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I am always drawn towards driving games and I had a huge urge to play Forza Horizon 2. The lack of an Xbox was a big stumbling block but the itch never went away. Even as I played DriveClub I still had an envious eye directed towards Xbox One owners. This is the game that made me really consider getting my hands on an Xbox One but surely no game is worth buying a console just to play? I caved in and bought an Xbox One just to find out.
The story/reason behind the game seems pretty similar to the Motorstorm series on Playstation 3 in as much as there is a racing festival with all manner of cars and races. Where Horizon does trump Motorstorm is actually making the player feel like they are part of this festival. There are car meets when you can get grubby finger prints all over the shiny bodywork of competitor’s cars and various hub areas scattered across the landscape which feel just like the centre of the events local to the areas. There are even crowds cheering you on but to be honest, at first I thought the noise was a mechanical issue under the bonnet.
The location in an open world game is always as important as the items which fill it. The setting for Horizon 2 is south west France and north east Italy and it is very picturesque. Having recently played The Crew I would say the variety in the landscape isn’t as diverse in Horizon 2 but with town racing, countyside racing and off-road racing there is still a nice range and it is often tempting to stop to admire the view.
There are plenty of cars available to fill your virtual garage, both old and new. The cars come in the same class distinctions as used in the Forza Motorsport series. The tuning, upgrading and assists will all seems familiar to those that have played Motorsport.
The handling model has fun in mind. It isn’t full on arcade where you can pull off Ridge Racer style drifts round every bend whilst maintaining full speed but it doesn’t keep things too serious that it removes all sense of joy. Points are awarded for various driving feats such as slip streaming, drifts, air time and destruction of scenery; the game wants to you express yourself a little and rewards you for it. Of course, you might not actually mean some of these drifts or moments of destruction but hey, you might as well get rewarded for it. Driving off road has no adverse effect on cars which in real life would struggle but this is all part of the fun. It seems silly hurtling through a field in a Ferrari when you stop to think about it but you’ll not care at all whilst doing it.
The awarded points earned all go towards levelling up. With each level progression there is nice roulette wheel spinning quickly with a various prizes on offer. The prizes are various sums on in-game credits or a car although seldom a car in my experience. There is also a perk systems with various benefits to be earned.
There is no shortage of events of offer in Horizon 2 and although you don’t need to complete most of them to reach the finale, it would be rude not to partake. The racing is either point to point over varying distances or lap based. The race grid makes use of the Drivatars introduced with Forza 5. This is my first experience of it and so far it doesn’t seem worth the hype. It just feels like the name of people on your friends list replaces an AI driver name. On the plus side, it does add a little incentive to getting ahead of a racer than it would do if it was a random AI name.
Events are grouped into championships with points awarded for finish positions. The player has a race category selection to make for each championship which covers race type as well as category of vehicle. You can choose between road or off-road races and modern or retro sports cars or rally cars. After a selection is made, you can select a suitable car from your garage or buy a new car if you don’t have a suitable one. The subsequent road trip to the events allows you to give your chosen vehicle a bit of a test drive. The road trip is not a race but it does make for a busy road with all the competitors heading in the same way and it is hard not to treat it as a race even if there is no indication of position and no winners or losers.
The races are very enjoyable with a large compliment of competitors. Being open world there is a little freedom with the route and short cuts to be exploited. Where the game really excels is with the Top Gear style events. The first one I came across was racing against the Red Arrows style display planes; crossing the finish lines with the sparkling fireworks by the side of the road and the 4 planes with coloured smoke trails behind hurtling by overhead was a spectacle. These events are great fun. At the end of each race you are also presented with the time of a friend who beat your time and given the opportunity to make amends. It could be argued that there is a lack of even variety but when the events are this enjoyable it is hard to feel like that is an issue. The Crew for instance had a lot of variety but it didn’t maintain the same enjoyment factor across the board.
There is a spot of exploration to be done with various boards waiting to be smashed. This isn’t quite as interesting as the billboards on Burnout but they do come with a reward for the player. There are also various cars hidden in barns which are needing to be found. The map will give you a rough area and it then down to you to locate the car. The cars need a bit of tinkering from the festival mechanic but she seems to have time on her hands and gets to work on them right away. For those that like to hit the top speeds there are speed cameras and speed sections to record high speeds against and compare to friends.
Another type of event is the bucket list. This is a random selection of challenges for a variety of cars. There is a lot more freedom in these events; you will have anything from a set number of jumps to perform, a set number of near misses to achieve, pass a speed camera at a high speed or reach the destination in a ridiculous time. These can be quite challenging but offer a nice distraction from the main events and are quite diverse in nature.
