Forza Horizon 5 Review – Firing On All Cylinders

Since the spin-off series’ inception, Forza Horizon’s approachable and exciting racing action has appealed to a broad audience. Forza Horizon 5 continues this tradition of delivering stellar driving mechanics within a gorgeous destination, this time taking players to Mexico for one of the best, most expansive racing games I’ve ever played.

Forza Horizon 5’s Mexico driving experience is a joy thanks to the superb dynamic driving mechanics. These take into account the weather and terrain as well as the handling of more than 500 cars. Forza Horizon 5 is a great example of this with an amazing opening sequence where cars fall from planes to land in different biomes. These include sandstorms or snaking streams, as well wide open straightaways. The music plays throughout. Horizon emphasizes both the exceptional mechanics and differences in handling as you cruise around the globe.

Forza Horizon 5’s sense of speed is incredible. Whether you’re tactfully navigating an off-road course in the lush rainforests or screaming down a desert highway, the difference between staying on the road and spinning off into the brush is razor thin. Forza Horizon 5 is a great game because it offers a variety of courses, from courses for traditional races to ones with objectives. The Drivatar system – which replicates your friends’ tendencies using A.I. racers – is a series mainstay now, but I loved developing rivalries with specific friends, even though I wasn’t racing against them in real-time.

Playground Games’ lovingly crafted interpretation of Mexico and its 11 distinct biomes deliver some of the most stunning visuals I’ve ever witnessed in a video game. This open world houses a venerable cornucopia of activities available to players, which is astounding – if not a little overwhelming. It’s sometimes challenging to find some of the events I wanted, given the number of activity icons on the map. Thankfully you can apply map filters or ask your car’s A.I. you can also set your navigation for nearby events. Still, that didn’t stop me from getting distracted by the many events on offer along my route.

You can also participate in barn find, which allows you to search out and save classic cars in country barns. You can also help characters with driving-based missions. While I enjoyed completing these missions, the open world offers many other fun and quick activities. For example, you could see how fast you can pass a speed trap or launch off of a ramp. Or how quickly you can glide through drift zones. This is a great way to earn experience, accolades and new perks for your vehicle. But my favourite part about these open-world activities is the instant comparison to your friends. The speed of my friend’s car was higher than mine, and I realized that I had to go back around to take on the challenge.

You may stumble across online events while traveling through Mexico. These public activities let you seamlessly join with other players to complete a common goal, such as accruing a set amount of distance off a jump or drifting and destroying piñatas in an area. You can even participate in a battle royale-style Eliminator mode where you’re challenging other players in the session, knocking them out of the competition, taking their cars, and trying to be the last player remaining. Although these can be fun and entertaining, I find my most favorite online activity to be creating a team of players, taking them around the world and then entering events together.

Expeditions is a unique, campaign-driven sequence that combines all these events to create some memorable experiences. I will never forget the Expeditions or the story missions that followed, from driving up a volcano to roaring music blasting over the radio to tearing through an off-road track against two monster trucks.

If Forza’s many developer-created events aren’t enough, players can also create and share activities using EventLab. The tool allows you to simply create a route and place checkpoints. All it takes is a click. You can also draw a name and description. I loved sharing these creations because they appear alongside developer-created activities in other players’ games, giving them the option to test their skills in your designs.

Forza Horizon 5 excels at all levels. Since the very beginning, I felt like I was at the edge of my chair. With so much to do in such a relentlessly gorgeous world, I suspect it won’t be long before I get the itch to jump back into the driver’s seat of my favorite car. Forza Horizon 5’s supercar is still a top-of-the-line car, even amid a fierce racing scene.