Categories: Reviews

Forza Horizon 5 review: Mexico and clouds

Mexico and its wonders await you in Forza Horizon 5, the new Xbox exclusive that we tell you about in our review

That the new generation of Microsoft started with the handbrake on, at least on the proprietary software side, is certainly not a mystery, given exactly one year after the debut of Xbox Series X/S the exclusives created by the internal teams of the Redmond giant were very long in coming. Of course, there was no lack of third-party partnerships, mostly minor or temporal, in addition to the usual abundance that goes by the name of Game Pass, but when someone shells out loud Euros for brand new hardware, there is no doubt that they are driven by the desire to see it put under pressure thanks to titles worthy of such technical magnificence.

In short, time has passed since that end of 2020, but finally things have started to move, as evidenced by the arrival of Forza Horizon 5, the new chapter of the popular serie racing open world firmata Playground Games, which literally kept us glued to the pad of ours Xbox Series X. The reasons? Well, let’s try to summarize them, however titanic the company is given the size of the title, in the our review.

Masters of their own destiny

If there is an element capable of strongly characterizing each iteration of the serie Playground Games, is definitely the geographical context in which each episode is set, capable of guaranteeing an always specific and different playful setting. And also Forza Horizon 5 does nothing to subvert this pattern, leaving behind the foggy and leaden land of Albione, in favor of variegated and sunny Mexico.

A land once again summarized to perfection by the graphics of the English team, who managed to condense a large set of biomes into the gigantic game map, capable of giving life to playful situations that are always varied and stimulating. An intention put on display since roaring incipit, which in a matter of minutes manages to offer us a glowing mix of heart-pounding situations, before leaving us near the first stage of the Horizon festival, now in its fifth edition.

And although the overall structure has not undergone some kind of creative jolt, the efforts made by the team to try to inject new energy into a formula that, starting from the previous installation, was starting to show some creaking too many are palpable. What emerges with arrogance, already after a few moments of play, is the more balanced way in which the numerous and at times overwhelming activities are managed that are proposed to us: the game world, in fact, will gradually open up under the eyes of the player, leaving him all the time to become familiar with the various courses in the production, adding to the whole a story driven campaign much more accurate than in the past, as well as having a definitely more convincing and effective structure.

We will therefore see a sort of division between objectives and fooling around, with the player having the right to decide at any time how (and where) to use his time, without however the two elements ever traveling in parallel, in what it is a harmonious intertwining of very different playful moments.

Forza Horizon 5 review: Mexico and clouds

One story, many stories – Forza Horizon 5 review

Opening Horizon Adventure, the main campaign of Forza Horizon 5, we will be welcomed by a world of events in continuous evolution which, through the subdivision of everything into different sections, will allow us to discover little by little what Mexico has in store for us. A journey that will lead us to build the usual stages of the festival in the different regions in which the game map is divided, and which will exploit a set of stories that, although too complex, manage to provide a narrative substrate much more multifaceted than in the past.

It is undeniable, however, that the core of the experience remains the four wheels, and from this point of view Forza Horizon 5 certainly does not disappoint expectations: between circuit races, cross contry, dirt roads, endurance races and blatantly arcade moments, each ticket that characterizes Horizon Adventure will continuously provide us with new creative stimuli, capable of exploiting and making protagonists also the numerous biomes present in this new setting.

Advancing between the various events, however, will bring into play the mixture of elements mentioned in the previous paragraph, since in order to unlock the various tickets capable of activating the new chapters of the story, it will be necessary to accumulate points and awards which, in addition to the various sections of the story, will be bestowed by the boundless collateral activities of which the game world is literally filled.

Unity makes fun – Forza Horizon 5 review

And it is precisely in this set of situations that Forza Horizon 5 explodes with all its disruptive power, given the variety and quantity (as well as quality) of the gimmicks staged by the development team. And here we can only wink at the lucky past of the series, who returns once again the protagonist thanks to drifts, jumps, signs to find and destroy, races against Drivatars and humans, and so on and so forth. What we find ourselves in the hands, ultimately, is a kind of best of the saga, both as regards the moments played and the environment itself, in what is a real summa of everything that has now made each appointment with the production a little classic Playground.