Car damage is customisable; you can set it to cosmetic or add a spot of realism which means you will need a trip to the workshop if you ever want your car to move again. I tend to stick to cosmetic otherwise I’d spend a lot of time waiting on repairs. I’ve bashed every panel on each of my cars, lost a wing mirror from my Lamborghini and decided to see what my Lotus Esprit looked like without a spoiler. The interior view will show the windscreen damage but you’ll never lose the windscreen entirely; something I seem to inadvertently try many times. You can be oblivious to the state of your car during an event but the sequence when you cross the finish line lets you see what sort of a mess you made.
The weather plays its part too with nice sunshine and dry roads to a spot of thunder and some rainfall. The roads become a little slippy when wet, particularly with the more powerful cars. The windscreen wipers come on in the wet but the weather effects aren’t as impressive as they are in DriveClub. I still prefer driving in the sun though; I can drive in the wet most days of the week where I live.
Another area when I feel DriveClub tops Horizon 2 is in the graphics; the car models and interiors are better in DriveClub. That’s not to say Horizon 2 isn’t a looker, it is a very pretty game but I think the open world aspect means other elements are not as impressive.
It isn’t worth buying an Xbox specifically to play this one game but it is a darned good game and I’m having a blast with it.
9
The story/reason behind the game seems pretty similar to the Motorstorm series on Playstation 3 in as much as there is a racing festival with all manner of cars and races. Where Horizon does trump Motorstorm is actually making the player feel like they are part of this festival. There are car meets when you can get grubby finger prints all over the shiny bodywork of competitor’s cars and various hub areas scattered across the landscape which feel just like the centre of the events local to the areas. There are even crowds cheering you on but to be honest, at first I thought the noise was a mechanical issue under the bonnet.
The location in an open world game is always as important as the items which fill it. The setting for Horizon 2 is south west France and north east Italy and it is very picturesque. Having recently played The Crew I would say the variety in the landscape isn’t as diverse in Horizon 2 but with town racing, countyside racing and off-road racing there is still a nice range and it is often tempting to stop to admire the view.
There are plenty of cars available to fill your virtual garage, both old and new. The cars come in the same class distinctions as used in the Forza Motorsport series. The tuning, upgrading and assists will all seems familiar to those that have played Motorsport.
The handling model has fun in mind. It isn’t full on arcade where you can pull off Ridge Racer style drifts round every bend whilst maintaining full speed but it doesn’t keep things too serious that it removes all sense of joy. Points are awarded for various driving feats such as slip streaming, drifts, air time and destruction of scenery; the game wants to you express yourself a little and rewards you for it. Of course, you might not actually mean some of these drifts or moments of destruction but hey, you might as well get rewarded for it. Driving off road has no adverse effect on cars which in real life would struggle but this is all part of the fun. It seems silly hurtling through a field in a Ferrari when you stop to think about it but you’ll not care at all whilst doing it.
The awarded points earned all go towards levelling up. With each level progression there is nice roulette wheel spinning quickly with a various prizes on offer. The prizes are various sums on in-game credits or a car although seldom a car in my experience. There is also a perk systems with various benefits to be earned.
There is no shortage of events of offer in Horizon 2 and although you don’t need to complete most of them to reach the finale, it would be rude not to partake. The racing is either point to point over varying distances or lap based. The race grid makes use of the Drivatars introduced with Forza 5. This is my first experience of it and so far it doesn’t seem worth the hype. It just feels like the name of people on your friends list replaces an AI driver name. On the plus side, it does add a little incentive to getting ahead of a racer than it would do if it was a random AI name.
Events are grouped into championships with points awarded for finish positions. The player has a race category selection to make for each championship which covers race type as well as category of vehicle. You can choose between road or off-road races and modern or retro sports cars or rally cars. After a selection is made, you can select a suitable car from your garage or buy a new car if you don’t have a suitable one. The subsequent road trip to the events allows you to give your chosen vehicle a bit of a test drive. The road trip is not a race but it does make for a busy road with all the competitors heading in the same way and it is hard not to treat it as a race even if there is no indication of position and no winners or losers.
The races are very enjoyable with a large compliment of competitors. Being open world there is a little freedom with the route and short cuts to be exploited. Where the game really excels is with the Top Gear style events. The first one I came across was racing against the Red Arrows style display planes; crossing the finish lines with the sparkling fireworks by the side of the road and the 4 planes with coloured smoke trails behind hurtling by overhead was a spectacle. These events are great fun. At the end of each race you are also presented with the time of a friend who beat your time and given the opportunity to make amends. It could be argued that there is a lack of even variety but when the events are this enjoyable it is hard to feel like that is an issue. The Crew for instance had a lot of variety but it didn’t maintain the same enjoyment factor across the board.
