Forza Horizon 2

Forza Horizon 2 is regarded as one of the best open world racing games of the Xbox One/Xbox 360 generation. Developed by Playground Games and released in 2014, Forza Horizon 2 takes the acclaimed horizon racing concept and expands it into a sprawling European playground filled with endless racing possibilities.

A Living, Breathing Festival

One of the standout aspects of Forza Horizon 2 is how it portrays the Horizon Festival as a living, ongoing event. Upon booting up the game, players find themselves in the midst of a massive racing festival taking place across the gorgeous open world landscapes of Southern France and Northern Italy.

Day turns to night as players explore the map, take on races and challenges, and work their way up the festival ranks. Dynamic weather effects are introduced for the first time in a Forza game, adding greater variability to each drive. Rainstorms, fierce winds, and shining sunshine dynamically alter racing conditions, keeping players on their toes.

New to Forza Horizon 2 are "Bucket Lists" - timed challenge series divided into three tiers of increasing difficulty. These provide solo players with constantly updating goals to strive for across the map. Online, players can freely explore the world together in shared lobbies, competing in races, checking out each other's tuned rides at organized "Car Meets", and even gifting cars.

Unique game modes like "Infected" and "King" expand the online experience beyond typical competitive racing. Co-op play is also supported for Bucket Lists, allowing players to team up.

Licensing a Wide Range of Iconic Rides

Spanning the 1950s to present day, Forza Horizon 2 features an immense lineup of over 200 fully licensed vehicles from brands around the world. Classics, exotics, tuners, and off-road monsters - the game aims to please all types of driving enthusiasts. Players enjoy full car customization, with upgrades, paint jobs, and even mechanical tuning possible.

Each vehicle handles distinctly, rewarding mastery. The addition of NOS boost via a Fast & Furious expansion pack adds a new dimension of power and excitement on the track.

While the map size is roughly three times that of the original Forza Horizon, what makes Forza Horizon 2 truly sing is how beautifully its virtual France and Italy environments are realized.

From the winding coastal roads of the Mediterranean to the vineyards of Provence - every corner invites exploration. Major towns like Nice and iconic landmarks like the French Riviera are painstakingly recreated, if scaled down. The world simply begs to be driven through, with hidden barns and showdown events around each bend.

Review: 9/10

It expands the Horizon formula into an expansive dreamland for car enthusiasts and racing fans, delivering dozens of hours of joy just cruising from event to event. While the story is light, the stellar licensed soundtrack and beautifully detailed open world more than make up for it. Online continues to provide adventures long after the final race.

Pros:

• Massive, gorgeous open world landscape
• Wide variety of licensed vehicles
• Dynamic time of day and weather systems
• Deep vehicle customization

Cons:

• Light on story or narrative

If you are a car enthusiast and sometimes like to dab in the occasional racing challenges, then Forza Horizon 2 is the game for you. This time you don’t have to stand beside a supercar with your phone trying to take videos and pictures of people’s supercars. You can get a chance to own and drive one virtually with the Forza Horizon game series.

The game series takes you to a fantasy world where roads are not restricted with barriers and the storyline follows a deviate from modern driving to classical driving. The quest for classical cars in barns makes the off-road driving experience with a supercar satisfying as after the finds these classical cars need restoration.

The Distinctiveness of Forza Horizon 2

Owning Horizon 2 rebottles the winning formula established by its predecessor and then some. For sure there is an updated roster of 200+ cars at your disposal considered to be the best lineup in the open world of car racing business. You are assured to feel the distinctiveness when driving each model, unlike other racing games where the controls feel the same in every car you drive.

You can expect the same crispness and sharpness from the supercars and the suitable soggy drag from the SUV indicating that everything has been honed to signify reality. This time Playground Games have set the playground to be in the countryside of northern Italy and southern France almost to serve Forza’s fans satisfaction who have spent most of their past decade watching Top Gear tour the same landscapes.

The Gameplay

As you relax on your couch and load the game on your Xbox 360 console, there is always that little feeling of excitement that you get from the notion that you have completed everything important for the day and can have an uninterrupted long session with the game. Forza Horizon 2 exemplifies the beauty in cars as if they are living things. Holding the pad in your arms and driving a supercar brings out the wildness in the metal beast while it becomes your sole duty to tame the car. For first time players, you have to get to know the car and hear it purr before indulging in any races.

Feeling the car is an aspect that has to be mastered because you could lose control drifting into hug the complex curves. Therefore, wrestling the cars into submission is key to its control. All I am saying is that the handling of cars in the game is quite majestic and different from any other car games.

The game is centred along with a storyline that enables you to participate in over 700 different events and collect classical cars while you are at it. Playground Games addition of the new Bucket List challenges is an appreciated twist to the Forza franchise.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Customizable sublime handling
• Improved AI for competitive Drivatar handling
• A wide selected array of events
• Beautiful scenery accompanied by majestic supercars

Cons:

• Are not able to turn off ugly liveries