4.5/5 ★ – SlashStriker's review of Forza Horizon 5.

'Legacy' Review from 12/5/2021: Last night I completed the final Horizon Festival chapters and was inducted into the ‘hall of fame’ in Forza Horizon 5. I’ve had a really great time with FH5, and can see myself returning to enjoy its playground, but for now I’m ready to give it a break and share my thoughts. Not that it needs much introduction, but Forza Horizon 5 is a open world playground-style racing game by Playground Games. The Horizon series has been running since 2012 and I’ve been a fan of Horizon games since day 1. I am not a car fanatic, or even remotely interested in the mechanics behind cars, so the sim side of racing games (Forza, Gran Turismo) doesn’t do much for me. What I do love is arcade fun, and following a multi-year obsession with #BurnoutParadise FH was happy to take the baton. I have played through Horizon 1 and 2 and dabbled in 3 before I left the Xbox ecosystem. Thanks to Xbox GamePass for PC I’ve been able to rejoin the fun with 5, and am very impressed with how the series has continued to advance without losing its core appeal. The reworking of FH’s progression was much appreciated, as the player is now given much more control over how new events are opened to them. The expedition and showcase events stole the show though. Each one, from racing monster trucks to exploring ancient ruins, was a treat. One of my few issues with the game is how few of these expedition/showcase style races are present though, I unlocked and beat all 9 within the first couple days of playing, which led to the rest of the game’s standard races feeling pretty monotonous in comparison. That isn’t to say the core racing is at all boring, more so that it just ended up being more meditative than high-octane by the late game, with several of the end-game events being races ranging from 10-25 minutes long as you race across the game’s massive open map of Mexico. Thankfully all through the game you are treated to a fantastically curated soundtrack with several radio stations to cater to many tastes! The Horizon XS station was my pick, as it included tracks by several favorites of mine such as Nothing but Thieves, Foo Fighters and The Struts! Unfortunately given how much time you are likely to spend in the game world you do eventually start hearing the same tracks repeating over and over. I hope they consider adding to the radio stations over time as they add other new content to the game! While I didn’t partake in the tuning of my cars, given it’s all gibberish to me, I did enjoy the auto-upgrade feature and loved the ability to quickly view user created custom liveries. I threw a bunch of neat liveries on my cars, including some Genshin/Persona ones people made! I still enjoy the random ‘Wheelspin’ mechanic despite its similarities to loot boxes, simply because they are all earned in game and are handed out very frequently. I unlocked a bunch of crazy expensive cars through it, which is always exciting! There really shouldn’t be any player cosmetic garbage in the Wheelspins though. The last thing I want is an voice line, emote or a new watch for my avatar I rarely see instead of an actual car. The avatar customization is cute but completely forgettable. Same with player houses. One area Playground still really need to expand on is making the story quest NPCs notable/recognizable. I honestly couldn’t even tell who was talking to me most of the time, and besides quests with notable themes (Luchador/Stuntman) every other questline just blended together. I think I’ve gone on long enough here. The game is gorgeous, unafraid to be dumb fun, sounds great, feels good to control and just overall checks every box you could reasonably ask from it. I would recommend this game to literally anyone, especially if you have GamePass! I played this game on PC via PC GamePass.