There is a spot of exploration to be done with various boards waiting to be smashed. This isn’t quite as interesting as the billboards on Burnout but they do come with a reward for the player. There are also various cars hidden in barns which are needing to be found. The map will give you a rough area and it then down to you to locate the car. The cars need a bit of tinkering from the festival mechanic but she seems to have time on her hands and gets to work on them right away. For those that like to hit the top speeds there are speed cameras and speed sections to record high speeds against and compare to friends.
Another type of event is the bucket list. This is a random selection of challenges for a variety of cars. There is a lot more freedom in these events; you will have anything from a set number of jumps to perform, a set number of near misses to achieve, pass a speed camera at a high speed or reach the destination in a ridiculous time. These can be quite challenging but offer a nice distraction from the main events and are quite diverse in nature.
Car damage is customisable; you can set it to cosmetic or add a spot of realism which means you will need a trip to the workshop if you ever want your car to move again. I tend to stick to cosmetic otherwise I’d spend a lot of time waiting on repairs. I’ve bashed every panel on each of my cars, lost a wing mirror from my Lamborghini and decided to see what my Lotus Esprit looked like without a spoiler. The interior view will show the windscreen damage but you’ll never lose the windscreen entirely; something I seem to inadvertently try many times. You can be oblivious to the state of your car during an event but the sequence when you cross the finish line lets you see what sort of a mess you made.
The weather plays its part too with nice sunshine and dry roads to a spot of thunder and some rainfall. The roads become a little slippy when wet, particularly with the more powerful cars. The windscreen wipers come on in the wet but the weather effects aren’t as impressive as they are in DriveClub. I still prefer driving in the sun though; I can drive in the wet most days of the week where I live.
Another area when I feel DriveClub tops Horizon 2 is in the graphics; the car models and interiors are better in DriveClub. That’s not to say Horizon 2 isn’t a looker, it is a very pretty game but I think the open world aspect means other elements are not as impressive.
It isn’t worth buying an Xbox specifically to play this one game but it is a darned good game and I’m having a blast with it.
9
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
I am always drawn towards driving games and I had a huge urge to play Forza Horizon 2. The lack of an Xbox was a big stumbling block but the itch never went away. Even as I played DriveClub I still had an envious eye directed towards Xbox One owners. This is the game that made me really consider getting my hands on an Xbox One but surely no game is worth buying a console just to play? I caved in and bought an Xbox One just to find out.
The story/reason behind the game seems pretty similar to the Motorstorm series on Playstation 3 in as much as there is a racing festival with all manner of cars and races. Where Horizon does trump Motorstorm is actually making the player feel like they are part of this festival. There are car meets when you can get grubby finger prints all over the shiny bodywork of competitor’s cars and various hub areas scattered across the landscape which feel just like the centre of the events local to the areas. There are even crowds cheering you on but to be honest, at first I thought the noise was a mechanical issue under the bonnet.
The location in an open world game is always as important as the items which fill it. The setting for Horizon 2 is south west France and north east Italy and it is very picturesque. Having recently played The Crew I would say the variety in the landscape isn’t as diverse in Horizon 2 but with town racing, countyside racing and off-road racing there is still a nice range and it is often tempting to stop to admire the view.
There are plenty of cars available to fill your virtual garage, both old and new. The cars come in the same class distinctions as used in the Forza Motorsport series. The tuning, upgrading and assists will all seems familiar to those that have played Motorsport.
The handling model has fun in mind. It isn’t full on arcade where you can pull off Ridge Racer style drifts round every bend whilst maintaining full speed but it doesn’t keep things too serious that it removes all sense of joy. Points are awarded for various driving feats such as slip streaming, drifts, air time and destruction of scenery; the game wants to you express yourself a little and rewards you for it. Of course, you might not actually mean some of these drifts or moments of destruction but hey, you might as well get rewarded for it. Driving off road has no adverse effect on cars which in real life would struggle but this is all part of the fun. It seems silly hurtling through a field in a Ferrari when you stop to think about it but you’ll not care at all whilst doing it.
The awarded points earned all go towards levelling up. With each level progression there is nice roulette wheel spinning quickly with a various prizes on offer. The prizes are various sums on in-game credits or a car although seldom a car in my experience. There is also a perk systems with various benefits to be earned.
