- Genre: Open World Racing
- Platform: Windows 10 (Microsoft Store – Digital Only)
- Also Available On: Xbox One
So, I like Forza. Of the now 11 games I have for the Xbox One, 4 of them are Forzas. It goes without saying that I was looking forward to this one. This was also a bit of an experiment for me, as it’s the first of the new Xbox Play Anywhere titles I’ve gotten, so it was going to set the tone in how I considered those purchases going forward.
Let’s get this out of the way. The PC port was rock solid. Visually it didn’t look that incredibly different than the Xbox One version, but that was already a fairly solid looking title on its own. What it did get right are the details. It has really solid 21:9 aspect ratio support, which a lot of PC games still don’t get right. It has both really solid quick configure video settings for more casual users (including a really solid dynamic visuals system to keep framerate steady), as well as highly configurable settings for your higher end users. Even on ultra, getting 60 fps was not a problem. Also of note, they added a bunch of wheel support with promises to continue adding more. Having played some with the Logitech G27, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but it was definitely worth a laugh. So, that out of the way, the question then is how good is the actual game?
The racing itself is about what is expected of a Horizon title. The cars still have a pretty solid feel to them, with the actual steering, breaking, etc still feeling relatively realistic, even if it tilts more towards the arcadey side of things when it comes to drifting. Different classes of cars are very obviously in different performance tiers, and it’s obvious to tell the difference between the handling and acceleration dynamics of various vehicles. To some extent the amount of damage that vehicles can take, even with simulation damage on, is somewhat outlandish, but given the gameplay it feels pretty appropriate without being completely over the top. That said, AI drivatars are still somewhat rubberbandy, and definitely exist purely to provide a mark of in-race progression, because they generally have a tendency to run their line to a fault, even if you are already in the middle of the race line. Overall though, the speed of races, and continued hilarity of the cross country events provides an experience that stays fresh as you proceed through each event.
The progression system of Horizon 3’s meta game has definitely seen some improvements over 2. Whereas 2 had you going through a fairly linear path of championships back to back, 3 really pushes the open world to the forefront. The name of the game is gaining fans, and gaining more fans allows festival locations to be upgraded, unlocking events, PR stunts, and ultimately the Horizon showcases. Because everything you do inherently gains fans, you are much less locked into a core path. One minute you may be doing a race, then hopping to a Bucket List, or looking for speed traps and jumps. You also aren’t locked to vehicles for non-championship events, so I was changing vehicles at a much higher frequency than in 2. Overall the game provided a much better play as you want it experience than past games, despite the fact that the first 2 titles were already fairly open in their progression.
I guess if I were to end it with anything, it’s that this is probably a good game to jump into if you’re at all a racing game fan. If you’re purely a PC gamer and haven’t played a Forza game, this would fall in line with recent Need for Speed games, or the older Burnout Paradise as comparable games that have made it to PC. If you’re a console gamer the list is pretty similar. Really, if the idea of plowing through a field doing 180 in a Ferrari, all while mowing down bushes and jumping off a cliff into a river sounds at all appealing, you’d probably dig this one. Yes, that happens. Regularly.
