Who did it better? Vote for the best FH!

[Nacho Libre]

Hello everyone, I think maybe it's time to take a vote about which FH you think is the best!
I set the poll to give everyone 2 votes in case you are undecided or you have a sentimental favorite you want to reward too, and please feel free to elaborate on your vote. I also must disclose that I've never touched FH1 (to my everlasting regret.) Also you may or may not consider the expansions in your vote/opinion. Thank you all!

 

[UKMikey]

I voted for 2 and 4 because I thought this was a Forza Motorsport poll.

Thinking about FH3's flat map I decided to leave the vote the way it was. That Aussie skybox was incredible though.

I would vote for all four if I could.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

I am just going to copy-paste my reddit comment I made after the Forza twitter posted this same poll.

This is really hard for me to quantify as all 4 games did some things better then any other.

FH1 had the best atmosphere at the Festival (It actually Felt like a proper festival was going on). The PI classes and Physics where the closest it ever was to the Motorsport series, which is a good thing in my opinion. And it had the best sense of progression, Starting with a lower performance class car and working your way up by defeating the mini-bosses. IMO, FH1 had the best soundtrack and it has been going downhill ever since. FH1 Had the best story, even if it was still very simplistic. Just helped with the sense of progression to have some sense of story.

FH2 map design was on point. The playground areas where fun to hoon around in, the Airport is still the best airport we have gotten, and the map felt so much bigger then it actually was due to needing to drive around the inaccessible areas. Despite actually being much bigger, FH3's map didn't feel any bigger because of how open it was, it was much easier and faster to straight line it across the map.

FH3 really opened up off-road racing and Blueprinatable bucketlist Challenges where great.

FH4's Seasons is amazing, and the post launch support and updates help keep the game fresh.

And, wow. didn't realize how much easier it would bee to find things I though FH1 and FH2 did better then any other Forza Horizon Game.
The series has gone somewhat sideways with the last 2 games. PI balancing and Physics in FH4 are a step up from FH3, Though I do still think it would be better to take it even closer to the PI balancing and Physics seen in Forza Motorsport 7. There are some parts of the physics in FH4 that are far better then FH1, But overall I still think the Physics and PI Balancing in FH1 was some of the best because it was mostly just ported directly from Forza Motorpsort 4.
The Bucketlist challenges need to make a return in FH5, They where fun in FH3 with the ability to blueprint custom challenges. Replacing them with Story missions was the wrong move, I think there is room for both features to be present. The story missions for whatever reason are not nearly as fun, and the voice acting in many of them are terrible. Especially the Skills Story, I was board out of my mind doing those. (note I originally wrote this before the Top Gear Story was released, I enjoyed that one)
The sense of progression in FH4 is probably the worst out of all the games. FH1 had you start in C-Class cars and work up to faster cars, FH2 had you unlocking new festival sites with a road trip to the next site after each Champion ship, FH3 had the Festival sites level up as you gained more fans, FH4 just sorta gives you everything after just a few hours. FH4's sense of progression is terrible because the game gives the player too much freedom to quickly. And it kinda ruins the experience for some players as they get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff being thrown at them in the beginning, then confused as to why they are no longer unlocking anything after just a few hours.

 

[FT-1]

My two votes go to the original and FH4. My reasons for voting those two echo the points mentioned by @ShawnPhillips.

Personally, I still think FH1 offers the best campaign mode of the series as you are forced to start in a entry-level performance car then work your way up to defeat the festival boss. The atmosphere, along with the soundtrack, was truly unique and created a festival vibe far better than any of the following titles. What's also nice is that the game was X enhanced so it holds up very well in terms of graphics.

FH4 has the most authentic feeling environment, most content to play with, most extensive customisation options and best overall presentation. Post-launch support has also been done very well and has kept me coming back to the game week after week. The biggest downside is that I think the series has become too much of a sandbox and there is little to no sense of progression in single-player. Every game until FH3 had something to work towards while you are given everything from the get-go in FH4. If you like collecting clothes and emotes for your character, then perhaps this sort of progression appeals to you.

In a perfect world, I would like to see FH5 merging everything FH4 has brought to the table content-wise with the progression structure and atmosphere of Forza Horizon 1. Unfortunately, given the sheer mass appeal of the series, I think that's extremely unlikely.

 

[Populuxe]

I voted for 1 and 4 but to be honest, they're all fun.

 

[-Fred-]

In order: 3-4-1-2-2*


FH3 is still the most fun game for me, despite the fact that yes, the map's a bit flat and the roads are a bit too wide. But there was quite a bit of variety, each "biome" had its own identity you couldn't mistake for anything else. The car selection was top notch, probably the best out of the 4 titles, the two expansions proved to be immensely entertaining (I think Blizzard Mountain really nailed the feeling of driving in a blizzard, and the Hot Wheels Island was just silly good fun) Some people will argue that the lack of VWs is a negative, but since I'm not a fan of the brand, it doesn't bother me too much.