There is no shortage of events of offer in Horizon 2 and although you don’t need to complete most of them to reach the finale, it would be rude not to partake. The racing is either point to point over varying distances or lap based. The race grid makes use of the Drivatars introduced with Forza 5. This is my first experience of it and so far it doesn’t seem worth the hype. It just feels like the name of people on your friends list replaces an AI driver name. On the plus side, it does add a little incentive to getting ahead of a racer than it would do if it was a random AI name.
Events are grouped into championships with points awarded for finish positions. The player has a race category selection to make for each championship which covers race type as well as category of vehicle. You can choose between road or off-road races and modern or retro sports cars or rally cars. After a selection is made, you can select a suitable car from your garage or buy a new car if you don’t have a suitable one. The subsequent road trip to the events allows you to give your chosen vehicle a bit of a test drive. The road trip is not a race but it does make for a busy road with all the competitors heading in the same way and it is hard not to treat it as a race even if there is no indication of position and no winners or losers.
The races are very enjoyable with a large compliment of competitors. Being open world there is a little freedom with the route and short cuts to be exploited. Where the game really excels is with the Top Gear style events. The first one I came across was racing against the Red Arrows style display planes; crossing the finish lines with the sparkling fireworks by the side of the road and the 4 planes with coloured smoke trails behind hurtling by overhead was a spectacle. These events are great fun. At the end of each race you are also presented with the time of a friend who beat your time and given the opportunity to make amends. It could be argued that there is a lack of even variety but when the events are this enjoyable it is hard to feel like that is an issue. The Crew for instance had a lot of variety but it didn’t maintain the same enjoyment factor across the board.
There is a spot of exploration to be done with various boards waiting to be smashed. This isn’t quite as interesting as the billboards on Burnout but they do come with a reward for the player. There are also various cars hidden in barns which are needing to be found. The map will give you a rough area and it then down to you to locate the car. The cars need a bit of tinkering from the festival mechanic but she seems to have time on her hands and gets to work on them right away. For those that like to hit the top speeds there are speed cameras and speed sections to record high speeds against and compare to friends.
Another type of event is the bucket list. This is a random selection of challenges for a variety of cars. There is a lot more freedom in these events; you will have anything from a set number of jumps to perform, a set number of near misses to achieve, pass a speed camera at a high speed or reach the destination in a ridiculous time. These can be quite challenging but offer a nice distraction from the main events and are quite diverse in nature.
Car damage is customisable; you can set it to cosmetic or add a spot of realism which means you will need a trip to the workshop if you ever want your car to move again. I tend to stick to cosmetic otherwise I’d spend a lot of time waiting on repairs. I’ve bashed every panel on each of my cars, lost a wing mirror from my Lamborghini and decided to see what my Lotus Esprit looked like without a spoiler. The interior view will show the windscreen damage but you’ll never lose the windscreen entirely; something I seem to inadvertently try many times. You can be oblivious to the state of your car during an event but the sequence when you cross the finish line lets you see what sort of a mess you made.
The weather plays its part too with nice sunshine and dry roads to a spot of thunder and some rainfall. The roads become a little slippy when wet, particularly with the more powerful cars. The windscreen wipers come on in the wet but the weather effects aren’t as impressive as they are in DriveClub. I still prefer driving in the sun though; I can drive in the wet most days of the week where I live.
Another area when I feel DriveClub tops Horizon 2 is in the graphics; the car models and interiors are better in DriveClub. That’s not to say Horizon 2 isn’t a looker, it is a very pretty game but I think the open world aspect means other elements are not as impressive.
It isn’t worth buying an Xbox specifically to play this one game but it is a darned good game and I’m having a blast with it.
9
The story/reason behind the game seems pretty similar to the Motorstorm series on Playstation 3 in as much as there is a racing festival with all manner of cars and races. Where Horizon does trump Motorstorm is actually making the player feel like they are part of this festival. There are car meets when you can get grubby finger prints all over the shiny bodywork of competitor’s cars and various hub areas scattered across the landscape which feel just like the centre of the events local to the areas. There are even crowds cheering you on but to be honest, at first I thought the noise was a mechanical issue under the bonnet.
The location in an open world game is always as important as the items which fill it. The setting for Horizon 2 is south west France and north east Italy and it is very picturesque. Having recently played The Crew I would say the variety in the landscape isn’t as diverse in Horizon 2 but with town racing, countyside racing and off-road racing there is still a nice range and it is often tempting to stop to admire the view.
There are plenty of cars available to fill your virtual garage, both old and new. The cars come in the same class distinctions as used in the Forza Motorsport series. The tuning, upgrading and assists will all seems familiar to those that have played Motorsport.
