Forza Horizon 5 - PC (Steam) Review

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¡Viva México, cabrones!

• System: PC (Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
• Developer: Playground Games
• Release Date: November 9, 2021

• Pricing: $59.99 (free with Xbox Pass)
• Rating: RP
• Genre: Racing
• Players: 1
• Official Website: https://forzamotorsport.net/en-US/games/fh5

Forza Horizon 5 Official Announce Trailer

Who it Caters to

When it comes to racing games, it all depends on your platform of choice. PlayStation owners love and worship the Gran Turismo saga, while Xbox enthusiasts have the Forza series. While Forza Motorsports is more about this realistic simulation feel we all love, Forza Horizon is an arcade take on adventures behind the wheel. If you play on PC or Xbox consoles, you like going fast but still don't know the best timing for brakes and drifts, this is your best choice!

What to Expect

It all started in Colorado, USA. Then, it was time to visit France and Italy. In 2016, Forza Horizon 3 took us to Australia, and Forza Horizon 4 showed us Great Britain's love for racing. For this fifth entry, we packed our things and moved to Mexico...and boy, it was so worth it! Forza Horizon 5's map is full of things to do, so you can lose yourself in the story, collect classic cars, or just drive aimlessly through the Mexican roads, exploring different biomes and challenging random drivers here and there. But that's just a tiny part of what's to do in this game. We'll tell you more in the Gameplay section!

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Visuals

Forza Horizon 5 is by far one of the most exquisite racing games you'll find, and that's in part thanks to its impressive graphics. If you won a powerful PC or an Xbox Series X, then you'll be drooling at the beauty of Mexico's landscapes through the glass of Forza Horizon 5. Not only do the maps look good, but the cars themselves truly shine...and what we all want from a car racing game. Human models are not perfect, but they work. The map is big enough to give you hours upon hours of exploration, visiting deserts, paradisiac beaches, and everything Mexico has to offer. If you like taking screenshots, trust us when we say you'll be tempted to open the photo mode every few minutes to show the world how cool your car looks from all angles!

Sound, Music

First, let's talk about voice acting. It's not bad, but Spanglish sounds too cliché and forced at times. That's our only complaint, because, after all, secondary characters are there to make you look good and help you in your adventure—not like racing games are judged by their narrative and character development anyways. Where Forza Horizon 5 shines is the music selection, with a collection of licensed songs for all tastes. You could be listening to Lil Nas X, the Beastie Boys, Dua Lipa... or Chopin, because there's also a radio station for all of you, classical music lovers. In our opinion, racing games are meant to be played with no music at all—the only "music" in our adventure was the roaring sound of our motor!

Gameplay

Forza Horizon 5 starts like a Fast & Furious movie, with cars dropping from planes. Your character—one that you can create with limited options that are nonetheless inclusive—travels to Mexico to take part in the Horizon festival, but they end up more or less organizing everything. The story mode basically requires you to assist the organizer of the festival and her friends, discovering new places to set up a racing zone, finding new cars, etc. It's not the most innovative mechanic as all quests require you to drive and drive alone, yet it helps give you the feeling of exploration through different minigames and not just racing against other cars in a 3-laps event. Although the map will show you several challenges, you can just follow your heart and drive with no clear destination. If you know how to drive, you'll earn points for being fast or smoothly taking curves, but don't be afraid. Going out of bounds and destroying everything in your path will also net you an immense amount of experience points!

With every new level, you get 1 free wheelspin that can grant you a new car or several thousand credits. This is not the only way to get wheelspins—or to find new cars, for that matter—and you can pay for premium wheelspins too, but it certainly is the F2P-friendly way. With your credits, you can either buy new cars or upgrade the ones you already own, but the game totally encourages you to complete your collection and interact with other players online. The UI can be daunting, but once you get familiar with it, you'll notice how much you can do in this game. There are daily timed events popping up here and there, community-created events, seasonal challenges, and the always attractive paint/tuning section that's a must before going online. And as you can tell, that's the only problem with Forza Horizon 5: some content won't be accessible to you unless you're connected to the internet at all times.

If you're new to the series, or if you find Forza Motorsport games too difficult for your casual driving skills, then Forza Horizon 5 will keep you busy and in awe. It's by far the most complete title in the Forza Horizon saga but also one of the most visually impressive Xbox exclusives, so it comes as a must-buy for all Xbox Series X owners.

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Honey's Gameplay Consensus:

Forza Horizon 5 is one of those games that we won't stop playing. We're already looking forward to the seasonal events, but collecting new cars and grinding for credits to upgrade them is fun in itself. Especially when there are lots of things to do and gorgeous landscapes to feast your eyes on! We can't recommend Forza Horizon 5 enough. It's a dream come true for all open-world racing lovers, and it features several fan-favorite cars like the Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Ferrari's Enzo and Testa Rossa, Lamborghini's Diablo (GTR and SV), the stunning Porsche 911, and more.

Honey's Pros:

• Extraordinaire graphics that will make you want to visit Mexico as soon as possible!
• The story mode is fun, yet you have all the freedom in the world while behind the wheel. There's always time for some minigames or a head-to-head race!

Honey's Cons:

• This game is almost flawless to be honest. It's only bad if you have no internet access...

Honey's Final Verdict:

Although for obvious reasons, Forza Horizon 5's true potential can be achieved through powerful computers and the Xbox Series X, there's no need to play it in 4K@60fps to understand why it's the best Forza game available. Graphics aside, the best thing about Forza Horizon 5 is that it's free for everyone subscribed to Xbox Game Pass! We've been hooked on Forza Horizon 5 for several days now, and we're sure this will remain the same for weeks to come. The ball is on your park, Gran Turismo 7... Will Sony be able to win this race? ONly time will tell!

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