"Forza Horizon 5" Review-GAME Watch

Motorsport festival to Mexico! "Endless adventure with cars" to enjoy with the latest graphics

As you know, the "Forza Horizon" series is a spin-off of "Forza Motorsport". The original "Forza Motorsport" series developed by Turn10 Studios is a stoic racing simulator that competes for a comma of 0.01 seconds with realistic behavior on an existing circuit, while the sister work "Forza Horizon" series is rather real. casual. Set in a photorealistic open world, anyone can enjoy driving and racing freely with easy-to-drive behavior.

The stage of the latest series of such open world racing games "Forza Horizon 5" is Mexico. Following the past works set in the United States, Europe and Australia, the first Latin America will appear in this work. This work is about 1.5 times larger than the previous work and is the largest open world in the history of the series, and while incorporating real locations such as Baja California, Guanajuato, Teotihuacan, 11 types of "biomes" such as jungles, swamps and volcanoes in the desert. The map is composed of.

[The stage is "Mexico"]

The previous work "Forza Horizon 4" was released for the Xbox One / Windows 10 PC in October 2018, and was optimized for the Xbox Series X | S main unit in November 2020. This work "Forza Horizon 5" was originally developed for the Xbox Series X | S, and you can enjoy driving with the high-definition graphics unique to next-generation consoles. Not only the elaborate reproduction of each car model, but also the depiction of the sky and the distant view is photorealistic, which makes you feel that it is a "live-action". In addition, changes in seasons, weather and time will be implemented following the previous work.

Roughly speaking, the compatible hardware for this work is the Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, and Windows 10/11 PC. In addition, it also supports Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Steam. Xbox Series X can output in 4K (3,840 x 2,160), Xbox Series S can output in Full HD (1,920 x 1,080), and Xbox Series X | S version has 30fps "quality mode" and 60fps "performance mode". You can choose the operation in. There is no difference in resolution between the two modes, but if you select "Performance Mode", the ray tracing of "Forza Vista", which is the viewing mode, will not be applied. This is where you want to choose according to your taste.

【specification sheet】

By the way, I wrote down the features of the latest series "Forza Horizon 5", though it is simple. But seeing is believing. Take a look at Forza Horizon 5's coolest opening sequence and you'll immediately feel the evolution of the game. Four cars such as "Ford Bronco (2021)" and "Mercedes-AMG ONE (2021)", which are also cover cars from the transport machine, descend, and while manipulating them, the various natural environment of Mexico that is the stage is in front of you. Appears. By the way, the details of the opening sequence of this work are introduced in a separate article, so please refer to this as well.

["Forza Horizon 5" Opening] [Forza Horizon 5 Official Initial Drive Trailer]

By the way, what kind of game do you imagine when you hear that it is a racing game in an open world? Titles such as "Test Drive Unlimited," which recreates Oahu, Hawaii, "Need for Speed," where you can enjoy underground street racing, and "Grand Theft Auto: Online," which may be a fictitious island car. Some may think of it.

In my case, playing "Forza Horizon 5" reminded me of "Midtown Madness 2", which I was crazy about when I was in junior high school. Strangely the same Microsoft racing game, but a racing game released for PC in 2000, but with an open world map set in the actual city of San Francisco and London, "Checkpoint Race" and "City Drive" In addition to enjoying such things, the cars already recorded were equipped with an instrument panel (interior) perspective.

"Midtown Madness 2". The cityscape of San Francisco in a car reproduced with 3D graphics.From oncoming NPCs to pedestrians appeared on the map

In addition to competing with the CPU for time and ranking, there is also a mode where you can become a stunt car or London taxi driver and do tasks, or you can just play around the city of San Francisco freely while playing your favorite CD. The breadth of this play style may be common to "Forza Horizon 5".

That said, each piece has its own charm, and nothing in the "Forza Horizon" series is the originator of open-world racing games. However, the amount of content of "Forza Horizon 5", which has been established as a game by adding MMORPG-like rank elements while incorporating all elements of motor sports such as road racing and dirt racing into the open world, is a monument to the genre. There is something suitable.

The basis of the game progress is to participate in the race and be ranked 1st. A cockpit view is also available for the chase camera from the rear perspective.

I know the Xbox "Forza Horizon" series, but what's fun just driving in an open world? Do you get bored soon? Some people may be worried before making a purchase. At first, I was full of both such anxiety and the expectation that I would like to play a rare genre called "open world racing game". But once you play, that anxiety will soon disappear.

The recorded content of this work boasts an amount of content that can be said to be "infinite". In the vast land of Mexico, you can drive freely in your own car. In addition, if you go to a certain point on the map, you can participate in various races such as road races, cross-country races, dirt races, and street races. In this work, you can advance the chapter of "Horizon Adventure" by accumulating a certain amount of "accolade points" corresponding to the "influence points" of the previous work, and you can advance the chapter of "Horizon Adventure", cross-species races such as cars vs airplanes & motorcycles, active volcanoes and ancient ruins. You can also unlock the exciting "Expedition" where you can fully enjoy the stage of Mexico, such as exploration.

After playing for about 10 hours and thinking, "Introduction is over, maybe this is about it", the races and activities displayed on the map will be released more and more every time the chapter is advanced. The map, which clearly shows the roads and terrain, is full of icons. In addition to this, you can create your own event races and receive monthly updates, so how much time can you spend playing everything? The inexhaustible content that is convinced by the "endless adventure" that is also in the catch copy of this work is waiting for the player.

[The recorded content is no longer "infinite" !?] The screen of "Accolade" that you can do more and more every time you unlock the chapter of the map "Horizon Adventure" at the beginning of the game. The "Horizon Adventure" screen where you can get points when you achieve it, and you can also get cars and clothes depending on the task. In this work, if you accumulate a certain amount of "accolade points", you can unlock your favorite adventure. If you clear the expedition that you can select first, the festival venue will be set up in that area. [Various natural environment] The biomes that make up the map are Canyon, Tropical Coast, Farmland, Arid Hills, Jungle, and so on. Eleven types of Living Desert, Rocky Coast, Sand Desert, Swamp, Urban City of Guanajuato, and Volcano. The highlight of this work is the occurrence of a sandstorm approaching in front of you, which has different characteristics in each area. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet during free practice [Spectacular special race is also held] In "Wings and Prayer", cars vs airplanes will race. At the end of the game, unexpected intruders also head to investigate the Gran Caldera active volcano at the "Baja Expedition". In an adventure where the mountain descent at the end is very exciting, you can even operate the track! By the way, there is also a story centered around the "Forza Horizon Festival". In this work, the voice is recorded in the character that is the alter ego of the player, and conversation is also done at the event.It's already an RPG work