Forza Horizon 5 is now officially available to everyone on Xbox Game Pass, and head of Xbox Phil Spencer took to Twitter last night to confirm that the game has now passed 4.5 million players altogether.
In addition, the game achieved the biggest launch day of any Xbox Game Studios title in history, and Spencer says this is the result of "investing for years in Xbox so more people can play." Here's his full tweet:
Forza Horizon 5 has been a huge success for Xbox Game Studios already, then, and it's great to see so many people enjoying it on console, PC and via Xbox Cloud Gaming. It's another massive win for Game Pass as well!
How are you finding the game so far? We want to know your thoughts down in the comments below.
Comments 95
Incredible game. All the success is well deserved.
4.5 million users already, Game officially launched yesterday. Probably reach 10 million at this rate by Sunday Night.
It's really amazing, too bad I had to go to work today, as I would have played a lot more... but numbers are astounding.... over a million had early access too.... which is really telling....
It better be nominated at the Keighleys (TGA) for overall game of the year, or it's the last time I watched that show....
Too much work lately to play but looking forward to it. Watched my son playing some last weekend and it looked brilliant.
Having fun with it, I just wish it would remember the car I last used and wouldn't put me in the Supra by default every time I start the game. Minor niggle but annoying nonetheless.
Outstanding. Game is a masterpiece!
@TheSilverFalcon
Too bad some PlayStation game will win my bet is either Deathloop or Ratchet & Clank
Between Forza and Halo, the end of this year is going out with a bang!
There's some so, authentically Xbox, with Forza. When I'm playing it I feel like I'm playing it on the Xbox console, if that make sense. It's almost a taste nostalgia, and when I think about playing Halo infinite I get that same feeling.
@RedKnight34 It would be ironic and funny if Deathloop won. Seeing as it's owned by Xbox 😀
@TheSilverFalcon interesting convo about this on the Xbox two podcast(although I’m guessing you listened to it as they coined the phrase the Keighleys!)
I agree though regardless of if you’re a fan of racing games, it’s likely going to be the highest rated new release this year and probably the most played new game. But as it’s not the right genre I could see it getting overlooked.
This stat is nice, but how many copies of the game did they sell?
Not that it's a problem they've changed priorities, of course.
@RedKnight34 That's because no one makes exclusives best like Sony does.
I haven't played much of it, but I loved what I played. And this game looks incredible in Dolby Vision!
Bloody brilliant bar the inability to preview car decals before applying them.....
@Shigurui I've only played this yesterday in one sitting so I'm really just guessing but wouldn't quick resume fix that 'issue'? Or does qr not work?
@RadioHedgeFund I can't believe they still haven't added that option man. Didn't even check a decal yesterday because of it
Game of the Year contender.
Definite GOTY contender, though personally as good as it is 10+ hours in, it's too iterative and safe to be GOTY.
@Cherip-the-Ripper I never use QR but I assume it wouldn't swap my car to the Supra. Point is it shouldn't be doing it. Default behaviour should leave you in the car you last drove. Like I said, minor niggle.
@RedKnight34 Pfft I have a ps5 and Ratchet and Clank is distinctly average
@IronMan30
I think I read that 1m played in early access, so I guess they all bought either the full game or the dlc (plus there'll be more people to come as kids get Xboxes for Christmas... assuming they are in stock).
I wonder how many of that 4.5 million is via gamepass though, I'd wager around 90%
@Royalblues why do you want it to win game of the year so bad? As long as its game of the year to you then that's all that matters, my game of the year (Tales of Arise) hasn't even been nominated but doesnt mean its not good or not highly recognised
@UltimateOtaku91 As it’s been said; it hit 1 million in early access and you had to pay for that. Even GPU players had to pay for the premium upgrade bump.
@RedKnight34 I think GotY nominees will be something like:
With Metroid Dread winning overall.
That number is fake!!! I logged on after his tweet so it's larger actually.
Great game. Really enjoying myself just driving around and getting side tracked by undiscovered roads or signs. Did a multiplayer mode, the one where you play king and infection... don't recall what it's called, had a blast. It's definitely an improvement to 4 and all the biomes are great, haven't seen them all yet i think. I'm going Baja style first and then going from there.
Also on the opening drives i totally had a dumb smile on my face... freaking love Horizon
@Shigurui i just started playing it last night so i haven't come across this but if true then yes....that's annoying. FH4 just started you off at your house with the last car you were in so not sure why they would change that.
@BlueOcean It absolutely should win it. Nothing that came out year is even close imo, though if I had to put money on it I'd say Deathloop is gonna snag it even though I personally wasn't a huge fan of it.
@Snake_V5 Pretty sure you meant to say Nintendo.
