Forza - HORIZON

[Haloxeon]

I was hoping for a TDU game with more rewarding physics but It seems an awful lot like a DIRT2/ProStreet mashup. Not liking the indestructible barriers on every road, feels very restrictive. Not bad overall, but it really doesn't do anything new to impress.

 

[iMikeTheKing]

Even though it does feel arcadey, It is an awesome experience. I like the feel of being in this new world. Sound crazy but if I had the money I would buy it on release, that is if my local Gamestop is not sold out like FM4 was (I bought the last copy)

 

[Samus]

I was hoping for a TDU game with more rewarding physics but It seems an awful lot like a DIRT2/ProStreet mashup. Not liking the indestructible barriers on every road, feels very restrictive. Not bad overall, but it really doesn't do anything new to impress.

Not sure why, it was never marketed as being like TDU.

 

[Doog]

Played the demo last night, not really impressed. I doubt I'll be buying it now. There is nothing about the gameplay that hasn't been done in any previous NFS games. Just new cars, and an "open world", but you are still limited to the road by invisible walls and invincible guard rails.

I was hoping for a TDU game with more rewarding physics but It seems an awful lot like a DIRT2/ProStreet mashup. Not liking the indestructible barriers on every road, feels very restrictive. Not bad overall, but it really doesn't do anything new to impress.

This is exactly why I didn't get my hopes up. TDU is pretty much the only open-world driving-focused game that doesn't have invincible barriers placed 3 feet from every road. I'm not surprised they went with the indestructible barriers here. With graphics that I don't really care for, and a bad taste in my mouth from Forza 4's physics, I doubt I'll rent this game. If anything, it's just Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit with more cars, less cops, and more physics.

 

[Watt2159]

demo and other gripes aside, I'm really looking forward to the game, and I'm glad I pre-ordered, though I do hope they add a few more 80's-90's cars, and maybe some race cars as DLC, it would be pretty cool to cruise the mountain passes in a 787B.

 

[Terronium-12]

I'm doing this simply because some of these gripes/criticisms are unbelievably daft, so, to quote Don Ente from FM.net:

Lots and lots of comments... a couple things to think about though when posting opinions.

Remember that you're commenting on a DEMO. It seems pretty silly to complain about the "small size of the map" or the "limited number of cars" or "why can't I change cars" and so on. It's a DEMO.

The complaints about the music really boggle my mind. I'm not into music to begin with, so (in each Forza game so far) as soon as the options/settings are available, I turn off the music. For those folks who *do* listen to music, no issue with commenting that you *like* the music selection. If you *don't* like the music in the game, but you do like listening to music, I would expect you to have your iPod / phone / playlist on the console / whatever hooked up to speakers and you'd be listening to your own music anyway.

The cars seem to handle a bit differently than in FM4? Not a big surprise, for a few reasons... number one being that FM4 is on racetrack tarmac, and FH is not. Tarmac has different properties than asphalt, cement, dirt, gravel, grass, combinations of, etc, etc, etc. Of *course* the handling will not match FM4.

Keep in mind that your opinion is based on your own *personal* expectations, your own *personal* desires for a game and your own *personal* history of game play. Many folks (such as myself) have never played an "open road / open world" driving game. If *you* think FH is too much like [insert game name here], that won't matter (or even mean anything) to someone who hasn't played that game.

Also worth noting --- *you* may not even be in the target demographic for Horizon.

A long-time complaint about the Forza Motorsport series has been that the game is too difficult to master. That is clearly evidenced by the fact that millions of copies of FM4 are out there, yet monthly rivals events get only a fraction of that number. It's also quite common to see posts here along the lines of "I've been playing this for months, but I'm still so much slower than everyone else."

As has been mentioned often in Horizon interviews and presentations, one goal is for the game to be "pick up and play." Seems logical that it will "feel easier" than FM4.

If you're a big fan of FM4, you're probably in at least the Top 10% on the leaderboards... more likely the Top 5% or higher. What people forget is that means 90%+ of FM4 players are *not* that good. If you are a top FM4 players, into tuning, upgrading, trying to shave 10ths off your lap times, you're probably not really the target market for Horizon. Sure, they'd love you to buy the game (and enjoy it), but it May Not Be the Right Game for YOU.

