Impressions about Horizon

[Speedster911]

True. Yet you would still need a kick-ass ride to take the babe you picked up home, or your g/f, or your wife, or drinking buddies (you'd be the designated driver of course)

Harh harh...nice!

Well I just got this game Wednesday for 15 bucks at the Microsoft store for black friday. Shipped pretty fast too. I gotta admit my first 15 minutes or so I felt I paid 5 dollars too much but after giving the game a chance I really have to say I'm enjoying this game a lot. It really is a fun game once you let the strict Forza mindset go and just go "arcade".

Funny thing is once I put my mind into "Arcade" mode I had to take it back out of it again. I was playing the game the way I thought the devs wanted us to play. Powerslide every turn, go nuts all over the road etc. etc. and I was having a tough time beating the CPU. But when I went back to my sim roots everything changed. For the most part sim principles will get you wins over flashy stuff.

I never thought I would like this game and had no intention of getting it at all, especially since I've migrate over to the PC sims but this game is a nice diversion from the formal stuff.


BUT..

How can a fake wanna be broke Tom Cruise clone afford to have a mechanic hook up all these barn finds. Yeah and you would have barn-finds getting fixed in one day with no money. lol

Other than that and the replay system. Not being able to save replays stinks. And the default replay camera is the worse. Besides that nice game. I can see myself , maybe picking up the sequel at regular price. Definitely is a bit cheaper.

Also, it may just be me, but the car sounds seem better than FM4. In a race it's like every car's sound is distinct and the nuances very pronounced.

Yes, I did notice how your competitor's cars sound louder and more distinct this time, and your own car's engine sound is a bit dulled down. I believe this may have been done deliberately on the devs part, given the game's environment and setting.

Driver SF is a fun game, really. And a LOT of the car models in Horizon seem to be ported from Driver SF, anyway. Seriously, play Driver SF and then Horizon. You'll be all "Hey, that car was in Driver! WTF?"

Haha...yeh? I think I'm getting this. Plus.. 60 fps..woo hooo!

 

[UKMikey]

I think people's disappointment in Horizon's "short life" stem from the lack of fanfare and lack of...anything once you beat the game. The repetitive radio DJ announcements and Alice's braindead nagging can make you feel like you're trapped in some sort of Groundhog Day.

I think you've nailed it. I was expecting a Ridge Racer style credits movie in which Alice gets into your car and you drive off into the Colorado sunset or something.

 

[Speedster911]

Dayumm, he doesn't even get Alice in the game.

Terrible game! Bad PG, BAD PG! 👎

 

[IceMan PJN]

Dislikes

1. The storyline could be allot better.

I hope I never play a racing game with a story.

 

[SuperShouden]

There wasn't much of a story really. But...it was worse than the original Pro Race Driver's or R Racing Revolution. ALL the drivers were SUPER cliche. So much so, you kinda knew that Darius was going to be an arrogant douche. 'Cause...they all were kinda jerks. And I say, if you're not going to come up with something better than that, then don't do it at all. Heck, Test Drive Unlimited has a better story and the only thing that involves is the first 10 minutes of the game.

Also, if you're going to have someone randomly talking to the player, at least make her up to date. DAYS after I've found smashed all the discount signs, she's still telling me to look out for them. Look, you stupid lady, you just need to shut up, already. Let me cruise in peace. And on that, I have to say, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is the better Open World Driving Game. Simply because there's not a stupid lady bugging you every twenty minutes about stuff you've already taken care of twenty years ago.

But it's still a fun game. I probably will pick it up at least once a month to drive the new cars, but...that's about it, though.

 

[CyanideCola]

There wasn't much of a story really. But...it was worse than the original Pro Race Driver's or R Racing Revolution. ALL the drivers were SUPER cliche. So much so, you kinda knew that Darius was going to be an arrogant douche. 'Cause...they all were kinda jerks. And I say, if you're not going to come up with something better than that, then don't do it at all. Heck, Test Drive Unlimited has a better story and the only thing that involves is the first 10 minutes of the game.

Also, if you're going to have someone randomly talking to the player, at least make her up to date. DAYS after I've found smashed all the discount signs, she's still telling me to look out for them. Look, you stupid lady, you just need to shut up, already. Let me cruise in peace. And on that, I have to say, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is the better Open World Driving Game. Simply because there's not a stupid lady bugging you every twenty minutes about stuff you've already taken care of twenty years ago.

But it's still a fun game. I probably will pick it up at least once a month to drive the new cars, but...that's about it, though.

