Forza Horizon 3: Open world racing at its best

With Forza Motorsport 6 releasing to critical acclaim last year, it’s Forza Horizon’s turn to show us how this franchise can receive the same positive reception in two widely different forms. Landing somewhere between an arcade and a sim, Forza Horizon 3 sets to impress both enthusiasts and newcomers alike. It is also one of the first big games to utilise ‘Microsoft’s Play Anywhere’ service meaning if you buy it digitally on console you get a windows 10 version free and your progress carries over wherever you play. The game is indeed cross-buy, cross-save and cross-play between both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

Set in Australia, players now take on the role of the director of the Horizon festival. Your goal is to make it the biggest festival in the world by hiring drivers, earning new fans and competing all across town. You’ll find yourself participating in races, stunt jumps, convoys, drift zones and other skill-based events to get credits, xp and fans. When the number of fans you have reaches a certain threshold, you can either expand an existing base or build a new one. Doing this unlocks more events on the map and thus defines the structure of the game. Being the festival director Forza Horizon 3  also gives you more freedom in terms of deciding the direction of your festival and campaign, you are now free to focus on events and areas you prefer as opposed to Horizon 2. The game’s also got a lot more personalisation and character time around, a big plus.

I found the open world design and the activities to be incredibly addictive. It was easy to go from event to event and earning fans. These races and events were varied, close enough to each other and not very time consuming. The handling, which has always been a strong point of the series, was excellent. The locations and vistas in the game were exciting. All the effort that goes into presentation is immediately noticeable.

From the sound effects to the camera cuts, it makes the act of unlocking, upgrading and tuning cars a lot of fun. You can also create and share your own designs and upgrades, and earn credits whenever someone purchases an item you have uploaded. The online component is otherwise fairly standard yet feature complete. You can gather a few friends and explore the world, go anywhere and participate in any event; or go through the game’s campaign in online co-op, unfortunately this feature wasn’t available to test out before launch. In Online Adventure, all players must select a particular vehicle class and take part in four races.

The player with the most xp wins a massive bonus, which can be earned by driving well and performing skills, as well as getting to the race starting point before others. Forza Horizon 3 is beautiful and never loses any of its functionality. The gameplay loop is addicting, encouraging you to do one event after the other. So whether you’re looking to race with friends or just drive into the sunset, This is probably the game for you. A definite buy for Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers and strong game of the year contender.