Just to make a simple list, we can start from Horizon Tower, or the cooperative mode of the game, which will allow us to take to the track together with 5 other drivers to try to get the better of a series of Drivatars. Arcadeinstead, it will be a event that will appear randomly on the game map, and that will allow all players who participate in it to collaborate in overcoming a series of shared objectives.

Competitive multiplayer is also present, which responds to the name of Horizon Open, in which players will be able to battle within a full-bodied series of modes that, in addition to the canonical races, will include other situations such as King of the Hill and Capture the Flag. The Forza Horizon home battle royale, will decline this popular mode (seen in the previous chapter) in racing sauce. To close the circle of collateral activities, we find the classic seasons, which thanks to a series of challenges dedicated to time, will allow us to get our hands on a rich series of exclusive prizes.

And then there is the livery editor, the tuning, the character customization, the auction house and much more, to the point that continuing this list would be really redundant and cloying: after all we seem to have properly emphasized how much there is to play in Forza Horizon 5.

Collecting is the way – Forza Horizon 5 review

A racing game would make no sense to exist if it were not enriched by a full-bodied set of vehicles to collect and drive, and also in this sense the new Playground work does not disappoint expectations, offering the richest car park ever: the official numbers speak of 526 cars included in the base game, the number of which is destined to increase further thanks to DLC and seasons.

Already in its current state, however, the title offers a respectable quantity, capable of giving a hard time to all compulsive collectors, who will find in their hands a sort of boundless album of playable stickers to complete. And it does not matter if to do so we will have to ring up races after races, launch ourselves in search of the infamous barns, trust in the good fortune of slots, or spend (virtual) money between the auction house and the dealer.

And in line with the past is also the refined driving system that we will find waiting for us, capable of re-proposing the appreciated product with even more skill mix between arcade and semi-simulation typical of this variation of the Forza brand. Thanks to a series of widely scalable customizations, each type of driver will be able to adapt the game experience to their driving style, without prejudice to the marked differentiation of behavior of the various controllable racing cars. Present, if activated, also a mechanical damage system, not too complex indeed, but still capable of making the mechanics put on display by the English team even more varied.

Of course, the strangeness of seeing a Lamborghini or a Ferrari whizzing through dirt roads and forests still remains, but on the other hand it is certainly not on the unbridled realism that has always aimed serie Horizon. Once again, in fact, the protagonist will be the pure pleasure of driving, the charm of the journey itself, which will lead us to see the road flow below us, at times making the various activities simple (albeit pleasant) distractions.

Power is nothing without control – Forza Horizon 5 review

Being a production by Xbox Game Studios, there were many expectations around the technical sector showcased by Forza Horizon 5, although the videos that had accompanied the official reveal had already left room for a few doubts. And the game, in its definitive version, has done nothing but confirm the initial impressions: although we are in the presence of a cross-gen title, in fact, the aesthetic impact on the Xbox Series X is undeniably impressive, thanks to a cleanliness and image quality that really has no comparison in the world of open world racing.

Mexico and its various biomes are rich and vibrant, as well as always spectacular to observe and experience, even when we are speeding at over 300 kilometers per hour. The same game engine was once again flawless in managing such great magnificence, without any hesitation ever being able to undermine the various moments of the game.

And as usual The care taken in the construction of the various cars was maniacal, never been so similar to their real counterparts, and that as always we will be able to admire in all their splendor (ray tracing included) thanks to Forzavista. Furthermore, as usual, we will find two different graphic settings, capable of privileging aesthetics and performance: in the first case, everything will run at 30 very solid frames per second, while guaranteeing greater graphic detail, while the other option will sacrifice some effect (and will introduce a slight pop up of elements) in favor of 60 granite frames. Whatever the choice, however, we assure you that the overall experience will settle on excellent levels.

The audio side of the game is partly disappointing, with the tracklist of the various radio stations certainly not memorable, just as annoying is the fact that, once an event has started, the song on the air repeats itself indefinitely until the end of the race. Unfortunate once again the absence of the voice over in Italian (subtitles present), and given that we are talking about an exclusive first party of a giant like Microsoft, capable of paying out Dollars as if they were peanuts, it is out of place to note that we have not chosen to invest some more money in this direction.