@Grumblevolcano Add Psychonauts 2, Deathloop, It Takes Two & Returnal to that list. Outside chances include Hitman 3, Chicory and the real cult outsider The Artful Escape!
Not sure why but I don't think Dread will win it.
Personally I've not played enough games on that list yet to have a great view. But as good as FH5 is, and it is very good, it's also very safe and familiar to anyone who played FH4. That usually isn't rewarded at most GOTY awards. It will win some but not many I feel.
If I was a betting man my money would be between Psychonauts 2 & Returnal.
Great numbers but surely it was to be expected given that its on GP at launch its a no risk play to try it out if your subbed up
Still, 8/10 innit.
I don't know what it is, but the Horizon series is my favorite game series ever. I never liked racing games before I picked up the first, and have been more and more hooked ever since. FH4 was my favorite game of last generation, and that only slightly more than FH3. I plan on putting 250+ hours into FH5. I am loving Mexico!
@Kopite 1+million decided to buy, either the full game, or just the $45 add-on pack. Then after release on gamepass and in general, that numbered jumped to 4+ million. Don't know why numbers mean that much to so-called "gamers" just play the games. That so hard?
No way FH5 will be nominated for Game of the Year. Even if it's the best reviewed game of 2021, we know how those awards work. Only story driven action-adventure games or RPGs are seriously considered.
I can see Psychonauts 2 being nominated along with Deathloop, Resident Evil 8, It Takes Two, Metroid Dread and either Ratchet & Clank or Returnal.
Sadly Halo Infinite won't be out in time to qualify for TGA, but it could win BAFTA or DICE.
@redd214 Yeah, any weird game will earn the GOTY awards 😂.
@Grumblevolcano That GOTY list depresses me every time you share it. Short of MH Rise which is truly a marvel, and FH5, and likely SMTV (which doesn't have a shot in the world at GOTY) none of those games come close to being worthy of a GOTY. Metroid Dread is a great Metroid game with some deep flaws. But much as I love metroid games I couldn't give any of them a GOTY nomination, not even Super.
@themightyant I agree overall, but I'd better hear the critics cite that exact same logic when rating GoW:R, which is literally a DLC that was expanded into a retail release during production. With a racing game that already was amazing, there's only so much you can change without it being broken. Ubisoft tried planes and boats.....
@IronMan30 I don't think they care how many copies they sold, especially if they're showing they're selling a lot of new GP subs. $120-180/yr is better than a single $60 sale after all. But with 1M early access users, there's still 1m sales (or DLC sales + GP) at launch which is pretty darned good for Day 1.
@redd214 I'm convinced modern "video game critics" are just film school dropouts that wanted to be in movies. The only thing that seems to factor into the reviews is if they were told a good story, or even a bad story that was told expensively. Games like FH5 that really push the medium of video games in their raw form are ignored entirely in favor of the next-best B-grade short story worthy of airing on The CW network.
@BlueOcean The Forza Grass(TM) is so pretty at 30fps. The racing so smooth at 60fps. I CAN'T DECIDE!!
@PhhhCough says the guys who's instantly spouted numbers the called me a "real gamer", if its free as part of a subscription service that has what 20 million users that amount of players isn't a really a surprise I genuinely thought it would be more but it'll get there id imagine over the weekend
@themightyant Forgot Returnal. The arthouse game designed for an Oscar, I mean a Keighley. Yeah, that will win. Though Psychonauts 2 better at least be nominated. I can't see Deathloop getting it. If for no other reason it's Arkane, the default Susan Lucci of game studios.
@ChrisMcC7
Send your son to work and you play Forza.
That sounds better! 😬
@themightyant Only 6 games get nominated and the first 5 I'm confident will be nominated. I listed Back 4 Blood/Shin Megami Tensei V/Forza Horizon 5 as 1 option because I can't decide which is most likely to be nominated.
Back 4 Blood fits one of the general themes of Game Awards nominees but has some problems that led to Left 4 Dead 2 having a surge in popularity instead.
Shin Megami Tensei V also fits a general theme of Game Awards nominees but Shin Megami Tensei isn't Persona so its chances are reduced.
Forza Horizon 5 while a very well received game is a racing game which reduces its chances of being nominated. Sounds ridiculous (it is) but if you look at past GotY nominees, they all fit into like 3 game genres and racing isn't one of them.
But good call on It Takes Two, that seems like another likely candidate for the other game.
@NEStalgia I'd be very surprised if GoW:R was AS iterative and safe as FH5, yes it will be similar of course, but Santa Monica aren't known for resting on their laurels.
