Forza Horizon 5 Review

"Stunning Mexico"

Campaign

November 4, 2021 at 1:01am
By Jason Stettner

The fifth chapter in the Forza Horizon series has arrived, this spin-off franchise of Motorsport has kept growing and continues to deliver exhilarating moments. This time around we find ourselves exploring the vast terrains of Mexico. In the past we’ve seen this series tackle a number of unique spots, but none of them have truly embraced the culture and style of the locale quite like this one does.

It really is aiming to celebrate the local culture while emulating elements of the environment across the eleven distinct biomes that are present within the massive map. You return as that fancy UK driver with options for customization and once again you aim to dominate the festival. It’s all about expanding with fresh festival spots, but this time around it’s much more in-depth.

You get your tutorial type of opening segment and from there it’s just open freedom. It’s neat, as each time you go to open a new wing of the festival, you get a narrative driven spot that dives into some of the history of the region or throws in neat references to local myths. You might find yourself in a cenote even. Things like that, it’s quite fun and strangely educational at times too.

Each of these new areas will further introduce you to fresh races, things such as street racing or off-road and even dirt focused options. From there, you can also build upon these festival spots to make them bigger. Along the way you will of course be getting just a pile of race options, with your map being littered with icons and activities to do.

This is one seriously stacked game in terms of content, which is particularly impressive considering the increased scale of the world. You can also experience this in single player, with passive online multiplayer or just play with others. There are coop options, vs rival choices and even PVP in some scenarios for multiplayer. Past the actual races where you get these selections, you can find large scale open world spots to compete with or against others.

They have big grouping events with unique challenges that pop up on the map, or even the eliminator series for examples. The action doesn’t stop there are user generated content helps push things further. You can create routes, share race setups where you can tweak every element of things or even build your own sort of game modes which are all present within this neat creative hub.

This content is also integrated partly into regular activities you come across, it’s very well done. I’m not sure if it’s needed to be mentioned, but you will of course come across some spectacle type setups and be able to find hundreds of collectibles out there. From boards, to barn finds and maybe even the odd photo opp here or there as well. They created some really unique things for you to find, and to discover with every step of the way being rather exciting to witness.

Gameplay

This once again provides that incredibly addicting and awesome style that is Forza. The thrill of the open roads, the exhilarating handling of the vehicles and fine tuning options to experience it however you want. These are paired with new accessibility options to open up the game to even more players which is great to see.

That aside, you get to work on collecting over five hundred vehicles from the biggest manufacturers while also upgrading them and generally tailoring them to your unique style. Improve them, adjust colors and aim to gather whatever quantity you can. Achieve this by using the traditional credits, unlocking them in the returning wheelspins or through some other means that pop up as you play.

You can also take advantage of multiplayer aspects here such as the auction house, or community vinyls and the like. The car models are fantastic, there’s a good sense of damage to them and you can enjoy them with shiny ray tracing if you’re in the ForzaVista and only on Quality Mode. Speaking of special modes, you get two to choose from when playing on Xbox Series X.

I preferred the Performance Mode which provided a 4k resolution at 60fps. There is also Quality Mode which is a 4k resolution at 30fps. Both have HDR support, but the latter does have some higher texturing options alongside the ray tracing within the specific mode offering. Both modes do look quite visually impressive, and feel very next gen in nature.

There’s lots more physics based destruction present within the environment, and the pop-in is quite minimal now no matter which route you head down. It’s a very impressive technical showcase in general. The world is also very detailed in terms of how much flora is present, no matter where you visit. From sprawling jungles that house ancient temples, to open deserts with lots of cactus chilling around and maybe the odd active volcano spot or two.

This is by far the largest world we’ve ever seen from this franchise, it’s very impressive. There are day and night cycles, extreme weathering patterns or even seasons to enjoy. The world features nearly six hundred roads to drive down, creatures to see out in the world and even fairly dense towns to go through. It’s got more of a focus on cinematic moments, storytelling and it presents those in a very aesthetically pleasing sort of way.

There are almost too many things to do, and it’s amazing how it’s all seamless with multiplayer components. It can feel entirely like a single player game in one moment, and then instantly you can be roaring around with others. That being real other players, or perhaps the Drivatars which aim to simulate the driving of other players. That’s very interesting, and quite well done as the multiplayer does offer many extra unique experiences to enjoy. It really does feel rather expansive, doesn’t it?

The Conclusion

Forza Horizon 5 is the continued perfection of open world racing, delivering a more narrative focused experience while aiming to greatly expand the scope of this pristine franchise. It was such a joy to dive back into the world of Horizon, and have a fresh place to explore. I loved the great sense of progression as you worked on collecting cars or houses and even many of the new accolades that further reward you.

It’s exciting, impressively expansive and it provides all of the action you’ve come to expect from prior entries. It just becomes even bigger in almost every area and I really liked what they did with the expansion mechanics for going to new areas. They really did an excellent job with this one, providing a perfect time that’s just such a joy to drive around in.

I constantly felt like I was exploring fresh locations, strangely learning a fair bit about the region that I’ve actually visited in the past and all the while having a grand time. If you’re coming from the previous games I feel you’ll have a spectacular time with this one as there are just so many improvements to the well perfected formula. If you’re newer to the series it’s the perfect time to jump in as this just continues to be something that you want to persistently waste away hours playing. The lovely open worlds of Horizon await, good luck chasing after it.

Read our Forza Horizon 4 Review
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Forza Horizon 5 Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by Microsoft

Rating Overall: 10