Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 is an open-world racing game developed by PlayGround Games. Like other entries in Forza Horizon franchise, Forza Horizon 4 is all about blazing through beautiful countrysides and cities while completing a wide variety of racing activities. Horizon 4 transports players to the wonderful land of the UK, complete with rolling hills, gorgeous fields of flowers, and compact city streets. Here, the Horizon Festival has begun, an epic showcase of all things automobile. As an up-and-coming driver eager to make your mark, it's your job to compete in the Horizon Festival, earning cars and experience as you explore its many races and routes.

Unlike its counterpart title Forza Motorsport, the driving in Forza Horizon 4 is more arcade-like than realistic. Although the cars still looking stunningly well-designed and at times are indistinguishable from the real thing, there's an underlying wacky attitude you won't find in other realistic racing games.

There's a long list of cars to collect and purchase, and each one can be tuned to your liking. Players can also deck out their cars with custom paint-jobs that have been created by other users, ranging from flashy to funny. If you ever find yourself going too fast and veering off the course, a handy rewind feature allows you to undo your mistake with the tap of a button.

In addition to the wealth of unique content and races, Forza Horizon 4 has two new major gameplay additions. For the first time in Forza Horizon history, players can now race around the massive map together thanks to the inclusion of online connectivity. Up to 72 players can roam around the map at once, challenging each other to races, finding collectibles, and collectively partaking in community events. You'll always have something new to do, as Forza Horizon 4 also includes shifting seasons. Every few weeks, the in-game maps alternates between Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each season has significant changes on the map; lakes become frozen, roads become slippery, and new holiday events become available.

Thanks to an immense amount of content that continues to grow through free updates and patches, Forza Horizon 4 has a huge replayability factor. Besides competing in races and unlocking new cars and races by winning, there are tons of activities to discover and collectibles to be found. Various speed zones and speed traps award fast racers, while drifting routes and dangerous jumps stand for daring drivers to conquer. While exploring the map between events, you might even stumble across one of the many historic cars hidden in barns across the play area. These cars can then be restored, tuned, and driven, allowing you to flaunt some of the most unique and memorable cars over the century.

Overall, Forza Horizon 4 delivers just as much content as the previous Horizon games while adding in some excellent new features and awesome online capabilities. There's a massive variety in types of races, ensuring that drivers of all inclinations have something fun to do. The changing seasons make the map feel refreshing and new every few weeks, while free new content continues to provide exciting gameplay. If you're looking for a racing game to sink hundreds of hours into, Forza Horizon 4 is an easy choice.

When Playground Games brought their successful open-world racing formula to the rolling hills and villages of the British countryside in 2018's Forza Horizon 4, they introduced a game-changing new feature - dynamic seasons. As the in-game calendar shifts from spring to summer, fall, and winter every week, the environment transforms before your eyes, opening up new areas or events and forcing you to adapt your driving style.

About the game

The stark visual shifts as winter blankets forests in snow or spring turns hills green again is remarkable enough to behold. But it also shakes up driving physics and accessibility as you skid across frozen lakes or splash through muddy spring rains. This keeps map exploration exciting even after dozens of hours playing as you discover new routes and challenges.

Season-exclusive Showcase events that have you racing planes, hovercrafts, or other vehicles encourage you to frequently change cars and revisit old areas with new conditions. Stormy dynamic weather effects like thunderstorms, blizzards, or fog can kick in during races or free roaming, making merely cruising the open roads a white-knuckle thrill ride.

Horizon’s trademark forgiving arcade handling model makes adjusting to the changing terrain easier while still offering plenty of challenge as roads become slick with rain or ice.

Two impressive expansion packs take you away from Britain to add even more variety. Fortune Island’s rugged, snowy mountains bring extreme weather like lightning storms and blizzards while challenging you to find hidden treasure chests. The silly Lego Speed Champions pack literally builds new driving opportunities out of the colorful bricks as you explore a map of Lego structures and brick-built cars. Combined with free monthly content updates that have continuously added new game modes, races, challenges, and cars for over 4 years after launch, Forza Horizon 4 has nearly unbeatable longevity in the racing genre.

