Turismo guy but is this series really as good as the critics say?
I haven't touched my 360 since Halo Reach so if it really is as good as everyone says I might have to pick this up.
By the way I'm not with LIVE because I refuse to pay for online lol so are the games worth it just for single player?

Knight_Crawler4204d ago (Edited 4204d ago )

I am not a sim car fan but I got Forza 4 bundled with my 360 slim last xmas and I have not stopped playing it since then...The thing that you notice right off the bat is how my detail and attenion Turn10 put into the game...you can see that these guys love what they do and have fun while do it instead of just making a game to get paid.

I heard good stuff about GT5 as well which I will pick up becuase now I am loving sim racers.

Edit: Can belive this guy was saying that the game was horrible and he will never play it again SMH

http://n4g.com/news/1091793...

lategamer4204d ago

Forza: Horizons isn't quite a sim like Forza: Motorsports and GT. Its essentially a new game, with some borrowed assets of Forza 4, developed by a new team-Playground Games(composed of ex-Codemasters, Bizzare Studios, and others.

The game isn't quite a "sim" but isn't quite an "arcade" game, it strikes a nice balance and is open world.

A demo of Horizons and Forza 4 is on the Xbox Live Marketplace, so feel free to download them now.

If you don't have a Live account just make a Silver account and download the demos. The two games (4 and Horizons) have a good amount of single-player offerings. If you shop around at Christmas time, I'm sure you'll be able to find Forza 4 cheap.

HarryMasonHerpderp4204d ago (Edited 4204d ago )

@Night_Crawler

Ah cool but is it worth playing offline?
and is this a full on sequel to Forza 4 or an add on?

@lategame
@Night_Crawler

Thanks for the help guys ^_^

lategamer4204d ago

Yes, it is worth playing offline. The game was developed as a open-world racer. Youtube some videos you should get a good idea.

Spinoff of Forza 4. Forza 4: Motosport is more of a "sim", this is a bit different.

aviator1894204d ago

Not an add-on, but an incredibly great spin-off from some awesome people.

Just think of Playground as Microsoft's racing version of 343 industries.

FunkMacNasty4204d ago

@ HarryMason - if you're a Gran Turismo fan, you'll also love Forza.. I'd say go with Forza 4...you can find it in gamestop or Bestbuy for about $30 bucks.

Forza 4 and Gran Turismo, are much more similar than crazed fanboys would have you believe. Both games have the same set of difficulty assists, but Forza has more parts to upgrade your car than GT, although the actual tuning options are pretty much the same. Forza also will suck you in for hours in the decal and paint shop where you can pretty much make anything you want as a decal for your car, plus there is tremendous community support on the in-game storefront, where you can use earned in-game currency to purchase user-designed graphics, decals, and whole car designs.. and there are some SERIOUSLY talented gamers that design stuff on the storefront. Also, the 400 or so cars in Forza are fully rendered inside and out (cockpit view is a big deal to me, that's how I prefer to play) and overall the game is gorgeous. Forza also has a more diverse selection of cars too, there are plenty of classic American Muscle cars and hot rods, alongside tons of sleek Euro sportsters, sedans, and coupes, plenty of supercars, and a double helping of Asian tuner styles as well.. Car variety is the one area where, in my opinion, Forza trumps Gran Tursmo. Also, listening to Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson give a narrative on some of the featured "Auto Vista" cars in Forza is truly entertaining, and that feature alone will consume plenty of playing time.

The drawbacks to Forza, especialy if you're a GT fan, are that you will only be racing during the day, on tarmac tracks, under optimal (dry) conditions. There are a vast number of fun tracks to race on, but there is no rally, no NASCAR, no cart racing. Forza does have Drag racing though.

I play both GT and Forza when it comes to my racing games. Overall, they both have something to offer, but if you've never played Forza 4, I'd definitley say its well worth the money..

acheashadow4204d ago

IGN do seem to live on a different planet to everyone else, I find that their reviewers babble too many big words that they learn in Uni.