Regardless I think there is a difference between a driving game like FH5, that to my 10+ hour impression adds almost nothing worthwhile to the core gameplay, and a narrative action game adding a new plot, moves etc. In one the narrative is extraneous in the other it's a key part of the core experience, they SHOULD'T be judged evenly on these things. That would be like giving FH5 a 5/10 because the narrative bits are a bit crap.
Generally I find FH5 very hard to pin down. It's clearly wonderful and i'm having a lot of fun barring a few minor annoyances (map marker & collectathon hell). It's also a technical marvel and difficult to criticise in any major way. In short it's a very, very good and polished game and deserving of all the praise. BUT it also just feels like more of the same. It reminds me of unwrapping a new phone, you get all excited, you install the backup but then you're left with the same home screen and apps you had before on a slightly larger, faster and prettier screen. To me GOTY should be a little more, but many will disagree, as is their right.
Never heard of Susan Lucci so don't know if that is an insult or praise for Arkane! IMDB suggested she was in a soap opera, i've also never heard of, for decades. Regardless haven't played Deathloop yet... waiting for the Directors Cut on Game Pass next year
@Krzzystuff I think it's a bug, no matter what car I quit my session in it always puts me in the Supra when I next play and more often than not my character has default clothing instead of the gear I changed it to.
Ok, now that I've finnally been able to put my hands on it, I just can't decide myself between quality and performance modes.
What did you choose, pals ? XD
@Grumblevolcano That's a fair point on only 6 titles.
Personally I don't put much weight into other people's GOTY lists, other that to see if I missed anything, as it's so subjective. Like what you like and be happy. But it is still interesting.
I think the main reason The Game Awards GOTY list is seen by many as the gold standard is that the Jury is made up of almost 100 publications across 25+ countries. Those include gaming sites, YouTube channels and more traditional news media. Plus 10% of the vote is fan based. That makes it a broader and wider mix than the others, despite what critics say.
If you want purely fan based awards then things like Golden joysticks are still there, but there are flaws with that too, not least social engineering.
In a year like 2021 where no one game has stood head and shoulders above the others I think ALL the aforementioned games will win a GOTY from somewhere... but who will win the Keighley
@UltimateOtaku91 why does it matter how many is Gamepass? It’s all money in MS pockets and 4.5 million is damn impressive.
I played it last night. Really enjoyable again apart from the garbage annoying characters.
@themightyant I think a big factor is the fact The Game Awards isn't just an awards show. Lots of people watch for the announcements and discussion surrounding awards comes as a result of going to watch it anyway for the announcements.
@Bobobiwan i went performance from the start, didn't even try quality. Give me them frames for the fast paced game
@NEStalgia Ha ha but weren't we discussing the trees as well? I appreciated your definition of the trees eventually.
It's over 5M already. Also Ford is tweeting out for people to pick up the game and explore with the Bronco
@Rural-Bandit Oh you mean just Mario and Zelda.
I thought that people had already understood that Xbox is not about sales only but also subscriptions but the funny thing is that, without any idea at all, some people (trolls?) play down the success of anything related to Xbox by mentioning Game Pass, as you can see on this thread and many others, as if Game Pass was not a success on its own. Anyway, Forza Horizon 3 was one of the best-selling games when it was released and so was Forza Horizon 4 even though this one was included in Game Pass. Forza Horizon 5 is becoming very successful as well.
@SplooshDmg Halo is the next Lucci. It's a December game. Doesn't qualify for 2021 and will be forgotten for 2022 (for most awards.) MH Rise and maybe SMTV are fair qualifiers for GOTY IMO. I suck at MH but that game is darned impressive in every way (and it's not just switch, it's PC, too.)
@themightyant I'd be surprised if GoW:R wasn't. It literally was supposed to be an add-on DLC. Then the scope grew into a "part 2", but it's clearly been said to be more of a part 2 continuation than an iterative sequel. What we've been shown really confirms that, it's very clearly a continuation of more of the same. Like FH5 I'm sure they'll add on some things to it, but it doesn't look set to shake up what's already there at all, same as FH4 to FH5. Unless there's some big surprises under the hood from the new director, I honestly think it needs to be removed from GOTY consideration from the start, even if it's just handed to HFW as a default "Sony must always win" prize, that looks like it takes a lot more directional changes than are planned for GoW:R. Which is fine. If what GoW:R is meant to be is a continuation and conclusion to what was started, that's perfectly fine, but I think it has to be separated from GOTY discussion if so.
