Forza, the new king of asphalt

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Driving games have always been one of the most played genres and have had a loyal audience. In this opinion article, I want to tell you about my experience over time, about how I left them aside to later come back with what is today the best driving saga in video games.

It was the year 2005, at home we had the first Xbox, which I bought with all the enthusiasm and effort to play the first Halo, a game that I still play today and that is one of my favorites. When my brother bought a driving game called Project Gotham Racing, based on closed urban circuits throughout the world, I have to say that at first I did not like it at all. I found it boring, but thanks to the split screen I ended up liking it.

As you progressed through the game, you discovered new countries, cars and circuits. This somewhat reminded me of Grand Touringthe father of the genre, since in the title of Polyiphony Digital we had the cards to unlock content and in Project Gotham Racing it was something similar but new content came as we unlocked countries.

I remember playing with my Ferrari F50 around the Red Square in Moscow and the sensation of speed was incredible for those years, since it had a very good technical level and very good playability. Apart from the races, there were various skill tests such as speed, line and drift or skid

After playing the first and second games of PGR, games where I probably put fifty hours into each one, the third installment arrived along with our brand new Xbox 360. What could go wrong? I’ll be brief, it was an absolute disappointment. Although technically it was very nice, the gameplay had changed and I was not completely convinced.

A Project Gotham Racing 3 I hardly spent time on it since I enjoyed other games like Gears Of War, Halo, Skyrim Y ESP.

Later I tried other driving titles like midnight club 3 in its Xbox Hits edition for 360 and Test Drive Unlimitedbut the result was the same as with PGR 3although I have to say that Test Drive I was surprised. Although it is true that I did not play much, the idea of ​​​​having an open world caught my attention. It laid the foundations for what I would later find myself in. forcea game that was open world and racing with checkpoints.

Although these were not bad games, with the advent of Grand Touring I found out what it was like to play in another league. I was no longer bored after spending a couple of hours in front of the screen, but could lose track of time for entire afternoons. I didn’t mind having to drive to a friend’s house to get behind the wheel, Kazunori Yamauchi’s game was the caviar of driving.

But one day my brother came back, my mentor in this kind of games, with a certain Forza Motorsport 2, and there I simply freaked out. Xbox had achieved a title capable of competing with Grand Touring. Control of the car was everything, as a simple braking pass would either take you off the track or lock your wheels, wasting valuable time. Turn 10 Studios’ work was very demanding without help.

But after the Xbox 360 came that dark age where Don Mattrick, at the time head of Xbox, was hell-bent on killing Xbox with anti-consumer policies and a console that hardly caught my eye. I finally got around to buying the Xbox One S, to be honest, for Gears of War 4.

Already with my new console I saw that there was a service called Game Pass, a Netflix of video games, and without a doubt I joined the service to continue with my life of gamer. I entered the library of games, one of them caught my attention, ForzaHorizon 4and I thought, “will it be the same one that I tried in 360?”

Not at all, in five minutes the game already had me in love. “A new beginning” it said PlayGround Gamesand he was not mistaken, since for me it was something very new because I found a game that offered very realistic driving within which it was a mode Arcadian.

ForzaHorizon 4 It started with a McLaren Senna speeding through a valley in autumn, and the feeling of speed was incredible, with impressive graphical and technical detail. playground It made me open-mouthed at an exhibition, since the best thing was undoubtedly to feel that total control of the car with the remote was not impossible.

But this does not end here, after driving our McLaren at full speed we go into winter, showing the game the surprises of its variable weather. Suddenly we find ourselves riding a Jeep at full speed through completely frozen landscapes, here the control is already more demanding (normal, we drive on ice), and again feeling that with your command you have total control is crazy, you can see the affection with which this study has worked the game. The game continued to get chest through exhibitions of the seasons of the year, the great claim of that installment.

Once inside the game, the feeling couldn’t be better, you have the whole of the United Kingdom to yourself, you can do whatever you want and go wherever you want, with a variety of events, abandoned cars, cross country, sprint races and endless other secrets. I didn’t need more, it became my automotive reference.

