Forza Horizon 4 Review

by Dylan Blight (Xbox One S)

Synopsis:
For the first time in the racing and driving genre, experience dynamic seasons in a shared open-world. Explore beautiful scenery, collect over 450 cars, and become a Horizon Superstar in historic Britain.

In my 1997 Nissan Skyline I had designed to look like Brian O’Conner’s from 2 Fast 2 Furious, I pulled up to Bamburgh Castle with a full suit and tie on. I let loose with my horn — which just so happens to be the Windows XP shutdown noise — and then as the camera panned around the beauty of the old castle, I stood, doing the Hotline Bling dance. After a moment taking in this beautiful sight, I proceeded to do a street race, a drift challenge, before quickly making my way back to the historical castle with the real players occupying my world to take part in a Forzathon event. Forza Horizon 4 is often ridiculously silly at times, but still a meticulous car racer when it comes to its motor vehicles.

Set in a semi-fictionalized United Kingdom with a dynamic seasons system, Forza Horizon 4 quickly gets you excited for its world by letting you feel the burning rubber in Summer; blowing through a road full of leaves in Autumn; making your way over a now-frozen lake in Winter; and seeing plant life and farmland starting to grow in Spring. The seasonal changes haven’t been over-hyped as the main feature in Forza Horizon 4, they’re truly game-changing. A track can feel completely different in each season you race.

The prologue for Forza Horizon 4 has you spend some time in each season before eventually you’re moved into the server with everyone else, and that’s where the seasons change weekly, every Friday at 12.30AM AEST. Don’t feel the need to rush the prologue though, it took me about 8 hours to make it through the four seasons, but I was enjoying a lot of it. If you did want to rush through, it’s probably about an hour per season.

In those opening prologue hours you’ll probably accrue a nice credit amount and, hopefully, some good cars from Wheelspins. You can also get Influence points in the many different tiers available in Forza Horizon 4. These tiers level up from completing street racing, dirt racing, story missions, drift challenges, collectibles and even streaming on Mixer. However you choose to play Forza Horizon 4 is the right way, and that’s fantastic.

The character models you have to represent you in-game are distractingly plastic. It was hard for me not to laugh as my goofy avatar stared off into the distance. You can unlock a large assortment of clothing choices and emotes, basically making your silly-looking avatar look even sillier. Luckily, I’m easily amused.

With over 450 cars, Forza Horizon 4’s showroom is ridiculous. The most impressive thing isn’t the numbers though, it’s the detail put into each car, not just the supercars. You can upgrade and stick with your favourites. Tuning is very in-depth, but for most of us, auto-upgrade buttons exist. It’s flexible and accessible.

A new addition to Forza Horizon 4 is the ability to buy property, from small homes to castles, some of which offer bonuses. Real players (up to 72 per server) now occupy the world. You can challenge each other, team up, or take part in Forzathon events. There are safeguards against griefing, and plenty of multiplayer game modes to keep things fresh.

Team Adventures, exhibition events, and showcases give variety. Blueprint systems let you design your own races. More customization, including a route creator, is on the way. Weekly challenges, tournaments and daily tasks ensure there’s always something new to do.

The world is anything but boring, spanning farmland, beaches, castles, lakes and Edinburgh. Seasonal changes bring it all to life with storms, blizzards, and sun showers.

Play

I have encountered a couple of frustrating issues on Xbox One S including cars blinking into existence, falling through highways, and pop-ins. The game will run better on Xbox One X or PC. Online servers dropped several times as well. These annoyances aside, the loop is addictive, and with ongoing seasonal content and weekly updates, Forza Horizon 4 is set up as a live service for car enthusiasts.

Forza Horizon 4 is a stunning tour through the UK with a roster of cars that all control and sound unique. The seasonal system keeps the game fresh and exciting. This is the racing game to pick up in 2018 and one of the best games of the year.