I think the issue with FH and looking for "something major and new" is what exactly could make it major and new. The cars can't do anything cars can't do, otherwise it's broken. They added aircraft, loosely, in a non-major way, and not as part of controllable gameplay. It's already a big detailed open world that's now 1:1 terrain mapped with reality. Can't change reality from reality if the goal is reality. Can add event types, which they did, but it's already so jam packed full of event types anything else is filler or noise. The graphics are now photorealistic and any further enhancement (120fps at even more realer graphics) is hardware limited. There's nothing major that can be changed other than changing the core fundamentals of the game (We don't want Jak 3 Racing to happen to other games/genres.... ) So what can they change? Refine the sound design? They did that. Improve the driving modeling and physics, racing AI, etc? They did that. Notice racing is more Forza Motorsport like now? That's not a small addition. It doesn't look like much but internally that's a significant update.
The problem is the award judges are looking to be "wowed" and iteration doesn't "wow." The problem is that's not what critics should be doing. If they're seriously judging the qualities of game they need to be looking under the hood, not just what gave them the most surprising pop culture experience. A game like FH5 surely deserves serious consideration for GOTY. It takes what's close to perfection for a genre almost entirely its own, with little room to add anything to it and iterates over a whole host of details across the whole environment to enhance it across the board.
But it's video games, internet, and self-important blowhards. Among Us will will because totes pop, so much meme! Or a big budget storytelling experience because the reviewers could spend their 10 hours with a smile and move on without thinking about more than "character x was so cool." I don't need to see FH5 win, exactly. But I need to see games LIKE FH5 win to ever take those awards as anything other than joint advertising campaigns. and fan popularity contests.
Susan Lucci is the poster-child for how much awards ceremonies suck. On the soaps for decades, deserving of the Emmy for decades.....and never won a one. It was like the Cubs and the World Series. She was a meme before memes and the internet were a thing. Eventually they basically gave her one of those sympathy Emmy's "Sorry we screwed you over for politics for 25 years, here's a belated one-time prize since you were owed one eventually." Like they did for Scorsese.
TGA suffers from the same problem as Metacritic. It basically rewards what's popular, not what's good, by default. It's not an objective critique, it's little more than an opinion poll.
@Krzzystuff I like the Bronco a lot, it's in my list of favorites. But the Renault Mégane that we drive in one of the story missions stole my heart, it felt so good to drive that I immediately bought one (in-game, obvioulsy).
I wonder if the car manufactors actually pay for a chance to be featured in missions, since that's basically advertisement.
@NEStalgia Nothing should be discounted from GOTY discussions, not this or any iterative game. But I agree most judges ARE looking for something to wow them, that was my initial point on why I don't think this will win. As good as it is, it doesn't have that new X factor imho, but other iterative sequels like Mass Effect 2 do.
You talk of fan popularity contests yet give two of the most populist views:
1) Calling the TGAs the "Sony must always win" prize... yet Sony have only won 2 of the 7 TGA GOTY awards thus far, it's a popular meme but factually incorrect.
2) Calling judges from 100+ publications and 25+ countries 'self important blowhards'. Man of the people! But that's pretty dismissive of a wide range of industry professionals from a range of backgrounds who have worked hard to establish themselves. I'd rather their collective views than Joe Shmoe. Not least they've probably at least played most of the nominees.
I don't have time to discuss at length, as i'm off to play Forza! 😜 Happy gaming!
@RedKnight34 It would be a sin if Ratchet & Clank got it instead of Psychonauts 2 but, nevertheless, it may happen.
@themightyant "Not enough new blinking lights to capture my goldfish attention span - 4/10" -IGN
ME2 isn't really a good comparison, they literally replaced the core gameplay of the game, controversially, from an RPG to a shooter. Maybe ME2 to ME3 is the better comparison where it's a true continuation rather than a publisher replacement with all new demands. But what was new about ME3 vs 2? Dialogue and narrative. New environments. The gameplay was identical. FH5 has new environments, identical gameplay, but by nature lacks dialogue and narrative. Again, the critics aren't evaluating video games, they just want to be told a story. That's a serious problem in video game critiquing. As long as it's reviewed as a film and not as a game, entire categories of games aren't even contenders for their awards. Racing, simulation, sports, RTS for that matter, MOBAs, MMOs, competitive FPS (Overwatch somehow managed to win all the awards at launch, but like most years, including Hades, tends to reflect a popularity zeitgeist more than a deep analysis. Hades is a very good effort for what it is, but it's utterly bizarre it swept GOTYs as it did. There was far more standout about far more games than Hades in that time. Best Indie? Surely. Best GAME? That's some severe industry blinders to pick a relatively small game of very shallow scope, no matter how well made for its category, and declare it the best of everything. And I can't help but thing if it didn't become an internet trend, would it have even seen the light of day in such an award, even as well done as it is?
Yeah, the "Sony must win" thing is a meme, but it's also from the recent trend as the results and critical views all homogenize. The real trend is "whatever is most popular on the internet wins." It's just so blatant when it's Sony. Especially when they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar buying scores for TLOU2.