Apparently you missed Tess... how? She never shuts up in my version of TDU2. And it dried up after a bit, mainly because there is very little in car choices, the original TDU had many more. And unlike the original, TDU2 had car licenses and other things I felt were somewhat unfitting for an Open World Driving Game. And you can ignore the Horizon girl, Alice, pretty well. Although, I love her voice. It's quite warming. And not brute and evil.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

There wasn't much of a story really. But...it was worse than the original Pro Race Driver's or R Racing Revolution. ALL the drivers were SUPER cliche. So much so, you kinda knew that Darius was going to be an arrogant douche. 'Cause...they all were kinda jerks. And I say, if you're not going to come up with something better than that, then don't do it at all. Heck, Test Drive Unlimited has a better story and the only thing that involves is the first 10 minutes of the game.

Also, if you're going to have someone randomly talking to the player, at least make her up to date. DAYS after I've found smashed all the discount signs, she's still telling me to look out for them. Look, you stupid lady, you just need to shut up, already. Let me cruise in peace. And on that, I have to say, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is the better Open World Driving Game. Simply because there's not a stupid lady bugging you every twenty minutes about stuff you've already taken care of twenty years ago.

But it's still a fun game. I probably will pick it up at least once a month to drive the new cars, but...that's about it, though.

I really don't think the characters were that bad. I saw them as light-hearted comedy releif to keep things entertaining when I wasn't racing. And personally, I don't care about having a good story in a racing game. Just tell me I need to become the best driver, and I'm good to go. The main reason I play racing games is to well, race.

 

[Dmarc_Atl]

Just to be fair, these type of characters you're complaining about have been part of a lot of street racing/free roam games for over the past decade, and it mostly started with the Midnight Club series. It personally doesn't bother me as I've seen it so many times in other racing titles similar to Horizon.

But I pretty agree about the music. Horizon doesn't have the best soundtrack for a racing game IMO. I don't listen to the Bass Arena station at all and there's only a few songs I like in Horizon Pulse and Horizon Rocks.

Yea that dub step gets annoying after awhile.I was quite surprised to hear some of the songs on horizon pulse, I have alot of them on my youtube playlist...and even weirder some played in the same order which creeped me out lol

At first I thought there would be more to the story,but after the 3rd wristband and the same cut scene and the showdowns I already knew that it wasnt going to be a "the guy gets the girl at the end " type of story.But its better than no story.I rented it but I will be buying it soon.I didnt think it would be that fun without the online aspect.

 

[Wolfe]

Yea that dub step gets annoying after awhile.

I simply listen to the opening of a song and then flip to another station before the "drop" comes up. Electronic music is my favorite, it's the super-repetitive wobbling fart storm that defines dubstep that I can't stand.

Of course, 98% of the time I just listen to my nu gaze and post-rock on USB.

I didnt think it would be that fun without the online aspect.

Online carries more weight once you've completed the festival championship, but IMO this game has so much more to offer than Forza Motorsport in terms of offline play. I keep a tally of my in-game "odometer" in my sig for the fun of it, and the majority of those miles were offline.

 

[Scaff]

I simply listen to the opening of a song and then flip to another station before the "drop" comes up. Electronic music is my favorite, it's the super-repetitive wobbling fart storm that defines dubstep that I can't stand.

Of course, 98% of the time I just listen to my nu gaze and post-rock on USB.

Online carries more weight once you've completed the festival championship, but IMO this game has so much more to offer than Forza Motorsport in terms of offline play. I keep a tally of my in-game "odometer" in my sig for the fun of it, and the majority of those miles were offline.

First thing I did was to turn off the radio sound, can't stand music while driving in games.

 

[Aquarelle]

First thing I did was to turn off the radio sound, can't stand music while driving in games.

Really? I quite like the music personally. Although I'm one of those dirty student types that listen to the dub steps

I'll always go out of my way to listen to music while driving, keeps me from focusing too much.

The thing that irritates me is the protagonist's lady friend that constantly complains over the slightest little thing.

"Oh you haven't done this event, you must have something better to do"
"Oh you have some money, why not buy something at the autoshow? you deserve a new car" (This happened to me immediately after buying a brand new car)

 

[Wolfe]

They did a pretty good job with ambient noises in the game, sometimes it's worth it just to drive around with no music. High points for me would be the insectoid and amphibian chirping on highway 29 near the diner and arcade, and the rustle of early-autumn leaves blown from the road as you drive through.

FYI, Scaff, you can mute the radio in the paintshop/garage by playing music through the Xbox if you have any on USB or your HDD, then turning the volume to zero.