But at E3 2021 after enjoying ForzaHorizon 4among other Game Pass gems like gear 5 Y Ori -this last one is mandatory to play-, came the presentation of ForzaHorizon 5. What to say? I’m just still open-mouthed. This time we are going to Mexico, a nod from PlayGround to the largest Xbox community in the world. With the first gameplay the impact came with its graphics that today for me are still the best seen so far. Me hype I was through the roof, and even more so seeing content and direct from this game every month, I felt the same as in the past. And the day came ForzaHorizon 5 It was released on Xbox and from day one on its Game Pass service, as Microsoft usually does with its studios.

Steering wheel in hand, finally, the first impact was his music. A song with Spanish guitar while the game takes you through jungles, deserts and meadows full of flowers, a song that I will share with everyone in Musical Level, the Video Games program from Subbética dedicated to soundtracks.

The Horizon Festival begins by launching a Jeep Bronco from a plane. We enter the Gran Caldera, a snowy volcano full of lava where we drive until we jump over a ledge, the jump is done in slow motion so you can enjoy the scenery. With a great BSO we continue our expedition, descending at full speed down the slope of the volcano to another jump that transports us to a race that was already underway.

As we continue to drive at full speed we see cars passing from one side to the other and our plane going away in the distance, the surprise is that we have a sandstorm ahead and, we go towards it, driving our Corvette through there is incredible , how it affects visibility and how you feel the sand hitting the car is wonderful, all while fighting with your steering wheel to keep from going off the road.

We have driven in a volcano and in a desert, now it is the jungle, and Mexico does have something, it is contrasts. Now we find a Porsche in the middle of the jungle, the cross country Not to mention, I love to see how you cross rivers and the water splashes our camera, and to see a village with a church in the middle of the jungle, to finish with a new jump while our plane accompanies us through the jungle. In short, a wonder.

But ForzaHorizon 5 He keeps an ace up his sleeve, the final surprise. Our announcer tells us that it is the last leg, that the festival awaits us, and our plane lets us go in a sprint race, one of my favorites, to let us drive a brand new Mercedes-AMG Project One, almost nothing, here it is simply stepping thoroughly and enjoy.

After this presentation Mexico is discovered before us, our adventure is divided into several phases of the festival, with different types of circuits so that the game does not become too repetitive. At first, most of the races will be closed circuits with three laps, little by little we will complete these objectives and unlock content in our adventure through Mexican lands.

There are also other tests such as drifting and some others later, I don’t want to do any kind of spoilers. These tests are a bit confusing since you don’t know exactly what you have to do, but other than that the game is amazing. Also, as in its fourth installment, there are abandoned cars and exhibition events.

The community is very important, Forza knows how to treat its public. Just for having played Forza 4 they give you a McLaren Senna, one of the best cars from the beginning for you to enjoy, and without spending a euro. This seems wonderful to me, since for example in games like FIFA If you don’t spend money, you’re nobody. They could already learn a little, really, because the important thing is the video game, not how much money you can get from your community.

As the community said play ground It is very important, not only to be able to race against other people or in a convoy with your friends, but also the community makes circuits and designs for the cars that we can rate with a like; getting that circuit or car design to reach more people.

In general I have reviewed what ForzaHorizon 5 has been for me. Not without first saying goodbye, I would like to share with you one last detail of this masterpiece of driving: the abandoned cars. I have loved looking for all these cars throughout Mexico, even what seems most beautiful to me is being able to give it to a friend of yours, again play ground caring for your community. It is true that the way to find the cars is always the same, they are inside a barn that always has the same shape, here the study could be a little more original.

As a farewell I would like to leave a reflection, I think we will only see a ForzaHorizon by generation of consoles, since it is a very big game, the studio is gradually focusing it on the game as a service, recently it received the DLC from Hot Wheels and now on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the saga it is going to receive another DLC and this added to those that will come in the future makes me think like this. The 10th Anniversary DLC will be free for everyone who owns the game, whether purchased or through Game Pass.

So when you think Starfield Y redfall have been delayed calm down, since you will have more time to enjoy ForzaHorizon. Mexico is the race and the horizon is the goal: yes Playground Games has managed to get this installment to exceed ten million players, I don’t even want to imagine what this studio will achieve in future installments.

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Brian Adam
Professional Blogger, V logger, traveler and explorer of new horizons.