The handling model has fun in mind. It isn’t full on arcade where you can pull off Ridge Racer style drifts round every bend whilst maintaining full speed but it doesn’t keep things too serious that it removes all sense of joy. Points are awarded for various driving feats such as slip streaming, drifts, air time and destruction of scenery; the game wants to you express yourself a little and rewards you for it. Of course, you might not actually mean some of these drifts or moments of destruction but hey, you might as well get rewarded for it. Driving off road has no adverse effect on cars which in real life would struggle but this is all part of the fun. It seems silly hurtling through a field in a Ferrari when you stop to think about it but you’ll not care at all whilst doing it.
The awarded points earned all go towards levelling up. With each level progression there is nice roulette wheel spinning quickly with a various prizes on offer. The prizes are various sums on in-game credits or a car although seldom a car in my experience. There is also a perk systems with various benefits to be earned.
There is no shortage of events of offer in Horizon 2 and although you don’t need to complete most of them to reach the finale, it would be rude not to partake. The racing is either point to point over varying distances or lap based. The race grid makes use of the Drivatars introduced with Forza 5. This is my first experience of it and so far it doesn’t seem worth the hype. It just feels like the name of people on your friends list replaces an AI driver name. On the plus side, it does add a little incentive to getting ahead of a racer than it would do if it was a random AI name.
Events are grouped into championships with points awarded for finish positions. The player has a race category selection to make for each championship which covers race type as well as category of vehicle. You can choose between road or off-road races and modern or retro sports cars or rally cars. After a selection is made, you can select a suitable car from your garage or buy a new car if you don’t have a suitable one. The subsequent road trip to the events allows you to give your chosen vehicle a bit of a test drive. The road trip is not a race but it does make for a busy road with all the competitors heading in the same way and it is hard not to treat it as a race even if there is no indication of position and no winners or losers.
The races are very enjoyable with a large compliment of competitors. Being open world there is a little freedom with the route and short cuts to be exploited. Where the game really excels is with the Top Gear style events. The first one I came across was racing against the Red Arrows style display planes; crossing the finish lines with the sparkling fireworks by the side of the road and the 4 planes with coloured smoke trails behind hurtling by overhead was a spectacle. These events are great fun. At the end of each race you are also presented with the time of a friend who beat your time and given the opportunity to make amends. It could be argued that there is a lack of even variety but when the events are this enjoyable it is hard to feel like that is an issue. The Crew for instance had a lot of variety but it didn’t maintain the same enjoyment factor across the board.
There is a spot of exploration to be done with various boards waiting to be smashed. This isn’t quite as interesting as the billboards on Burnout but they do come with a reward for the player. There are also various cars hidden in barns which are needing to be found. The map will give you a rough area and it then down to you to locate the car. The cars need a bit of tinkering from the festival mechanic but she seems to have time on her hands and gets to work on them right away. For those that like to hit the top speeds there are speed cameras and speed sections to record high speeds against and compare to friends.
Another type of event is the bucket list. This is a random selection of challenges for a variety of cars. There is a lot more freedom in these events; you will have anything from a set number of jumps to perform, a set number of near misses to achieve, pass a speed camera at a high speed or reach the destination in a ridiculous time. These can be quite challenging but offer a nice distraction from the main events and are quite diverse in nature.
Car damage is customisable; you can set it to cosmetic or add a spot of realism which means you will need a trip to the workshop if you ever want your car to move again. I tend to stick to cosmetic otherwise I’d spend a lot of time waiting on repairs. I’ve bashed every panel on each of my cars, lost a wing mirror from my Lamborghini and decided to see what my Lotus Esprit looked like without a spoiler. The interior view will show the windscreen damage but you’ll never lose the windscreen entirely; something I seem to inadvertently try many times. You can be oblivious to the state of your car during an event but the sequence when you cross the finish line lets you see what sort of a mess you made.
The weather plays its part too with nice sunshine and dry roads to a spot of thunder and some rainfall. The roads become a little slippy when wet, particularly with the more powerful cars. The windscreen wipers come on in the wet but the weather effects aren’t as impressive as they are in DriveClub. I still prefer driving in the sun though; I can drive in the wet most days of the week where I live.
Another area when I feel DriveClub tops Horizon 2 is in the graphics; the car models and interiors are better in DriveClub. That’s not to say Horizon 2 isn’t a looker, it is a very pretty game but I think the open world aspect means other elements are not as impressive.
It isn’t worth buying an Xbox specifically to play this one game but it is a darned good game and I’m having a blast with it.
9