It's not even been a decade and we've almost had five fully fledged Forza Horizon games. Five! You would think the series would have ran out of ideas or become stale, but that's not the case. Each entry is delivering beautiful new locales, stunning driving controls, and a whole heap of varied content to enjoy. It's honestly staggering how Playground Games continues to deliver so much with each entry, but could that magic be running out in the next entry? I'm hoping not, but I have concerns.
The first game introduced an open-world racer unlike anything we'd really seen on Xbox. Sure, we had games such as Burnout, etc, but Forza Horizon made you truly feel as though you were part of the world. As someone who never dives into racers outside of Mario Kart, it absolutely hooked me and I've been a fan of the series ever since. Over the years I've come to prefer the earlier entries, just for how they slowly open up the world, rather than the overwhelming nature of the most recent - but they're all great games.
If there's something the later entries have done that has really grabbed me, it's the absurdity. By about Forza Horizon 3, the template began to slightly shift, and by the time Forza Horizon 4 came around, it was turning full-on bonkers in some moments. With Forza Horizon 5 on the horizon, as it were, it's got me thinking about the possibilities the game could take that could showcase just how inventive the team at Playground Games are, and how they are absolutely the right team for the job to be working on Fable.
Some of you may be wondering: "What is this idiot going on about!?" - bear with me. There's a perfect moment that really encapsulates what I mean, and that's in Forza Horizon 4. Some way into the game, you gain a mission called The Halo Experience Showcase - a race dedicated to Xbox's major mascot. It's here you're tasked to drive a warthog along a cinematic race filled with dozens of Halo Easter Eggs, such as Wraiths flying above you. It's a fantastic moment, but they come so far and few between in each entry that I really hope Forza Horizon 5 leans into them more.
We've had a taste of this in the expansions that have released since Forza Horizon 3. The first truly absurd one was the Hot Wheels expansion, which tasked players to drive along the iconic toy tracks, doing loops, jumps, and other tricks. It was a great add-on, and one that tickled my taste buds for more. The main game had a few events which were cinematic treats, but this just cranked everything up to 11 and it absolutely worked.
It doesn't stop there, though. Forza Horizon 4 went even further and cranked it up so hard the dial broke. First off was the Fortune Island pack, an expansion set on an island with treacherous weather and treasure to seek out. It was perhaps a step back from the Hot Wheels add-on, but still something worth taking in. The pièce de résistance came in the form of LEGO Speed Champions - an absolutely ludicrous expansion set on a LEGO island, with LEGO vehicles, and tons of bricks to smash through. It was the craziest the series has ever been and I'm hoping it's a signal for bigger things to come.
I'm not arguing Forza Horizon 5 won't be a great game if it doesn't do any of this - not at all - but it would be a disappointment. We already have the mainline Forza Motorsport series for the racing, and it's great, but I really want this arcade racer to go crazier than ever before. I want Playground Games to let loose and allow their imagination to go wild, but perhaps more importantly, I want it to prove any naysayers incorrect that Fable is in the wrong hands.
Luckily, the introduction to the game during E3 showed promise, mainly in its online feature set. We were treated to glimpses of competitive stunt tracks, game modes and more in something known as the Events Lab - complete with in-game bowling. If this is something that's kept separate to the main campaign, this could prove to be a great compromise for me, but I don't want it just to be put in the fans' hands to create some fun. Playground Games can easily come out swinging and fully showcase their creativity in Forza Horizon 5, and I truly hope they do, as the series is at its best when it steps out of the shadow of Forza Motorsport.
Would you like to see the absurdity cranked up in Forza Horizon 5? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 38
Nice article and I think I'm the same way in terms of this series grabbing me when I usually don't go further into the genre than Kart games.
I do hope for more absurdity but I like that it's a bit sporadic. The more realistic events are pretty absurd (and brilliant) as it is. I look forward to seeing what they come up with 5.
I'm hoping the toy collaboration DLC will be Micro Machines though... and that it extends into the military micro machines range for portions of it
I do like the over the top showcases, but the balance has to be there. A whole game of over the top crazyness and then it could become gimmicky. I think the last couple of Forza Horizon's got the balance just right. With DLC being the option to truly go mad rather than the main game.
I don't agree. Keep it as FH4 is. The Hotwheels dlc from FH3 sucked imo. There are enough racing games doing the ott stuff already, don't ruin FH5 by joining them. Balance is why FH works so well.
Just echoing others comments here... Keep the balance.
The basic races are the key element of FH and must not be drowned out by the other elements.