That doesn't mean, though, that it's not the Right Game for many (millions?) of other players.

Which brings me to one of the oddest comments I've seen in this thread. I won't link to it, or include the name of who posted it, because it's not about that person individually -- but it is representative of many of the comments here:

Name Omitted:
After reading through most of these posts, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's disappointed. To those saying we expected to much are just stupid. I expected a rubbish, archadey game, and thats exactly what we got. I knew from the moment this game was announced it wouldn't be my cup of tea.

If this person knew the game wouldn't be his "cup of tea," how can he possibly be disappointed with the Demo? And, why post about that here? "I knew I wouldn't like the game, and now that I've played the Demo, well, ummm... I just want to say I've confirmed that I won't like the game." Just odd...

Horizon will not be the Right Game for everyone. No game is, or ever will be. If you're a die-hard SIM circuit racer, or SIM drifter, Horizon may NOT be your "cup of tea." Of course, there will be some cross-over where folks who like FM4 will also like FH, but the target market is players who want to have fun driving wildly around the countryside trying to avoid (or trying to smash into) other traffic and hanging out at a "cool music festival."

Just because *you* don't fit that demographic doesn't mean it's a "bad game." It just means it's a different game.

- Don Ente

 

[Patrick]

 

[88FoxBodyFan]

One thing I do wish you could do in the demo is go straight to the rival events instead of having to replay the entire demo to do so.

 

[McLaren]

As I said before this is a beta test for T10 to take the cars off the circuit tracks and out into the open world.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions; it's not Turn10. Why do people constantly forget this game uses T10 resources, but the directors for sound/art/gameplay/etc. are all Playground employees.

While it is not full open world freedom, it is a great start. Map is quite small at only 64 sq miles but I am sure dlc might expand the size. Horizon 2 will probably be out in 2 years and I am sure T10 will make some massive improvements toward the open world racing genre. 👍

2 things.

1: It doesn't need full open world freedom. Anyone needing proof can look at TDU. That game has so much wasted space at its core, that the game was better off modeling residential/commercial/industrial areas more accurately to the real world instead of simplifying them so they could add the whole island. All those fields, jungles, etc. are large wastes because only the smallest fraction of players would ever see it. They had no incentive to; all that time it would take for nothing more than laughable bragging rights about finding a certain spot in the middle of trees.

2: The map size for this game has not been revealed. This is one of multiple times you've touted 64sq miles & your only source is a picture someone came up with. That is not confirmation as you continuously lie about at FH, that is assumption. Confirmation it is 64sq miles would be the developers or some other credible source.

The picture you use though can be redone by anyone. I can edit it to say 5 instead of 2. Neither me or the party who made the map is actually confirming anything however....
As of this point, it's no more credible than the upcoming claim that it takes 45 minutes to drive the circumference of the map.

Not sure why, it was never marketed as being like TDU.

Exactly. And at the same time, this game is still the closest thing to doing what TDU did, so all these TDU players should be seeing some sort of satisfaction in that alone.

 

[Samus]

I never played TDU2 but I did play the first one and I agree for the most part being able to go off the road and across dirt/fields etc was pointless. Nothing was properly mapped, the graphics got worse the further out you went and it served no real purpose at all. I mean you don't go cutting across fields when you drive in reality, do you? Sticking to roads is the right approach IMO.

 

[Doog]

I never played TDU2 but I did play the first one and I agree for the most part being able to go off the road and across dirt/fields etc was pointless. Nothing was properly mapped, the graphics got worse the further out you went and it served no real purpose at all. I mean you don't go cutting across fields when you drive in reality, do you? Sticking to roads is the right approach IMO.

I agree that while you can go offroad in TDU2, you probably shouldn't. But still, having barriers along every single road really detracts from that open world feel, which kind of detracts from one of the main points of the game, in my opinion.