The thing that irritates me is the protagonist's lady friend that constantly complains over the slightest little thing.

"Oh you haven't done this event, you must have something better to do"
"Oh you have some money, why not buy something at the autoshow? you deserve a new car" (This happened to me immediately after buying a brand new car)

Alice Hart is her name. For a game predicated on the joy of driving aimlessly on the open road, it does seize a lot of opportunities to tell you to do something else.

EDIT: It seems that from downloading a recent update or the 1000 Club, her comments on your money/the autoshow have been disabled. 👍 👍

 

[Lain]

Yeah its weird that people have done it so fast.. Do you guys even take the time to enjoy the game? I've got a total of about 20 hours driving time and I'm barely just picked up my orange wristband.

I also have plenty of hours in photomode, as well as online.. The game is not short, its just that people can power through a game, and claim its short, just because they did exactly that.. power through it without taking the time to enjoy it.

I also just got my orange wrist band... in the middle of 2016.

I mean, I certainly haven't been playing it all this time. But every time I fire the game up, I have a tendency to get absorbed in just driving around the gorgeously realized open world and completely forget that there's actual races to complete.

My dream game is a 100% 1:1 Earth open world driving/photography/car ownership simulator. Key distinction there being "driving", not "racing"...though with it being a completely accurate representation of all the asphalt on the planet, you'd presubably also be able to drive to any given track and partake in some racing. But it'd be more of a side thing than the main focus of the game. You'd also be able to get out of your vehicle and hike to find interesting photo ops, buy different kinds of cameras, lenses, filters etc.

Currently, I'd say that the Horizon series is by far the closest game to my vision in that regard. It doesn't have the photography aspect, but the lush detailed maps and the advanced physics (for an open world game, at least) make it the best game to just go for a drive in.

 

[bremics]

Just downloaded it in my quest to continue grinding out Forza Points (apparently Miles Driven only goes up by racing, not roaming) and damn does it still look fantastic! I was literally just playing FH3 and there doesn't appear to be a overly huge difference. What a difference a good lighting engine makes.

 

[JR98]

Started playing this again yesterday and have managed to go from the orange to gold events in just 1 day. IMO this is much better than FH3 since the lack of pure off-roading here meant PG had to create some fun driving roads, which they did. Most of the race routes are loads of fun to race on. Also, holy crap do the Street Races pay out a lot. Earned at least 2 million doing them, and I've only done each race once.

Also it's nice to see some forgotten FM4 cars in here like the Corvette C6 GS, Maserati MC12 Corse and RUF RGT-8, among many others.

Some screenshots I've taken

 

[FT-1]

I actually find the original Forza Horizon more memorable than its successors in a number of aspects - The story, the soundtrack and the map to name a few. I would like to head back to Colorado once I've purchased an Xbox One X.

 

[Silver Arrows]

I actually find the original Forza Horizon more memorable than its successors in a number of aspects - The story, the soundtrack and the map to name a few. I would like to head back to Colorado once I've purchased an Xbox One X.

Going to have to agree. Nothing to me really beats driving around Colorado in a 22B STi when Blue Monday comes on.

 

[adam thompson]

I agree Forza Horizon one holds a place in my heart and loved it. Also it works on Xbox one s yay it’s a lot of fun and map is awesome and cars. Also love Horizon 3 as I’m aussie and love Holden’s but horizon one is very special

 

[FT-1]

I would like to head back to Colorado once I've purchased an Xbox One X.

That day has arrived and I stuck to my word! The game may not have been enhanced but it still looks very good on the new system, even if the colour range seems to only consist of various shades of yellow during daytime. If some cases, that's works to its benefit...
Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 by Code XCIV, on Flickr

What's nice to see is some textures look quite sharp now, particularly on dirt surfaces.
Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 Dirt by Code XCIV, on Flickr

For a few more One X direct captures, click below.

Spoiler: Images

Free mode at the Autoshow
Audi TT RS by Code XCIV, on Flickr

Garage
Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 Garage by Code XCIV, on Flickr

Cockpit View
Subaru WRX STI by Code XCIV, on Flickr

 

[MXH]

I picked a used XBOX 360 last week and along with it came a copy of FH1 among other games.

This has been my first time ever playing the game. I'm actually rather and pleasantly surprised how much I'm enjoying it coming from FH3. While the map is smaller, I'm in love with PG's Colorado. I'd go as far as to say that I prefer it over FH3's Australia any day. The game looks excellent on my 55'' LED TV as well. Anyway, I'll be playing this game for a long time to come.

Sometimes I wish I would've opted for X360 as my main console the previous gen.