The other stuff like the showcases are the frosting on the cake (Although I won't mind a few more showcases this time around... maybe make them seasonal?).
That halo race was cool!
Yep, I loved the Hot Wheels DLC but there needs to be balance. Don’t become a full on fantasy racer. Just the environments like those they showed in the FH5 footage so far is enough to get me excited.
I partly agree with this article. The thing is that I've played Forza Horizon since 2014 and I've 100% the first two games (some of you may remember that in FH2, you had to do the same race ten times with different vehicle types in order to "complete" that race event, which was really annoying). So once I got to FH3, I was kinda burned out on the series, even though these are phenomenal games. For me personally then, I would need FH5 to do a lot of different and interesting things to pull me back in.
However, in terms of the majority, Forza Horizon 5 is looking to attract lots of newcomers since a lot of people didn't have an Xbox One and Game Pass wasn't as popular back in 2018 when FH4 came out. That's why I don't think it matters if the developer changes the formula much or not since it will still feel like a fresh and fun game for most people. In other words, because of how much attention FH5 garnered from E3 and because it will come out on new systems (Series X/S) as well as on Game Pass (which is now more popular), it's definitely going to satisfy a lot of people regardless of what it does differently.
The only opinion pieces I want to see on PureXbox are other visitors' comments. Just throwing in some feedback.
After the original they've always followed the same formula with dlc. One fun but tame and the second one silly.
FH2:
Tame - storm island
Silly - Fast and Furious
FH3:
Tame - blizzard mountain
Silly - Hot Wheels
FH4:
Tame - treasure island
Silly - Lego
Adding some more showcases would always be a plus but I doubt they'll change the formula too much. Maybe add in some stories that add in other Microsoft Studio mascots?
I never thought I would seen the names Burnout & Forza Horizon side by side.
If only EA does not own the rights to the Burnout franchise. 😭
I love the showcase races against a boat or whatever but the ridiculous things like hot wheels are such a turn off. Buy the hot wheels game and don’t ruin the best open world racer there is. In trying to sell to causals and the online only crowd IMHO four took series backwards from the excellent three. Whilst I didn’t like the hot wheels the rest of three was as close to perfection as you can get
@Benjamin
It used to be when i went on a gaming website it was all news, now the websites are full of their personal opinions and even their lives. They need to stick to news articles and nothing else.
I think with the new tool set they showed off for community made tracks and the ability to upload and share them will get us a lot of that regardless of what the devs themselves do.
The Hot Wheels expansion for FH3 is my favourite part of the whole franchise so far. Would be fantastic to see more crazy stuff like that.
@species8472 Exactly. I visit this site because it’s usually free of that stuff.
I’m sure FH5 will be fine, have played all of them though FH4 is my favourite and FH5 has big shoes to follow.
But Playground games are the best developer Xbox has, so I’m very confident.
Interesting there are a few negative comments regarding purexbox including a discussion piece.
I understand they might not be for everyone... some people just want the news/facts.
However, I think a well written discussion piece can be entertaining... and more importantly, a kick off for discussion amongst us site visitors.
Perhaps the discussion pieces could be siloed to a different part of the site menu... out of the way of the news pieces, but still there for those who want to read them... best of both worlds?
I think its safe to say they will be bracing the fun side of driving with the bowling antics they have shown off. If anything I'd say they are as important to the series as the serious racing these days. At worst they look like they are giving us the tools to make our own fun with
Make entire dlc packs with little mini campaigns based around different MS IPs. Have a Halo campaign, a Doom Campaign, a Banjo Kazooie campaign, a Gears campaign, a Fallout campaign, a Starfield campaign, etc... Imagine the idea of having a pinball machine and retheming the machine to make it feel new again. They can charge $15-20 a campaign and print money.
The one-off stuff like the Halo Experience only work because they're one-offs. They're delightful little surprises in an otherwise incredibly deep and satisfying, albeit extremely arcade-like racing game. While I love the Hot Wheels expansion I hated the LEGO one because most of us come for the cars and all of the ridiculous things the game allows us to do with them that we couldn't do in real life (not to mention in most other games). The absurdity dial has generally always been set to `perfect` in my opinion. Setting it higher risks alienating the superfans, those of us that never stop playing, and we are very very many in number.
I don't mind the optional expansions being crazy. I did enjoy hot wheels and lego speed but don't want too much of it otherwise. The event lab sounds good, too but the normal races and open world exploration have to be there, even the signs and barn finds.
I don’t mind the big races against the likes of a train or hovercraft. These are the natural evolution of the plane races from FH1.