Sure, the latter is dismissive, but it's also accurate, if pointed. Again, notice that the trend is consistent across almost all "awards" programs. What wins, what's nominated, is generally what's popular on the internet. Not even necessarily what sells best. Simply what's socially popular.
It becomes even more apparent when you compare Japanese GOTY charts to western GOTY charts. Sometimes, sure, it's games only available in Japan, but often, it's not. And the Japanese charts reflect what's internet popular in Japan (or just the flat out best sellers.) It's not just about cultural difference. Game enthusiasts in Japan have been really into a lot of Western games. Skyrim, For Honor, etc. Serious critics would be evaluating those games on equal footing. But no, the popularity, and worse, internet polarity contests endure.
@Ile he’s not really a troll tbh, just loves to tug one out over Sony whenever possible.
I had no problem with PureXbox giving this game an 8, it’s still a great score and it’s probably where I’d score it at the moment. The graphics are beautiful and and the driving is great. It does feel like more of the same with some nice new additions but it still has the annoying characters and ***** wheel spins. I can understand people giving this 9 or even 10’s though, it’s top of the class in the genre.
@BlueOcean Ratchet and Clank shouldn’t be anywhere near any GOTY lists imo. It just kinda came and went imo. Yes it looked stunning but if you’re criticising Forza 5 for being more of the same and not R + C there’s something wrong. It had a forgettable story and it’s core gameplay was exactly the same as the PS4 game.
@Rural-Bandit @Fenbops I bought launch PS5 mostly for R&C....I'm still waiting or a sale to actually buy it...
@NEStalgia you could be waiting a while with Sonys pricing this gen 🤣
@Fenbops Sad, but true. They've put Returnal and PS3Souls on a few sales so far. Not good sales, mind, but sales. I expect once their bigger games start landing in 2022, they might start offering better discounts on the older games. Right now the problem is no competition. The games are still at "launch" sales because hardware sellthrough hasn't been reached yet, and they don't have newer games pushing out the older games to irrelevance. 2022 is going to be a non-stop barrage of games, so these older games will devalue quickly. I fully expect Returnal, and maybe PS3Souls to be PS+ giveaways over a 5 year period. Their sales will hit a cliff at somepoint.
Ratchet? I'm hoping to get any sales. Even knocking it down to $55 or so for Black Friday I'd bite as a "cute Christmas game."
It helps that I don't have to buy Halo or FH5 up front and Nintendo has literally nothing coming
@Rural-Bandit Yeah, I'm thinking 50/50 for Black Friday. Maybe not a great price, but something more sane. I assume it's hit a sales dip by now and they want to push it for the holiday. I
@Magabro good point. Do they just randomly choose the car or do they get a payment from the manufacturer to be included. They also have to pay licencing fees to use the likeness of the cars so maybe that fee is just waived? End of day....it's fun
@NEStalgia as fun and graphically excellent it is, it’s not worth £70 imo, I didn’t pay that luckily. You’ll enjoy it when you do play it, it’s a good game.
I did enjoy the kena review comments on the other site criticising its length, when it’s the same length as R+C 🤣 at least kena was £32 or whatever.
@Fenbops LOL, yeah, the gameplay length really has me turned off. Kena is a must as well. As is stray when it comes out. But yeah, those aren't $70. That's obscene for big games, let alone an R&C 10 hour adventure. I feel kind of guilty about paying $60 for Metroid, but it's Nintendo....no other way around it.
@Fenbops Yep, Rift Apart is more of the same, even less.
@Microbius I'm playing on Series S. I tried both performance and quality mode and I prefer quality hands down. The frame rate is pretty smooth at 30 fps IMO and the loss on image quality at performance mode is more jarring than playing at a lower frame rate.
@Microbius It's really a tough choice. I just played an hour in 60 fps, and yeah, the game, like that, is so sweet. It seems faster, it responds better. So, everything a racing game needs, right ?
But personnally, I just can't pretend to not see the graphic gap. The game in quality mode is almost photorealistic to my eyes. And I don't know what they add to the general picture, in order to make it look like that... but for me, it's just night and day.
Performance mode is making it look like an extraordinary videogame, while quality mode is making it look like a damn movie !
And so, I chose to get back - and stay for a while - to quality mode.
It really is a matter of personal appreciation, I guess !
@Hurblyburbly very sensible idea. About time he contributed.
This article
https://kotaku.com/forza-horizon-5-is-finally-stealing-the-show-for-micros-1848034238
kind of compensate that depressing Pure Xbox review. Forza Horizon 5 represents the first of the highly anticipated new-gen Xbox games and will be followed by Halo Infinite later this year, not to mention the juggernaut that will come in the following years
Having a blast with it. Decided to just jump in for half hour yesterday evening and didn't stop playing until midnight.
