Forza Horizon - Xbox 360

Forza Horizon is my fourth owned title in the series, and is now my favorite. Whereas it incorporates the enjoyment of track racing as found in the other Forza series titles, this one allows the driver to free roam the Colorado landscape.Several race modes exist; from street racing, tracks, cross country, and more. Yet one of the most enjoyable aspects is simply driving around, watching the beauty of the landscape, and the awesome changing sky. You find yourself driving at night and in daytime,Discovering the "barn finds" is a great distraction from racing for the championship. Here, while listening to any of the preselected radio stations you get clues of where to look to gain free cars. These cars range from a Cobra Daytona to an Astin Martin DBV. Rather than pricing out, the best cars are free for the finding. The selection of cars at "the auto show"are impressive. The game lacks some I would like to drive, 66 Mustang, Model T, Corvettes, and NASCAR stock cars. Yet what they do offer is a great cornucopia that will satisfy the hunger of all gearheads.My boys and I greatly enjoy this game. The views of the cars inside and out are amazing in their rendering. From cockpit view you get all sorts of wow factor for each particular car. For example, some of the Ferrari's have gear indicating lights in their steering wheel. We also love the "y" button feature. If you wreck, you can rewind the action to various distances to get a "do over". This is a great advantage over having to restart a race. With the driveline feature showing the route and brake warnings, it is the best game on the market for all skill levels. I highly recommend using the wireless steering wheel for this game, it makes it all the more realistic and enjoyable.It works fantastic with the Kennect system. Just speak your commands and Kinnect activates your GPS and routs you to wherever you desire.All in all, this game is one of the best thought out and designed I have ever played. Some days after trials and tribulations, I find it relaxing to hop in my 63 Ferrari California and take a leisurely drive in the mountains, all at endless MPG.What could be an improvement? Having avatar customization would be a plus. In the future, I would like to see various driving conditions, rain, snow, etc. Another feature to an update would be more roads to drive.

Yes this isn't a simulator, and so the Forza name is a little inappropriate, but it is the best Need for Speed type game out there, as good today as the original Need for Speed Hot Pursuit was in its day.So we have a 5 out of 5 game which is making some people upset due to having 'Forza' in its name. Did anyone really not know what type of game this was going to be?Cars: The number of available cars is small, but it is compelling. Personally I'd rather have an original Mini Cooper to drive, than 50 Mazda and Honda variants.Presentation: Every driving game, simulator or arcade should learn from the interface for this game, for once there is a semblance of a reason for why you are racing, and a good attempt to keep up a pace rather than simply making you choose races from a menu to earn money to buy upgrades to win harder races from a higher numbered menu.Races: As they say variety is the spice of life, well they are certainly varied. But this game does lose out in that not being based around race tracks, there is no sense of learning a tracks intricacies so that you can plan when and where to overtake, where to take risks and where to be extra careful.Look: What a stunner, there is a real feeling of geography in this game, from the Rockies to the dusty planes. The cars look good enough (frankly I don't think extra resolution makes much difference when physical and physics errors are so glaring in all driving games. Forza 1 and Grand Tourisimo 3 cars were just fine, the images of spectators, trees etc. are still completely rubbish after 10 years of development...) Only the city simulating games give as much of a sense of being there as this game achieves on a much higher scale.Driving: Coming straight from Forza 3 (I'm waiting for Forza 4 platinum...)this game feels like RC racing compared to Forza 3's car racing. But RC racing is fun too.

Whenever I played Forza games in the past I always took corners too fast and spun out. Anyone that's played a realistic racing game (or raced in real life) realizes that's because physics dictates that just because you turn the wheel, it doesn't mean your momentum is immediately negated. Once you get used to the way real cars and real physics work, you begin to feel a satisfaction those other, arcade-y type games just don't give you.The game starts you at the beginning of the Horizon Music Festival in Colorado, a festival that's known as much for its races as it is for its musical guests. Unlike other Forza games, Horizon has a loose story holding it all together, and this allows a lot of room for some really cool events.Aside from all of the racing and upgrading you could do in other Forza games, this one features an open world to explore. You can drive around looking for opponents, scoring discounts on upgrades and find old cars in barns hidden all over the map to have restored and added to your garage.You also get the chance to take place in "Showcase Events", things like racing an airplane, racing a helicopter, racing with a bunch of Mini-Coopers around a tiny racetrack and more. The game tracks your popularity among the people at the Horizon festival and the more popular you are, the more of these events you get to participate in.You race through 5 or 6 different named opponents and rise through the ranks from rookie to pro to one day face the famous Darius Flynt, winner of the last 3 Horizon Festivals.If you liked previous Forza Games, this one is classic Forza with even more added on top. If you found you weren't too fond of previous Forza games, this one lowers the entry barrier considerably, allowing for less experienced drivers just as much fun as the seasons pros.