Video game review: Forza Horizon

LOVED IT: Beautiful visuals, smooth driving controls, great soundtrack, spectacular ambie nce, nice variety of game-play modes

HATED IT: Some shaky multiplayer elements, occasionally frustrating race progression

GRAB IT IF: You’d like a more peaceful, true-to-life Test Drive Unlimited or Need for Speed: Underground 2

It doesn’t happen often. But every so often, everybody has a moment when they recall exactly why they were dying to learn to drive as a teenager. They speed along some stretch of highway, perhaps a bit faster than the police would like, and see the sun setting in the distance, trees and mountains racing by.

Think of Forza Horizon as one big, sustained, oh-so-magical moment.

There’s something hypnotic about hopping into your 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer and cruising through Colorado in this open-world racer, something that feels like one of those made-for-the-movies moments.

It makes Playground Studios’ new take on the classic racing game series completely worthwhile.

I was a skeptic of Forza Horizon in June, when it was shown at the Electronics Entertainment Expo. Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport series had long held my attention because of its hyper-realistic racing physics and attention to detail, a blend that made it one of the finest racing simulation series available.

Forza Horizon, then, didn’t seem to make sense. The spinoff seemed gimmicky, an odd grafting of the Forza series onto the well-worn open-world template, as if the folks at Microsoft were out of racing-game ideas.

But those misgivings quickly dissipated, simply because of those magical moments in Forza Horizon. The game sells you its new identity from the start, opening not with the blaring of car engines in some race scene but instead with what looks like a picnic on a hill.

Moments later, you’re hitting the open road, cruising through a reimagining of Colorado. This fictional reinterpretation of the state is magnificently vast, with mountains and winding roads here and stretches of straight road and desert there. It’s a varied and detailed tapestry, from the rows of houses in suburban areas to the foliage that dots the mountains you’ll climb and descend.

I found simply cruising around the area at breakneck speeds to be a joy. The world and the streets are well-crafted, and Forza adds other things to keep you occupied. You can try to set a speed record when you cruise through a speed trap or search for the handful of smashable boards to earn discounts on parts and cars.

Kinect gamers get Forza Horizon at its best, too. They can yell “GPS!” at any moment on the open road, then command their GPS to set a new course (which doubles as a racing line), pointing them toward another event or this spot or that spot. It’s well-integrated and seamless, and it lets you focus on the open road without ever heading back to some map screen to plot a new course.

Wild as it may sound, none of this is the meat of Forza Horizon.

Playground doesn’t simply build you this Colorado playground and let you loose; it tries to lend plot and purpose to your joyride. The so-called Horizon Festival is taking place in Colorado, and 250 fine racers have descended on the state.

Source : nydailynews[dot]com