Though what is with the pronouns? why can't I opt out of that nonsense? What happened to giving the player options?
@Bobobiwan
Tried both modes and I prefer performance, hands down. I don't see that gap in quality some guys are talking about. I do, however, mind how sluggish the game feels at 30fps.
Same reason I couldn't enjoy FH3 (still hoping for it to get the fps boost treatment).
Does it count if you delete the game after one session?
@StylesT that comment alone tell me you do not have a PS5!!
@NEStalgia As usual we're into the weeds and deflecting from the main topic, a great game
As usual I agree with much of what you say to a degree, there are nuggets of real truth in there, but I think you take them to exaggerated conclusions. Like any good conspiracy theory there's enough truths and half truths to make it seem legit, but like the "Sony must always win prize" there are a few bad takes interwoven too which hurt your argument.
"Again, notice that the trend is consistent across almost all "awards" programs. What wins, what's nominated, is generally what's popular on the internet. Not even necessarily what sells best. Simply what's socially popular."
You say this like it's some profound statement, it really isn't. STOP THE PRESS! Popular game wins award! Isn't that the base norm, and rightly so? Games are usually popular because they are good. But then you also get snarky when they go off base and vote for a game that IS divisive like TLOU2. Can't have it both ways.
"Whatever is most popular on the internet wins" Though if that were REALLY true League of Legends, FIFA, Call of Duty, Fortnite & Minecraft would be cleaning up at all the awards (granted they win a few, and rightly so) outside our little niche of gaming chat THESE are the popular games.
And if it were a player popularity by player count award. PUBG, CrossFire & Dungeon Fighter Online would clear up.
If it was purely a popularity contest Valheim would probably win all the awards this year.
But these are specifically CRITICS awards. I don't find it in the least surprising that a game like TLOU2 wins over Animal Crossing. Talking of TLOU2...
"Especially when they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar buying scores for TLOU2." Is that a fact? Did I somehow miss the largest story of the decade? Did Sony really get caught buying review scores? I'd LOVE to read more on this, outside of Neogaf and clickbaity YT videos. Got a link?
As ever you make some good points, and there's a whisper of an argument i'm totally on board with, but I can't get down with the full argument because there's too many bad or bad faith takes.
@sjbsixpack I don't have a ps5 because I don't praise the hell out of every PlayStation game lmao....how wrong you are fanboy....I have a ps5 and a series X....and I am more than happy to prove it you wish you daft lil child
So you can see my platinum on the okay but nothing special Ratchet and Clank a rift apart if you like
@StylesT 😂😂😂
Def not got a PS5. Prob couldn’t get one an now ya all upset, slating games ya haven’t played!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️😂😂😂😂
@sjbsixpack So you just choose to ignore the fact I willingly offered to prove i have a ps5
Do fanboys and idiots go hand in hand? Would seem so.
Maybe you should go back over to pushsquare where the majority of your lot blindly praise anything and everything playstation..seen as you are so upset about someone saying a PlayStation exclusive is just okay and not the best thing ever!
@themightyant TLOU2 isn't an exception to the rule, it is the rule. Yes, it's decisive. Yes, it sold really well at first and then it's sales tanked off a cliff to the point that even the current gouging Sony permanently reduced it's price heavily after a year. But what made it the obvious win? It trended. It was internet-popular. It dominated internet discussion. Internet advertising. Media chatter. Social chatter. It didn't win because it was amazing selling because sales floored. It didn't win because it was an impeccable game - that point is decisive and objectively it's simply not. It like may others, including Hades where it won instead, won because it trended, because media and social discussion was relentless about it. That's an important distinction. If it were the best selling game, Minecraft, FIFA, and GTAV would win annually. It's the most internet-popular game that wins. That's not to absolve the Oscars which seldom picks the most popular or highest grossing film, but instead picks an arthouse film always obviously designed to a formula to fit "Oscar winner", from the start. An objective "winner" there is a template, formulated for the "quality" metrics of the Oscars (plus a whole lot of politics.) LotR3 was one of the very very rare instances were a high selling, highly popular film also won the awards, and it swept them.
Again, Legends, FIFA, CoD, Fortnite and Minecraft ar the top SELLING, but they are not the most internet popular. They're not what the games media and gaming social discussion talk about. In fact they're heavily derided by the above, with one lone exception being ACNH. And, lo, in Japan, there's the winner.
Regarding Sony's hand in the till, all I can/will say on that subject, is it isn't the first time, and they're far from the only publisher that's done it. It's predictable, it's just unusual they got outed on that one. And it may or may not be them directly, the PR firm middlemen can pull some antics not "authorized" but not reprimanded if it works.
