FORZA HORIZON 3

Welcome to Australia…

Most racing games follow the same age-old layout: Cars. In recent years more and more racing games have emerged where the player can drive cars in both free roam and in races. It’s a solid idea, and has worked well for many titles in recent years. But never has it looked this good…

Watching the demo at E3 earlier in the year, Forza Horizon 3 had me in shock. While games like Need for Speed: Rivals looked damn good even on Xbox 360, Horizon 3 looked stunning. Still does actually. The difference between the two games? Forza actually works. Rivals really didn’t. But that’s a story for another day. Horizon 3’s graphics, whether it’s the cars or Australia itself, are stunning. The dynamic environments work wonderfully on screen and the cars blast through them perfectly. While it’s not the entirety of Australia, the game offers enough of desert, rainforest and urban landscape to enjoy for hours upon hours of fun. And with each new environment, there’s the choices each one brings. Some call for the fastest cars money can buy, while others demand something built for off-road mayhem.

Off road mayhem is always fun...

Don’t worry, you’ll build up an arsenal of cars as you play, but be wary of where you drive and what car you take with you. Forza always offers always a new route to take or a new place to explore, and it always looks nothing short of stunning.

Forza’s environments, much like it's cars, are some of gaming’s most beautiful...

Activities in the game are fairly limited, but for a racing game, there can’t be much variety. While most are, at the core, races, some do differ, from extreme stunt jumps to skill tests. The races themselves aren’t always easy, but they’re always fun, even if, like me, you’re not used to a game spinning you out as often as Forza likes to. Something I did enjoy about the races was the fact that the avatars making up the drivers in solo player are actually the names of the people on your friends list. Something about having their names on top of those cars makes you push yourself that little bit further to beat them.

Much to my surprise, Forza does actually deliver a story, something most racing games don’t tend to bother with as no-one pays any attention. Basically, Horizon is a racing event in which the world’s best drivers come together and do whatever the hell they want. You play the head driver at the event, perhaps just to annoy you even more when you don’t finish in first place. That one race…That one damn race…

Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of the game I don’t back 100%. The radio is limited at best, although the addition of streaming whatever songs you want through Microsoft Groove is a brilliant idea, it shouldn’t have to be unlocked a few hours into the game. While the driving for the most part is exhilarating, once too often you’ll spin out, and it’ll ruin the mood you were building up going 200mph down the road. Plus, much to my dismay, the game doesn’t really promote ‘aggressive’ driving, meaning you’ll find it hard at best to spin another racer out. That’s more of a personal preference, but I can’t be the only one. But, at the end of the day, do any of these really matter? No, not when the game looks this good…

Will driving around Australia at ludicrous speeds and stopping every other mile just to admire the view ever get old? Maybe. But I plan for that to happen around the time of the release of the next game, if it ever comes. Racing games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, I know that. But even those people can’t deny that Forza Horizon 3 is nothing short of simply gorgeous.