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Forza Horizon 5 Review - Our Thoughts
The Forza Horizon series has always done an excellent job of blending the realistic visuals of Forza Motorsport with open-world arcade-style racing, but Forza Horizon 5 is something truly special. Developed by Playground Games, it was recently released on both Xbox family consoles and Windows PC, and has been widely praised by both players and critics. Whisking us away to the sunny coast of Mexico, Forza Horizon 5 offers a vast map with an engaging diversity of landscapes, packed to the brim with exciting races and events to complete. For both racing newbies and franchise faithfuls, this is easily one of the most addictive and entertaining games of the year.
Forza Horizon 5 Pushes the Franchise Forward
After the stunning success of Forza Horizon 4, many fans thought the franchise had reached its peak, but Forza Horizon 5 is here to prove them wrong. Containing everything fantastic about its predecessors as well as some new features and overall improvements, Forza Horizon 5 is a dream for any fan of automotive entertainment. Like in the previous games, you travel to an exotic country to set up the Horizon Festival, a celebration of high-octane racing and vehicle-based action. As you complete races and events, you'll expand the Horizon Festival, setting up new outposts around the map. With specific outposts dedicated to off-road racing, street racing, dangerous stunts, and more, there's a wealth of variety to enjoy.
Luckily, Forza Horizon 5 absolutely nails its progression system, allowing players to level up and unlock new races by simply playing the content they like. Although you start with just a few events available, your map will quickly fill up with activities, providing a heap of vehicular fun. Thanks to the expansive new Accolade system that provides thousands of mini-challenges to complete, you'll never feel like you're spinning your wheels, as you consistently unlock new activities and goodies with every passing race. You don't even have to race if you don't feel like it, as the map is littered with experience boards to smash, dangerous ramps to launch off of, and speed traps to blaze through.
The entire game can be enjoyed as a solo experience, but it's much more fun when played via online multiplayer. By inviting your friends to an in-game convoy, you and your party can explore the map together while participating in both cooperative and competitive races. The online connectivity of Forza Horizon 5 pops up all over the place, with user-created challenges to complete, custom races to enjoy, and even the battle royale mode called “The Eliminator”. There are also over 500 cars to collect, ranging from modern imports to historic classics, and it's tons of fun to show off your custom paint jobs and tuning to friends.
Chips in the Paint
Although Forza Horizon 5 is an engrossing game with tons of amazing content, it's not without a few flaws. The game had a hugely successful launch, becoming the most popular and played title released by Xbox Game Studios. Unfortunately, this massive influx of players has caused some predictable server issues. While attempting to play with friends in a convoy, it's not uncommon for connection errors to occur or for players to get dropped from the session. Matchmaking with other players online for certain activities like The Eliminator often takes longer than expected, which can be disappointing.
On the performance side of things, your mileage may vary, but we've heard reports of glitches, inconsistent frame rates, and even occasional crashes. Luckily, these issues can be fixed with patches, but they can be frustrating when you're trying to enjoy a brand new game. That said, Playground Games has a solid reputation for updating and maintaining their titles, so we have faith that these issues will be fixed with time.
Despite the small handful of issues it has, we can't understate just how enjoyable and invigorating Forza Horizon 5 is to play. After just a few hours, you should already be embroiled in the experience, speeding around the map in a super-car or flying over dunes in an off-road buggy. With its gorgeous visuals, impressive excess of content, and truly addictive gameplay, we recommend Forza Horizon 5 to any Xbox or PC gamer who enjoys the idea of racing around Mexico at top speeds.