But what I’d really like to see is a return of more of the story-type missions that help to sell the idea of the festival fictional universe. 4 almost felt like a step back in this regard: the film director and documentary missions were nice but I’d like to see a return of the named boss characters, real name rivals rather than random gamertags and less of an emphasis of the online features in single player.
@Hypnotoad107 Waluigi 4 Horizon!!1
@species8472 @Benjamin fwiw the nlife family of sites is generally trying to replicate the print mag experience of the old days. Sometimes they hit, and sometimes they miss, but opeds are definitely a part of the magazine experience.
Really, they should make a third branch of Forza that's a love letter to arcade racers.
Throw in some Burnout, San Francisco Rush, Cruis'n, Ridge Racer, OutRun, Crazy Taxi, Need for Speed, Split/Second, Blur, Midnight Club, FlatOut, Midtown Madness, Smugglers Run, Spy Hunter, etc etc all inside a gorgeous 60 FPS 4K RTX wrapper.
Make sure there are big jumps, bigger crashes, minigames, track editor, crash mode, road rage, tag, king of the hill, eliminator, cops vs robbers, heists, stunt mode and a ridiculously cheesy story mode with the best-looking FMV ever filmed.
Call it Forza Funsplosion just to drive home the point. Take my money goddammit!
@species8472 I miss more reviews.
On topic, I would like more normal races and tournaments. The crazy stuff is part of the showcases and DLC and the balance has been right this far. The user-generated content is a good idea. An adventure mode would also be nice instead of focusing too much on the festivals.
Honestly I like having the over the top elements simply as DLC. To me the appeal of these games has always been the variety of cars, all the things I can do to them, and being able to drive them around a big open environment with great roads. Things like the Hot Wheels track, it was fun but just as a little diversion from the typical game environment. If the whole game was like that I wouldn't be interested anymore, it would lose what I found so appealing about it, and I know a lot of car enthusiasts would feel the same way.
Still not happy with Microsoft for caving to cancel culture and removing all the General Lee mods in the games. I understand that people's opinions may differ, but A) to me and countless others it was an iconic TV show car from the 70s and early 80s and nothing more, B) there is an ENDLESS list of stuff in games that a given person might find offensive for some reason, and C) the mods were always optional and never an integral, unavoidable part of the game.
Videogames are supposed to be about fun and escapism, and Forza Horizon in particular has always been about freedom, customization, and the unique experience for each individual user. Stuff like politics and censorship that intrude on such an experience, especially when they're arbitrary and leave users NO choice to decide for themselves, tend to leave a bad taste in people's mouths.
@AtlanteanMan
I was a fan of Dukes Of Hazzard as a kid (I absolutely loved it!).
But now, being a lot older and a little wiser, I 100% understand (and agree) with not having the Confederate flag in the game.
There are still endless customisation options available, so having one troublesome option removed is not a big deal and should in no way hinder your enjoyment of one of Xbox's finest games.
Rather than thinking of it as "caving in to cancel culture", consider it as "a thoughtful act to avoid a symbol that for many is associated with racism and white supremacy".
I think that is reasonable.
I agree wholeheartedly with this article. The graphics look great but I want a real over-the-top ARCADE racer. With over the top jumps, nearly indestructible cars, forgiving controls, even when using a wheel, Burnout Paradise and Midtown Madness (for those who can remember it) have been by favorite and just sheer fun, non-kart racing games. (The Crew 2 may have had some of this spirit but I never had the chance to try it) The only way this game is going to get any of my time or money is if it offers this kind of fun. Let's hope the developers read this article and these comments and at least make an option that makes the racing more over-the-top fun.
@antstephenson I thought you responded to that rather well. Good show.
@CaptnDave Forza Horizon 3 and 4 have adjustable difficulty and controls. The only thing that I find frustrating to beat is the drift challenges. I never get it right.
The gameplay they showed off looked as though they were borrowing fom the third game, with expeditions seeming to be an expansion of the progression within that game. If they allow blueprinting of championships, I'll be fine with whatever else they throw into the game. But, balance, as others have said. It's all well and good having a few crazy events, but keep the core experience mostly down to earth.
Wouldn't say no to the stories being expanded in some way if they return to include the Events Lab. Such would allow a combination of Playground to show their skill at creating stuff with those tools, along with going further in referencing other games.
@BlueOcean If you want to do good in drifting you need to be driving a car setup for that. Easiest thing to do is probably using one of those pro drift cars in the game or buying a popular drift car such as a Nissan Z or Mazda RX and looking up drift tunes in the community tunes menu. That and make sure you got traction control turned off. It helps if you got a lot of nice bonuses for your skill score activated.
