'Forza Horizon 4' hands-on review

Research Center: Forza Horizon 4

Get ready to practice drifting over frozen lakes in Forza Horizon 4.

Microsoft announced the next entry in its open-world, online racing franchise at its E3 2018 press conference, and it’s all about seasons. The experience of racing all over a huge map — this time, in Great Britain — changes with the time of year, taking the idea of variable weather to a different level.

In the hands-on demo Microsoft made available at its Xbox Showcase ahead of E3 2018, seasons were the major focus, with Forza blasting through an entire year of weather in one long race filled with amazing moments.

The demo started in Autumn, finding you whipping through the English countryside in supercars, doing their best to drift around idyllic roads while not careening through stone walls that date back to the life of Shakespeare. For a few moments, it looks like a standard Horizons race, and you zip past other cars, following the race line to try to beat out a crop of other supercars. Just before the end, though, a cinematic shift takes the action to winter — bearing the title “A Song of Ice and Tires.” (Attesting to the power of that pun, it’s the only title we can remember from the demo.)

The snowy conditions meant trading in the sports car for a lumbering, almost tank-like truck as the race continued over a huge frozen lake. Barreling through snow drifts, the focus is on keeping control as you try to maintain your speed. The feel of everything, from handling the truck to how you approach turns, is completely different. Luckily, Forza maintains its rewind mechanic, so you can undo those particularly egregious fails to keep your car on the track.

Before long, winter gave way to spring, and a slippery, muddy race that pitted you in a small Honda Civic-like racer against a group of motocross bikes. Each of the bikers bore a different color, and as they jumped onto and off the track ahead, they’d occasionally let loose clouds of colored chalk to add a burst of color to the proceedings.

Different conditions are going to create a variety of interesting racing situations that challenge players.

The race against the bikes, and dealing with the conditions, put the focus on making awesome drifts — which were especially useful for trying to sideswipe those pesky bikes. The race’s best aspect, though, was amping up that cinematic feel that Forza Horizon has become great at conveying in its races. The bikers were constantly hitting jumps, taking side paths, and chattering over the radio in the base, making for a highly dynamic race that felt much more active and alive than the earlier scenarios.

The final season, summer, was a race to the start of the year’s Horizon festival, complete with jets streaking the sky in celebration of the start. The demo transitioned back to the supercar we chose back at the beginning for Autumn, but with the focus being on a fast-paced approach to the entrance of the festival, it meant off-road vehicles and cars were tearing in from other streets and even across fields to join the race. For the most part, the summer race was the sort of run that Forza Horizon fans are used to — a fast race on clear roads, with a variety of racers (and civilian vehicles) in play.

The demo ended as we tore over the finish line, having worked through all the seasons, plus several terrain and weather conditions. Forza Horizon 4‘s demo didn’t quite make clear how seasons will function with open world racing such as what players saw in Forza Horizon 3, but it did sell the idea that different conditions are going to create a variety of interesting racing situations that will challenge players in cool ways.

As always, the most notable part was Forza Horizon 4‘s cinematic feel, with gorgeous graphics, an extremely fast pace, and awesome music. Microsoft’s quick five-minute race through four seasons suggests Forza Horizon 4 will be a ton of open-world racing fun.

Forza Horizon 4 Compared To

Let's block ads! (Why?)