 

[Watt2159]

I'm not much of a TDU fan, don't get me wrong, the first one was a really great game, however, I've always thought that it wasn't as great as it could have been, and I think that's why I'm so excited for Horizon, is because unlike TDU, it focuses %100 on the cars, not the driver, or their clothes, or their house, or anything else, and that seems to be a common problem with most open world racers, is that it can't just be all about the cars, it has to be about the cars AND something else, and that just kind of dilutes the experience.

 

[Luminis]

Reading all these opinions on here, I'm just glad I'm not too picky when it comes to physics...

Also, I have to wonder: Did anyone expect FH to be a replacement of FM4? It's obviously not going to do the same things, so I'd rather think of it as a game that compliments FM4.

Besides: Whenever I read someone's comment pointing out how arcadey FH is, I'm asking myself "what would that person think about any recent NFS game?" If FH causes people to ramble on about being oh so arcadey, I'd assume that their head would ssimply explode from playing NFS

 

[Flaco13]

Well, I may have been exaggerating a little. But, yeah, I found Shift 2 to be much more on the arcade side of the simcade-scale. Granted, I, personally, would consider even games like GT and FM to be simcade titles. So, you might take that with a grain of salt.

Generally, I'd think that, if you enjoyed, say, Grid, you'll enjoy Shift 2. It does, however, suffer from some pretty nasty input lag. Especially on the PS3. The Xbox version is decent and the PC version seems to be perfectly fine (and better looking, to boot).

Shift 2's strength were its good single player career mode and the way you were able to upgrade your cars and the very visceral presentation. Along with what's probably the single best track selection in any simcade racer I've played, it makes for a lot of fun, even though the car list is rather short (120 cars or so, pre-DLC, which is compensated by the incradible upgrades).

If you can get a good deal on it and are able to play it on something aside from the PS3 (PC preferably), checking it out would definitely be worth it. Just don't expect the physics to feel as realistic as, say, GT or FM.


I think so... My progress wouldn't be saved, at least.

Ok thanks, it seems like it is not my cup of tea but I'll try it out, on the Xbox then, I saw there is a demo of sjift2 when I downloaded FH demo. I hope Pcars won't suffer the same input lag whenever it will be available to consoles, I try to avoid playing it on xbox.

Progress is not saved, but any Rivals times are kept on the server even after you quit.

Ok thanks

I guess I will wait what the first dlc's will bring and the price dropped before I get my hands on FH, I was so excited before but I am dissapointed now for I just can't see any long time motivation with what the game has to offer.

 

[Aftrbrnr]

Played the demo, my impression is it feels like Need for Speed: HP2010 without the cops.

 

[Luminis]

Ok thanks, it seems like it is not my cup of tea but I'll try it out, on the Xbox then, I saw there is a demo of sjift2 when I downloaded FH demo. I hope Pcars won't suffer the same input lag whenever it will be available to consoles, I try to avoid playing it on xbox.

Shift certainly has its merrits, I'd say. Like most games, actually. Personally, I liked it better than Grid, but it's all down to personal taste.

Also, I think Pcars should be good. It was probably EA forcing SMS to release a half-finished game. If my memory serves, they had about a year to develop the game. Pcars shouldn't suffer from such things

 

[hennessey86]

Love the off road feel through the wheel and its good to see driving on Tarmac has a different feel unlike wrc 3 I like this game, no it's not a hard ore sim but compared to tdu and NSF its a million miles ahead interms of the most important thing which is the DRIVING.

 

[ZohsixGT5]

To balance out my original opinion, here is what I DID like about the demo.

*No boost or NOS
*You don't enter some noob automatic drift mode whenever you hit the brakes and turn in
*No insane drafting/slipstream model
*Ability to turn all aids off, even ABS
*Ability to choose manual transmission
*Interior view

Some of the NFS games force alot of these unrealistic features on you. I'm glad FH doesn't.

 

[McLaren]

Played the demo, my impression is it feels like Need for Speed: HP2010 without the cops.

These opinions baffle me despite being nothing than 1 quick sentence.

Have you played HP2010? Physics are nothing like this game, so how does it feel like it?

 

[Watt2159]

Played the demo at a friends house today, I don't care what everyone else is saying, the physics are perfect, the cars feel like cars, not %100 like the cars in FM4, but more like %80, and I'm glad they chose to do so.