Kurt Russell4204d ago

So you're effectively saying your vocabulary is shit.

Fishy Fingers4204d ago

The best insult you could muster is that their reviewer is educated?

Scrapping the barrel.

Gazondaily4204d ago (Edited 4204d ago )

Scraping* Sorry to be that guy.

The game is indeed brilliant. I was really surprised by the demo.

The only real downer for me is that, although you can drive freely online with your mates; the traffic is supposedly non-existant- that takes away some of the fun in my opinion. I want to be able to play cops and robbers with my mates and weave in and out of traffic. Still, its a small gripe. The game is easily one of the best driving games out there.

Gazondaily4204d ago (Edited 4204d ago )

Double post sorry-

mewhy324204d ago

Wow. Fabulous game. Sets the high bar again for racing games. Surely the best looking racing game on the market right now.

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TrevorPhillips4204d ago

Great score! Definitely picking this baby up :)

SOD_Delta4204d ago

No doubt, It's Forza. I would have like to pick this game up, but I stopped playing 360.

Veneno4204d ago

Yeah my 360 got rrod, but i got my girlfriend one for her b-day so imight pick this up and play it on hers. I only like open world racing games like this and test drive unlimited.

karlowma4204d ago

Nothing against the game but this looks almost exactly like Dirt 3. The presentation is nearly identical.

green4204d ago

Have you played the demo? if you have you will know it is nothing like Dirt 3.

karlowma4204d ago

Haven't played the game, not commenting on gameplay, just stating that the presentation appears to be directly lifted from the Dirt series. Not a bad thing; the game looks great.

green4204d ago

Instead of speculating or forming an opinion based on videos you have watched online, why don't you just play the free demo. I would not have responded to you if not for my extensive time with the demo and in terms of presentation, it is absolutely fantastic and stands firmly on its own.

B_Rian894204d ago (Edited 4204d ago )

i said the in another article a while ago and I got a bunch of disagrees. I still think it looks very similar to Dirt 2/3

with that being said I think I'm going to convince my brother to let me borrow his 360 and rent this from Gamefly

lategamer4204d ago

If you mean the menu's and such, yea it does. The development team has some ex-codemasters developers on it. Codemasters developed DIRT, GRID, etc.

B_Rian894204d ago

I'm pretty sure thats what he meant, because thats what I meant too. I haven't played this new Forza so I don't know what it plays like, but judging from the videos it doesn't look like it plays like Dirt, the menus and presentation just looks similar

Norrison4204d ago

Even though I haven't played forza games, from what I've seen, they're completely different.

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120°

10 Years On, It's Hard To Actually Celebrate Forza Horizon's Legacy

Forza Horizon has been around for 10 years today, but due to the franchise's constant "End Of Life" policies, it's hard to celebrate.

Read Full Story >>
culturedvultures.com
deleted540d ago

Literally the only XBox exclusive that I still regularly play. I'm glad I had bought FH3 (PC) when I did, but this really sucks for other people who never picked it up. I still love the Australian Outback setting most of all.

260°

Forza Horizon Games Ranked from Worst to Best

BLG writes: "When the Forza Horizon games franchise launched in 2012, it was an enjoyable spin-off of the highly successful simulation racer. A decade later, the Horizon series has overtaken Forza Motorsport series as one of, if not the, premiere driving video games of all time."

Read Full Story >>
bosslevelgamer.com
SinisterMister653d ago

Don't think there's literally a "worst" Forza game man. Microsoft just makes these too damn good.

MaximusPrime_653d ago

Microsoft didn't develop (make) Forza, Playground Games did.

Microsoft simply published it.

SinisterMister653d ago

Ah okay. Thanks for the correction mate!

MadLad653d ago

I see no difference being they've only ever made games for Microsoft on Microsoft's dime for the entirety of their existence as a developer.

Godmars290653d ago

@MadLad:
The amount of MTs and repeated attempts at rivalry towards Gran Turismo.

darthv72653d ago

@god, i think you are confusing motorsport with horizon. MS is compared to GT, Horizon isnt.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 653d ago
MadLad653d ago

@godmars

Care to explain how that has anything to do with anything here?