@Microbius @Bobobiwan @gollumb82 I'm infamous with being indecisive on the matter since X1X FH4. I'm in the same boat. Default was 30fps so I left it at first. And it was amazing, that intro was a few minutes of the biggest dopey smile as-is. Stuck with it for most of the first night. And the 30fps does have that "cinematic" look (people laugh about that, but it's true.) At times it can make it look sluggish, but that's the point. Then switch to 60. The graphics drop is immediately noticeable, as is how fluid the game moves. Exploring the wilds is less interesting, everything looks flatter and less real. But racing is a lot more real.
I can't pick either! If I'm going from event to event there's no reason to do 30. The game looks too sluggish and choppy, and you're not looking at the scenery you're looking at the cars and flags, the better gfx are a waste. If I'm cruising around, 30's the only way to go and take in the sights. If I'm doing barn finds, 30 is almost nauseating while in the bushes. If I'm doing billboards, it's kind of the same.
The trouble is you're usually doing one of those activities intermittently most of the time, so it's hard to stay on 30fps, but I miss the graphics when I'm looking over the horizons.
Still can't really decide.
@NEStalgia @Microbius @Bobobiwan @gollumb82 Same problem initially but then I started to notice pop-in and LOD management on foliage and grass etc. at 60fps so back to 30fps I went.
Honestly it looks and plays wonderfully at 30fps. I thought I was fully signed up to 60fps but I was wrong.
@themightyant @NEStalgia @Microbius @Bobobiwan
That's the great thing about having a choice 🙂 For me, racing games need to be as smooth as possible. Quality mode is for games like Cyberpunk 2077, where I don't mind 30 fps. Fun fact: in Cyberpunk 2077 the choice between quality and performance is only available o Xbox. I was very disappointed when I tried playing the game on PS5 a while back.
@NEStalgia I feel there's a lot of mental gymnastics going on here. It could just be as simple as Witcher 3, BotW, God of War, Sekiro, TLOU2 etc. won because the majority of the gaming press thought it was their favourite game of the year.
Not buying this "Internet popular" always wins argument.
Sekiro definitely wasn't more "internet popular" than SSMBU or Control.
Was Overwatch more "internet popular" than Doom, Titanfall 2, Uncharted 4 or Inside?
What about Dragon Age: Inquistion? More "internet popular" that Dark Souls 2, Bayonetta 2 or Hearthstone. No.
I'm sure there are some spineless publications that do kow-tow to public consumption but not the vast majority of them. Not least it doesn't drive clicks
And you still haven't given any useful references to your "hands in the cookies jar" accusations. Sorry but I like facts not spurious rumour-mongering. But I agree on PR middlemen, sadly had to deal with some of those *****!
@gollumb82 Yes choice is good! We all have different tolerances to this sort of thing.
I've only played Cyberpunk on Stadia 🤣🤣🤣
@themightyant
For what it's worth, I heard CP2077 plays great on Stadia 🙂
How many people actually purchased a standalone version of Forza Horizon 5?
@gollumb82 It does... relatively! But was always going to wait to play it on next gen.
I only got it as they were practically giving it away. I already wanted a Chromecast for the TV in the back room and they were giving a copy of Cyberpunk, a Stadia controller and a few months of Stadia Pro for free on top of that. More than happy to oblige!
The Stadia tech is definitely the best streaming one i've used so far. I've tried most of them. I think the fact the controller hooks up directly to the wifi router, skipping the console or box, likely helps all the latency. Shame about the atrocious business model though!
@themightyant Yeah, that bugs me a lot. In the open world. But for the actual races, it's irrelevant and you notice the fluid car motion so much more.
I wish there could be a setting to switch mode upon entering/exiting an event so it could be 30fps in free roam and 60 in racing events. The engine doesn't seem able to toggle without restarting, which is a limitation of the engine. Other games can toggle on the fly. That wouldn't help with barn finds though, where I do find low framerates physically unsettling when up close and pixel peeping.
Sekiro, Control, and SSMBU were indeed all internet popular, and only one could win, obviously. That year is actually one of the more unusual ones where the winner, probably by chance, happened to be one that I could easily see winning on an objective basis. I can't stand the game, myself, but objectively, I can actually see that one as a worthy winner. It's niche, and its niche is not me at all, but its execution and detail from top to bottom is excellent with no glaring flaws other than being niche.
@Hordak My FH pattern has been to play it on Game Pass, and then in a year or two it's like 40% or more off for the complete edition with all the DLC on a Black Friday sale so I snag the full game then. Why buy the full thing when you're going to subscribe to GP? IDK, but I'm trying to get the rest of Yakuza series on XB today while it's on sale, too. (Already had it all on PS....but the MS cart doesn't want to work.)