 

[Samus]

Ok thanks, it seems like it is not my cup of tea but I'll try it out, on the Xbox then, I saw there is a demo of sjift2 when I downloaded FH demo. I hope Pcars won't suffer the same input lag whenever it will be available to consoles, I try to avoid playing it on xbox

Input lag was fixed in the engine a long, long time ago. No such problem now.

 

[Luminis]

Input lag was fixed in the engine a long, long time ago. No such problem now.

Well, that'd make the driving experience A LOT better, I think.

 

[Luminis]

The first reviews are in:
9.0/10
Giant Bomb 5/5
International Business Times 9/10
Destructoid 9/10
Eurogamer 9/10

 

[Aftrbrnr]

These opinions baffle me despite being nothing than 1 quick sentence.

Have you played HP2010? Physics are nothing like this game, so how does it feel like it?

I own HP2010 on PS3, and have am level 20 on both the police and racer career tiers with most of the challenges done. I guess the aspect that reminds me of HP2010 is the environment, obviously FH is no where near is arcade-y as HP2010, but I think it is some what of a given that FH's physics are not a transplant of what was in Forza 4. But aspects of Colorado really strike me like Seacrest County, so in that sense it feels like you're racing through a similar environment minus the over-the-top police, which is what I think I'm trying to get at with my sentence.

I agree with the people that have said it seems FH doesn't really innovate and a lot of what we see in the game (or demo to be exact) are things we have seen in either later NFS games or the TDU franchise. That won't stop me from picking up the game though, as I'm still impressed by it, lack of innovation does not necessarily mean a game will be bad IMO.

There are a couple of things that get to me, the first being that the car list so far is essentially a copy and paste from the past couple Forza games, but seeing as we haven't seen a complete list yet, this will likely change. Either way, every car I've seen so far has been in Forza 3/4, with maybe slight variations (e.g. the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 in FH as opposed to the 2010 model that was in 3 and 4).

The other thing was how Dan Greenawalt said how FH didn't include rain or cops because they are things people don't like (something along those lines). IMO, in a real-life situation, this makes sense but this is a whole different thing in video games. NFS for instance has heavily capitalized with the inclusion of police with great success, I don't doubt there will be people who don't like having police in a racing game which I respect, but the way Greenawalt phrased what he was saying kind of came off as no one, period, likes things like rain or cops in video games, which I think is far from the truth. I said so already in the Most Wanted thread in the NFS section here, but when I learned FH took place on open public roads with traffic and how FH was made with some realism in mind, I couldn't help to think how out of place it is seeing cars basically terrorizing the public without even minimal police presence (Especially considering FH rewards you for things such as vandalizing road signs by you running them over). This would be different if the Festival closed off all roads for their events as I initially assumed would be the case, but ultimately the lack of police won't be a deal breaker for me, just a slight disappointment.

 

[Samus]

I would imagine the real reason for no police is licensing. Once cars are involved in police chases manufacturers are less willing to have their cars featured.

 

[Luminis]

Dunno. I think it's a typically polarizing feature. My best buddy desperately wants cop chases (like the original NFS: Most Wanted) and I'd rather not be bothered by the cops (NFS Underground 2 would come to mind).

Bringing up NFS games when talking about FH sure feels wrong But that's the best comparison I can think of.

 

[Mr_X]

This game looks amazing, makes me wanna buy a xbox

 

[Patrick]

 

[CorvetteConquer]

Yea, the Forza name is taking over the GT name in my opinion. Many more games in shorter time (though this was developed by a different studio). And these games consistently deliver with good reviews. A true car enthusiast's environment is created by Forza games. GT games haven't achieved that yet.

Congrats to these guys making a good, open world racing game. Maybe Kaz will follow suit and create a more open world to GT.

 

[Luminis]

Congrats to these guys making a good, open world racing game. Maybe Kaz will follow suit and create a more open world to GT.

Only if he starts to make a game that contains what his audience wants, instead of trying to fulfill his "vision".

I do hope that there will be another Forza Horizon on the next Xbox. I absolutely want to see what PG can do with less restrictions.