Post by DOR Bekjenet on Oct 16, 2018 20:47:35 GMT
As you probably know, Forza Horizon 4 came out a couple of weeks ago. Having spent a good chunk of my free time in Britain I'd like to share my thoughts about the game. A game I truly fell in love with, but at the same time frustates the shit out of me.
Let me begin by stating the obvious; the game looks fucking gorgeous! I've had the pleasure of driving cars in three different seasons so far, and they all impressed me very much. The leafs kicking up as you drive through them, the trails your car leaves behind as you struggle through thick mud, the little 'whiter than white' sparkles on the snow, they all make for a beautiful driving experience, and that's just on a standard Xbox. I can't imagine how this will all look on an enhanced version, but it is easily the best looking game I have ever drove cars around in.
That's just talking about the changes seasons bring to the table, but the absolute best thing about Horizon 4 is it's map. If you played Horizon 3, you quickly figured out Aussies must like going straight a lot. There was no real variety to the map and all the bloody roads felt the same as the ones you just drove. It was immensely dull and the pre-built racetracks weren't great either.
But with Britain, things have changed a lot. The variety of roads, both paved and dirt trails, is simply brilliant, and the pre-built racetracks are much more interesting as well. I can't wait for the Route Creator and connect some great roads to build some proper rally trails, racetracks and grand tours alike.
My experience with GTA Online's creator taught me that such a tool can give a game longevity, keeping things fresh with new tracks popping up every week. I'm hoping for much the same here, but there are some core issues with the game that have to get fixed first, we'll get to that later.
I guess the physics are debatable, but in the end I think this game's physics are perfect for what it is. It's relatable to the Motorsport series, but I think I'm happy that it's all 'dumbed down' a little. I'm going into my 30's and my concentration levels aren't always what they used to be, and just hooning around in an AWD, V10 engine swapped, rally'd up El Camino is starting to slowly win appeal over full-on concentration 'hitting every apex or get left' racing.
And that's where Horizon's biggest flaws come into play, because when you do want to do some actual racing, you can basically only do it in teams. I'm not even going to go in to the dreadful Team Adventures you do with noobs that can't find their brake pedal. If you want to actually race in these games you have to get likeminded people together and start a Private Adventure. But even in Private Adventures you don't get the option to turn off teams. This brings a whole lot of issues to the table, because if you want to do a casual list of racetracks (let's say 5 races), if one team gets to 3 wins, the playlist will just end. On top of that teams will randomly be generated, so you might end up with a 5v7 because it's just broken. So as annoying as it is already, there's also no work-around.
This is an immensely frustrating issue, to the point that I'm pretty sure that if they don't fix it, even a Route Creator can't save Horizon 4 from an early death. The creative team behind this game clearly haven't understood that if you give players tools to be creative, they will keep playing the game for a long time. Instead they developed a system that basically forces you to do their Team Adventure bullshit which was old even before the first go.
In conclusion, this could be my new favourite racing game, if they bother to fix these immense issues at the core online side of things. In general the game is just good, dumb fun, but at the same time with physics that handle themselves for some real exciting racing when you want it. I'm excited for the Route Creator more than anything and I see a lot of potential for the game when it comes out, but it will all be futile if forced team racing is going to be the norm.
Please let me know what you feel about Horizon 4 below, I would love to see what you guys think about it so far, and if my feelings are shared.
And of course, if you ever want to hook up let me know. If things get fixed I will most definitely start hosting events in the future, rally, road racing, drifting, get-togethers, whatever.
I'm hoping for a bright Horizon future, let's hope the developers do as well.
Cheers for reading, Bek.