@themightyant AFAIK Luna's controller connects directly, too, but it doesn't match what I've heard about Stadia. What I don't understand about how Stadia is good is that they've been behind PS Now for a long time, and it's been terrible mostly because the datacenters are too spread out. I'm not sure how they worked around that with Stadia, but I suspect there's some trickery where they didn't actually reduce the lag, they just found a way to reduce the perception of lag. XCloud on the other hand...... That really needs some work.... Bad as it can be at times, though, it's nothing compared to how dire Now can be. They're all good when they work, and I've used XCloud quite a lot, but the frequency with which it stalls, drops out, or goes into a fit where it wants to redraw the screen at 5fps until I reboot my laptop, and then does it again the next time are something even Now doesn't contend with.
@StylesT 😂😂😂
Mate, you’re an obvious fanboy!!! Coming on here, getting sll upset an callin me names!! 😂😂😂
I know it hurts not being able to get a PS5 sn play the best games but try not to dwell on it!! You’ll get one eventually. 😘😘😭😭😂😂
@themightyant BTW, I still challenge the notion that FH5 is "more of the same". The open world is more of the same, yes (and what else can you really do with an open world of roads other than become NFS and add police chases? The governments have failed to innovate on open world roads in 100 years, I can't see Playground doing it in 4. ) But the racing itself is actually incredibly different in actual events.
I'm realizing more and more as I play races that the actual event mechanics seem more like a ground-up replacement for what was in 3/4. And it might explain why we unexpectedly got a new FH sooner than expected and currently don't have an FM at all. The event races feel physically very different from 3/4 and feel very similar to FM. Racing has substantially more weight behind it. I haven't followed dev interviews and the like, but I'd be very surprised if this game wasn't a tighter collaboration with Turn Ten than before, and the racing has a lot of Turn Ten's work put into it. Beyond the physics and mechanics (and drifting that feels like it's lifted from DiRT), and beyond how other cars in the race are handled, the races are tighter, more intense, the AI is a lot more interesting, and there's a lot of tighter maneuvering in the courses that really pushes on the physics harder than previous games. Again, much more like the tracks we're used to in Motorsport.
It's a lot bigger a difference in FH5 than meets the eye at a glance, it's just that most of that difference is in the details and blends seamlessly so as not to notice, but there's the racing equivalent of "a new narrative and new moves and combat skills" in here, for sure. Play some race events in 4 (or in FM7 if you have it) after FH5 and you'll see what I mean. It's definitely a leap ahead as a racer, with the actual racing much much closer to what FM7/GT7/DiRT offers, minus some degree of hardcore simulation. Plus the whole open world and crazy events stuff on top. The game's getting a lot of praise, but I think it actually deserves more recognition for what it does than it's even getting.
@sjbsixpack You really aren't the brightest guy, you are the one who replied crying I can't have a ps5 because I said Ratchet and Clank is an average game.
Not even up for debate who the fanboy is here, no normal person would reply with such bizarre accusations simply because I said a ps exclusive is average
I hope you sort your life out and get to a point you don't get so outraged when others don't like every exclusive your precious PlayStation make
Guess what I also was underwhelmed by Spiderman ...try not to have a mental breakdown
Ps tag is Inevitable2k22... Guess it must be a bug them ps5 games showing up on my profile ? And before you come out with your next nonsense which will either be to claim that's not me ..I can message of said tag
Or if you go down the other route and pretend you don't care...please don't embarrass yourself further and just don't reply atall
@NEStalgia I think we'll just have to disagree on that, and that's OK. I played it for another 3 hours last night. It really is a great game, it just feels very familiar. You say the AI is "a lot more interesting" but for my money it's identical or very similar to FH4. Regardless enjoy it.
@StylesT 😂😂😂
It really did get to you didn’t it. Ohh, i’m so sorry. Sorry for the late reply, i was playing on my PS5.
Oh, i’m so sorry!! That was insensitive of me!! I’ll turn it off an put Forza H 5 on. Here’s a cuddle. 😘😂😂😂
@StylesT please tell me you’re ok? I do hope you’re ok!! I hope you cried yaself to slepp. Crying a lot can be tiresome!!! 😭😭😭😭😂😂😂
@NEStalgia What would be cool, but I don't know if it's possible, is a kinf of mixed mode : quality mode on the map, for exploration, and then, everytime you enter a race, an event, or something, bam ! The game switch automatically to performance.
Maybe something like that would be the better of two worlds.
As for me, I definitely chose Quality - racing or not. My eyes are now used to the general feeling of the 30 fps in the game, and I just cannot go back from that beautifull scenery and these magnificents landscapes.
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