Racing to the limit

Forza Horizon 4 doesn't radically change the arcade racing genre in the way its dynamic seasons shake up its own map. But for long-time fans or those seeking a massive, beautiful open world brimming with driving activities to conquer, no other current racing game matches its style, breadth, polish and innovation. This breezy yet deep, exciting off-road trip stands out from competitors like The Crew 2 or Need for Speed through superb vehicle handling, varied driving challenges, and the revolutionary living, breathing effect of dynamic weather

Veterans will appreciate additions like custom races and the Blueprint route creator, while newcomers can easily lose dozens of hours just freely exploring picturesque Britain. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, Forza Horizon 4 is interactive automotive bliss.

Review: 9/10

With excellent car handling, deep and rewarding skill-based progression systems, a huge world brimming with activities, and revolutionary dynamic seasons that make the environment feel alive, Playground Games has once again perfected the Horizon formula while improving upon previous foundations.

Pros:

• Jaw-droppingly beautiful, season-changing open world environment
• Massive variety of over 500 detailed cars to collect, customize and tune
• Addictive skill chaining and stunt driving mechanics reward exploration
• Two big expansions offer radically different locales
• Four years of ongoing monthly updates provide continued support

Cons:

• Occasional bugs with online connectivity
• Aggressive drivatars can hamper enjoyment of races
• Story progression limits access to full map early on

Forza Horizon 4 is the latest installment in the popular open-world racing series from Playground Games and Microsoft Studios. The game takes place in a stunning recreation of Britain, where players can explore, race, and customize hundreds of cars across four dynamic seasons. Whether you want to cruise along country roads, drift through city streets, or rally across frozen lakes, Forza Horizon 4 has something for every racing fan.

Seasons of Change

One of the most distinctive features of Forza Horizon 4 is its seasonal system, which changes every week in real time for all players. Each season brings new weather conditions, events, challenges, and rewards to the game world. For example, in winter you can race on slippery ice and snow, while in spring you can enjoy the blooming flowers and muddy tracks. The seasons also affect how different cars perform and handle on the road.

The seasonal system adds variety and freshness to the game experience, as well as encouraging players to try out different cars and activities. It also creates a sense of community among players who share the same world and can cooperate or compete with each other in various online modes.

A Car Lover's Dream

Forza Horizon 4 boasts an impressive collection of over 450 licensed cars from over 100 manufacturers. You can find everything from classic muscle cars to modern supercars, from off-road buggies to rally legends. Each car has its own detailed interior and exterior models, realistic sounds, and customizable options. You can paint your car with any color or design you want, tune its performance to suit your driving style, or even create your own events using the Blueprint feature.

The game also rewards you for collecting cars by giving you influence points that unlock new features and perks. You can also earn credits by completing races and challenges that you can spend on buying more cars or upgrading your existing ones. Alternatively, you can browse or auction cars online with other players using the Forzathon Shop or Car Mastery systems.

Fun Over Realism

Forza Horizon 4 is not a simulation racing game like its sister series Forza Motorsport. Instead, it focuses on fun over realism and offers a more accessible and enjoyable racing experience for everyone. The game has various difficulty settings that let you adjust the AI opponents' skill level, driving assists such as traction control or braking line, or even switch between manual or automatic transmission.

The game also has a playful tone that invites you to explore its beautiful world at your own pace. You can discover hidden barn finds that contain rare cars, smash bonus boards that give you extra credits or influence points, perform stunts such as jumps or drifts that increase your skill chain multiplier, or simply drive around listening to one of several radio stations that play different genres of music.

Review: 9/10

Forza Horizon 4 is one of the best racing games ever made. It offers an incredible amount of content, variety, and fun for both casual and hardcore racing fans. It combines realistic physics and graphics with arcade-style gameplay and customization options. It creates a vibrant and dynamic world that changes with seasons and encourages exploration and discovery.

Pros:

• Gorgeous graphics and sound design that bring Britain to life.
• Hundreds of cars to collect customize
• Four dynamic seasons that change every
• Immersive gameplay
• Great simulation

Cons:

• Driving to the individual races can get tedious and repetitive after a while, especially if they are far away from your current location or fast travel point.
• The game can have some technical issues such as glitches, bugs, crashes, or performance drops on some platforms or configurations, affecting the gameplay quality and stability.