Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One) Review

Ever since I got my Xbox 360 back in 2009, I’ve been a big fan of the Forza Motorsport series but with the introduction of the Forza Horizon series in 2012, the Horizon series has become my favourite Forza series.

Forza Horizon 4 marks the fourth installment in the Forza Horizon series and eleventh Forza game overall. The game is a lot of fun to play for hours on end for both returning fans and new fans to the series.

Gameplay

As you would expect, driving in the game is great, each vehicle feels different. In the game, you take part in the Horizon Festival taking place in the UK. There are a variety of different races such as street, dirt, cross-country, drag and one set of events that makes you into a stunt driver.

There are 450 vehicles in the game, so there’s plenty to choose from. And to progress through the game, you earn influence which you can get more of depending on what place you come in. You can also earn influence in Forza Horizon 4 when streaming on Mixer or watching someone else play the game on Mixer.

The game is a lot of fun to play and all the different races feel distinct. You can customize your character with different clothes and emotes but the customization is fairly basic in terms of how they look.

Just like previous Forza Horizon games, there are also showcase events which basically are more outrageous, one showcase event has you racing against a train while another has you up against a hovercraft. There’s even a Halo-themed showcase event in the game that you unlock later on.

New for Forza Horizon 4 is the addition of a dynamic weather system that also includes a change of seasons, where you’ll experience changes to the world depending on the season. So in winter, the lakes in the game will freeze over, allowing you to drive over them.

Both Fall and Winter in the game look and feel great but Summer and Spring feel so similar apart from when it rains during those seasons. I wish that there was more to be done to distinct the Summer and Spring seasons.

The game takes place in a synchronized shared world with up to 72 players per server but only about 12-15 appear at a time.

All of the seasons are tied to the game’s servers, so when you’re playing online with your friends, you’ll all experience the same weather conditions. Seasons last about a week in real-time and there are limited-time events that take place in each season.

Presentation

The game is visually stunning, you can really see all the details in all the vehicles and the world you race in. Forza Horizon 4 is Xbox One X enhanced and playable in 4K Ultra HD and HDR.

Even though the game takes place in the UK, it still looks amazing, just as great as Australia in Forza Horizon 3 or Europe in Forza Horizon 2. It’s great to just stop and take a look at the breathtaking views of Forza Horizon 4.

While playing the game, I did notice a few minor technical glitches where the game would lag slightly when loading. The game does have quite a few load times and sometimes they can be long.

Once the season changes in the game, so do the game’s look and feel. In the fall, there are lots of oranges and browns. Winter has snow and is white and blue, while spring is green and sunny and summer is clear and bright.