DOMination-653d ago

lol.. pedantic much? ^ PG and the Forza IP are owned by Microsoft.

FH5 may be a technical marvel but it's been a buggy mess since launch and PG seem intent to add new content without ever bothering to fix anything. Many of which were bugs that were also in FH4.

FH3
FH1
FH4
FH5
FH2 (still good but the structure was messed up - too much emphasis on grinding "roadtrips" which was tedious)

jznrpg653d ago (Edited 653d ago )

They didn’t buy Playground until 2018 or 2019 I forget which year but it hasn’t been that long . The first Forza came out in 2005 . So most of the games were published by MS at the time but they didn’t own PlayGround. MS doesn’t make good studios in general , they buy them .

DOMination-653d ago

When Sony buys a studio after working with them for a couple of games, people on here call it an "organic purchase". MS & Playground made three very good games, based on an existing IP using an engine made by Turn 10 before purchasing them. But it is still pedantic. Shall we say that Sony didn't make The Last of Us? Or that they don't "own" the first 12 Ratchet & Clank games because they only purchase Insomniac a few years back? We all know what they meant.

Anyway, Forza Motorsport has always been developed by Turn 10. Which Microsoft built from the ground up. So when you refer to games from 2005, your point about only buying studios is completely wrong.

darthv72653d ago

You left out a FH2, there were two versions. The one made for XBO by playground and the one made for 360 by sumo digital. There are enough differences to warrant each one being on its own.

monkey602653d ago

FH3 is my favourite by a long shot. I got surprisingly bored of FH5 quick enough unfortunately so that's down the bottom of my list

sammarshall102653d ago

Yeah I think this series peaked with Forza Horizon 3

Orbilator652d ago

I really dont care for any of the horizons. Hate having to do what I'm told. Forza 7 was the same, I didn't want to do anything other than race cars. But it made me drive lorries!!!..

Technically they all good games but I want the next Forza to be a proper car racer, all the trucks etc can be put under an arcade racing section which I never have to go into.

MrBaskerville652d ago

The mandatory gimmick races are a bit of a bad habit in FM games, atleast since 5. Also dislike the heavy amount of unskipable cutscenes and dialouge in FM5 and perhaps 7.

Azraeia652d ago

Tbh I found FH3 to actually be my favourite and the one I played the most.

The one I got bored of very quickly was 4. Wasn't a fan of the seasons and driving round England was boring cause its where I live. Got very old quick.

glennhkboy652d ago

I still think 2 (Xbox One version) is my personal best. Driving an Italian supercars on an Italian highway just feel so "right"!!!!! "2" make me understand why Italian make those supercars.

I don't know why so many do not like 4. I like the seasonal change & dramatic weather change. 5 seems to dial the weather change way way down that the weather seldom change (Is the real Mexico really has such a perfect weather all the time?).

Show all comments (20)
150°

How the Sophisticated Sky Capturing Brings the Forza Horizon Franchise to Life

KeenGamer: "The advanced sky capturing gives the Forza Horizon franchise a natural and realistic feeling. Yet, it's a long process from capturing to complete in-game sky. It's a technology that was introduced during the development of Forza Horizon 3, which provided more beauty and were widely praised by players."

Read Full Story >>
keengamer.com
iplay1up21012d ago (Edited 1012d ago )

Forza 4 looks really great now that Series updates have been applied. In Forza 5 Microsoft uses photo technology throughout the entire game. The volcano setting in Mexico looks amazing!

Lightning771011d ago

All this sky tech will no doubt make its way into the new Fable.

Rimeskeem1011d ago

Da Cloud jokes coming in 3...2....

Sol4ris1011d ago

Incredible looking game, and it's not even powered by the next iteration of the ForzaTech engine which is still developed by Turn10.
Time to flex that 12TF.

VariantAEC1004d ago

Maybe that's why it looks so meh to me.

1010d ago
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