FH4, despite its obvious flaws, is still a very good game at the core of it, hence why it's second. I personally think the map is the strongest/best one out of the 4. The seasons, while a bit gimmicky, all look and feel very good. Graphically it's a good step above 3 and 2, too. The car list is good enough despite Toyota committing seppuku, and the blueprint system/route creator adds an element of replayability the other titles didn't have. Negatives include the obvious iffy game mechanics they've applied/modified/re-applied and re-modified since launch and the poorest soundtrack of the lot.

Next is FH1, the one that started it all. The story is easily the best one of the lot, because it's the only one with an actual story. Colorado always felt a bit of an oddball choice, but the setting works and there's some memorable parts of the map, like the Red Rock Canyons. My biggest gripe has always been the lack of "freedom" so to speak while going around the map, along with events that require you to use a specific car that you'll likely use once (the Bentley championship comes to mind) and then leave to collect dust in your garage. The game economy was a bit iffy in the early stage, requiring you to be judicious with how you spend your money and what you spend it on. Coming straight after FM4 and its near 700 cars, the car list felt a bit light with it's 160-ish at launch, a lot of content had been cut out that could/should have been included from the get go.

FH2 comes after, because I never got to grips with it. I know it's a lot of people's favorite, but I can't actually see why, I've grown bored of it very quickly. The map just feels empty, with miles and miles of fields for you to go through with very little obstacles. The fact there's a few cities dotted around the map would have been cool, but I feel like none of them are particularly interesting or memorable. The progression got annoying fast (do 4 races in X city, road trip to Y city, do 4 races in Y city, roadtrip to Z city, and on and on and on) and the lack of events became quite clear when you realise you need to do each event in each of the car/truck divisions in order to complete the game (that's something like 10 times each). Then you reach the end, and there's no climax, just an invitation to redo everything with Ben. Boring.

And lastly, the 360 version of FH2. Least we say about it, the better. Rushed, botched, glitchy, buggy... It makes Project Cars' launch look like a masterpiece.

 

[HyperSpeeder]

The latest is always better IMO. Sure, if you're into hotlapping then FH4 was the worst until this month, but globally it's the best, no contest: best graphics, best content, best diversity when it comes to vehicles, a great map, the route creator, the seasons... I could go on but FH3 was definitely not the GTASA of Forza Horizon (and even GTASA was not the best GTA...).

(speaking of hotlapping, after Playground added custom Rivals back into the game we all saw what happened: leaderboards ravaged by meta choices)

IMO it's the same with the Xbox One-era Forza Motorsport games. Haven't seen anything in 6 that warranted making it any better than 7 on a global level apart from certain absences in 7's car list which were completely unjustified and perhaps the overall tone of the game At its core, FM7 built upon 6 despite the horizonification. And 5? Let's not talk about that...

 

[Flashfire926]

I voted for Horizon 1 and 4.

Horizon 1 feels very different from the others. It still has the best festival vibe, best music, and the best sense of progression. There was just something special about Colorado. Memorable map (I still remember a lot of the areas like the hydro dam, red rock, the golf course, the geysers place, the "maple valley" road).

Horizon 4 is my absolute favourite. I think it's the best designed map of the series, ever though it's not as drastically varied as FH3. It makes up for it by having a lot of verticality, and a better city. The best car selection (yes, even without toyota). Route Creator, horizon stories. I like how it's a GaaS that you still play offline on if you wanted. Seasons are an awesome idea. It's the one that keeps me coming back due to added content. I really like the expansions, they're as good as FH3's. Fortune Island's atmosphere alone makes me love it. And Lego Speed Champions might be my favourite exapansion of the series overall.

Horizon 3 is also stellar, and in a vacuum I might actually rate it higher than FH1. But FH4 exists, and FH1's uniqueness gives it the edge.

Horizon 2 is just.... eh.

 

[Derek Whyman]

Got to be 1 first then 4 close second.
I loved Horizon, You could actually interact with friends and it had great features that the later games lacked.
4 expanded on the game play, but lack of interaction is my criticism.

 

[ShakesMcQueen]

I think the next Horizon needs to retain a lot of the openness of Horizon 3-4, but marry it to a meatier story experience with meaningful, well written characters, and objectives beyond what are essentially glorified time trials.

The characters in every Horizon since the first one have been perfunctory at best, and blocks of wood with a smiley face drawn on them at worst.

I'd also like to see them further embrace the always-online-ness of Horizon 4, and go further with it - car clubs, car meets, track days, scheduled events, asynchronous leagues, etc.

Horizon 4 is my favourite game of the series, but there's also no doubt that it represented a feeling of being at "the end of the line" for the series' current structure, and not the refreshing burst of energy that FH3 was at the time. I don't think they can just "make another one" of these again.

Thankfully, I also suspect Playground (and Microsoft) are smart enough to know this.

 

[skazz]

I find it hard to go back to earlier Horizons since 4. There's just something about the tweaked handling which clicks with me better than earlier games.

Plus the narrow UK roads and particularly the large number of mud tracks are excellent for variety. Driving around rally style or completely offroad is my favourite part of the game.

I did think FH3 expansions were better than FH4, but in every other area 4 is better to me.