Forza Horizon 5 Review

The previous series, Forza Horizon 4 was 3 years old and fans around the world were very excited when Microsoft announced the arrival of Forza Horizon 5 at E3 2021 last June. After that, the hype for this game continued to build by itself and increasingly soared when the majority of various gaming media gave a very positive assessment of this game. Then, does Forza Horizon 5 really deserve a perfect score of 10/10, or is it all just an "overrated" rating for this game?

Challenging, Fun to Explore

One of the plus (or even perfect) values ​​of the Forza Horizon series is how Playground Games always builds an open-world world that continues to feel unique and fresh. And where previously Playground Games had done a stunning job of packaging England and Scotland miniatures in Horizon 4, they raised their bar with Mexico in this Horizon 5. Expanding the map up to 50% does give Playground Games extra freedom to present various things. Moreover, Mexico does offer a variety of locations and different environmental conditions. Ranging from deserts, volcanoes, to tropical forests. These various exotic landscapes have been successfully presented into the realistic world of Forza Horizon 5. The world is displayed quite dense with various interesting locations that will make the driving experience of the players will not be boring.

Amazing Graphics

We won't deny that Forza Horizon 5 still presents one of the best graphics a racing game or video game has ever seen as a whole. Starting from the details of the car to the various details in the environment, they are beautifully displayed through a photorealistic approach. However, it must be admitted for those who have previously played the previous series, the graphics offered in this fifth series are not a high leap from Forza Horizon 4 because the base game engine used is still the same. Even so, this is not something bad. Playground Games continues to provide visual improvisation, especially for lighting, effects such as smoke coming out of the wheels, to various details of the scene which are far more varied than the British setting in Forza Horizon 4. very optimal for Forza Horizon 5 even with various improvements made.

Best Cars

Cars are certainly the main lifeline for the Forza Horizon series and Horizon 5 continues this with a growing collection of cars. Microsoft mentions that there are more than 500 cars in this Forza Horizon 5 which consists of various types of cars ranging from classic to the newest. This massive collection is indeed one of the advantages of Forza Horizon compared to other racing games. Each car also has its own driving feel. So that the player will go through the stages of adjustment to finally make one or several cars as his favorite car. Forza Horizon 5 also maintains a variety of ways to get these cars. Players can buy them directly through the in-game showroom, or look for cheaper ones through the auction house or Auction House, and try their luck to get special status cars through wheelspin. In addition to these three main ways, several cars will also be obtained through racing, completing game progress, and even finding cars that other players have given away hidden throughout the map.

Has a Mexican Racing Culture

As the Forza Horizon series develops, Playground Games continues to inject more types of races into its games. This is also done to accommodate the various types of cars that are included in the game, as well as to fulfill the wishes of various communities of car racing game lovers. Playground Games has cleverly integrated these various types of races into its campaign. So that players will continue to try out various types of races to be able to continue the game.

There are at least 6 types of races in Forza Horizon 5, including road races, dirt races, cross country races, drag races, and stunts. Each race will require its own car and configuration. Although players can actually turn any car into a car for any type of race. Apart from racing, Forza Horizon 5 also brings various other car-related activities such as Horizon Arcade which is a collection of mini games that are held randomly on the map. Then there is also the EventLab which contains various custom games made by the community.

Conclusion

With the freedom given to the player to control almost all aspects from the appearance of the character, the appearance of the car, to the race settings, players can indeed find the most comfortable point to enjoy this game according to their individual preferences. In addition to a myriad of content that will take a long time to be enjoyed one by one coupled with a massive car collection, players can also simply take a walk with their favorite car through the streets of Mexico which are full of beautiful scenery. In the end, Forza Horizon 5 was created as a giant playground for car lovers or those who are just trying out racing games for the first time. There are no consequences for playing this game at the lowest level, or not following the online competitive mode you have. Because basically this game was created because gamers can have fun alone or together.