@BlueOcean I couldn't get the drifting right at all... then I tried it with the Lego Bugatti and it was super easy.
@antstephenson @JayJ Thanks, I've tried lots of things but I'll try that as well.
@antstephenson As I said before, placing one of the mods in your copy of the game was always optional; if an individual didn't want to see a Confederate flag they never even had to open up the '69 Charger's user mods in the first place.
Let's take the Confederate battle flag out of the equation for a moment and imagine this could be ANYTHING of a pre-existing nature (as these mods were) that a particular group claimed as offensive, for any reason. Would you rather A) give people/consumers the option to choose whether they wanted to include it for themselves as was the existing case, or B) arbitrarily decide what's "right" and "best" for everyone by taking them away completely? Which of those two options sounds more like freedom?
I realize there are people with differing opinions on the matter, and I too am not out to unnecessarily offend or attack anyone, but in my book cancel culture is a very slippery slope where what's being deemed "offensive" and removed/censored almost entirely depends on race and/or sociopolitical affiliation. Many of these same people (particularly "intellectuals" on places like college campuses) claimed to despise ANY form of censorship only 20-30 years ago (meaning before most of those championing all of these "changes" were even born or old enough to remember anything being different); the difference is what's occurred since they achieved enough political power. What's happening is far, FAR worse than anything the Confederate battle flag might ever have represented in its implications (if you don't believe me, just read the remarks of certain "lecturers" at Ivy League and other campuses over the past year, and compare CRT through the lens of a certain regime in 1930s Europe who indoctrinated their youth to vilify a certain demographic).
But back to the topic at hand. If everyone who gets on some high horse about the General Lee or whatever was genuinely serious about avoiding anything that offends any person/group, we'd all end up with a lot fewer games to play, movies to watch, books to read, etc.. And of course THEIR typical response is "If it's that offensive to you, you can simply choose not to buy/play it", or "There are plenty of other available options"...even as we're seeing movies, TV shows, brand labels, books, etc. that THEY don't like being removed, shades of the very worst 20th Century regimes.
And yes, I realize that I've written all of this concerning a fictional car on a retro TV series, but it's only one of countless things that have been arbitrarily removed without so much as a public vote, consumer feedback, or anything else than a "narrative" given as a reason, so the core issue is MUCH bigger and has MUCH further-reaching implications. If a rule can apply to one "offensive" set of material, then why is the ground not level on the subject? Again, give every person the freedom to decide for themselves what they like or don't like, what they want to "include" or don't; don't take those options away from them that have been there for years or even decades which nobody even complained about until some eerily familiar sociopolitical movements suddenly began arbitrarily deciding for everyone. You might argue the morality of it one way or the other, but the option to have or ignore is a lot more free than having no option at all and either the State or a particular group dictating what's right or wrong and how to think.
@AtlanteanMan
Unfortunately, I don't think we will reach a consensus here, as I believe we are philosophically poles apart.
Where you see lack of freedom, I see a developer wanting to protect their baby.
Where you want to have latitude to mod as you wish, I understand a developer wanting to maintain a tone for their product.
Where you see cancel culture, I see people wanting to eliminate hateful speech, icons and behaviour.
So, while I won't debate this anymore, as I believe our thinking is too far apart; I will leave you with this one thought...
It's just a videogame, with a developer trying to keep things pleasant.
That's it, nothing else.
Really not worth getting aggravated about.
There's a lot trouble in the world right now and this is small potatoes.
So relax and enjoy the games you love for what they are (not what they are not or what they will not allow you to do).
Hope you find and enjoy the games that bring you happiness.
Peace and love.
@antstephenson I agree on our respective positions not leaving room for any further discourse (that isn't an attack against you by the way; our opinions on the subject are simply different). Where you apparently see a "hateful" icon, I see one of the most popular TV show cars of all time, and neither the car nor the show as a whole promoted hate or racism of any kind, EVER. In my humble opinion neither it nor many of the things that have been "canceled" over the past year-plus really deserved it.
Again, I realize your position is different, so I will leave off there. I will, however, leave you with a thought of my own:
When you said Microsoft was "protecting their baby", what exactly would they be protecting it from? The perception or outrage of a mob, many of whom have probably never even played a Microsoft product? If they had done and announced NOTHING regarding the removal of the General Lee mods, would it have made any difference whatsoever?
Take care.
Tap here to load 38 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...