Forza Horizon Catch-All

I don't know, I can't trust those GB guys and their reviews of driving games. The QL of Forza 4 was excruciating for me.

But still, I don't think I can skip this one. Looks like it may be a fun diversion.

Grubber788 wrote:

Giant Bomb gives the game five stars.

This game looks A LOT like Dirt 2.

I have the demo downloaded but haven't given it a go yet. A game that looks like Dirt 2 with a Forza-like handling model sounds awesome. The Dirt driving engine always feels off to me.

MisterStatic wrote:

Looks like it may be a fun diversion.

That's my stance. I played some more last night and had fun just ripping around with a couple of drinks. I'm not keen on the lack of damage or consequence. I shouldn't be able to run head-on into oncoming traffic and just see a windshield shatter animation and suffer a slight loss of speed. Even Burnout has more consequence. So I'll probably still put more time in Forza 4, at least until I get my PC cockpit going.

I enjoyed the demo. It felt like a Forza take on the latest SSX game. It felt way more PGR than Forza, and that's a good thing.

Just watched the first five minutes of the FH QL....ugh....watching those guys drive is like watching my 4 year old play Halo.

Reviews already?

Eurogamer 9/10

IGN 9/10

Destructoid 9/10

Gamespot 8.5/10

Polygon 6/10

Haven't read the reviews yet, but will soon.

I just played the demo -- it's fun, but the whole bro aesthetic is hugely off-putting. It'd have to be one hell of a game for me to look past that, I think.

I absolutely adored Dirt 2's bro aesthetic and actually found Forza 4 to be a little pompous, haha. To each his own

pneuman wrote:

I just played the demo -- it's fun, but the whole bro aesthetic is hugely off-putting. It'd have to be one hell of a game for me to look past that, I think.

The Bro aspect of Dirt2 made me hate the series enough to get out my PSX and play some Colin McRae Rally to get the taste out of my mouth. This is more akin to the vibe I got from Need for Speed: SHIFT.

Having said that, the rival system is very reminiscent of the recent SSX async multiplayer. For that reason alone I'm in.

Jayhawker wrote:

I enjoyed the demo. It felt like a Forza take on the latest SSX game. It felt way more PGR than Forza, and that's a good thing.

Totally agree.

Also, you get to race a plane in a vintage muscle car?!?! Hells YES!

The previous impressions were brought to you by two awesome daughters who watched the teaser trailer, then said. "You should play that game Daddy, the cars look cool!" Proudest father ever!

Huh, liked this demo a lot more than I expected. I'm not much for Forza's usual sim sensibilities, this seems like a nice compromise. It should hit $35-$40 sometime around Black Friday, it's a consideration at that price.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Huh, liked this demo a lot more than I expected.

Same.

I'm a bit of a Forza purist so I wrote off Horizon until the positive reviews nudged me into trying the demo for myself. I walked away pretty darn impressed.

Does anyone know if the final build will feature replays? That's a pretty big issue for me with racers and I noticed there was no option to view replays in the demo.

EDIT:

Watched the Giant Bomb Quick Look and there is a View Replay button prompt after each race. Nice.

EDIT #2:

Okay, so I pre-ordered from the MS Store.

** Free 1600 MS points ($20) + $10 store credit on Horizon pre-orders **

But I ran into my first snag. I pulled out my Speed Wheel to give it a go with the demo and there's no mapping up/down gear shifting on the left-side D-Pad! Three configurations for the wheel and manual shifting is mapped to the face buttons on all of them.

Boo.

After 50+ hours of manual shifting with the D-Pad with Forza 4, I'm having a hell of a time with my muscle memory trying to shift using the face buttons. Maybe the full release will have more presets or perhaps even full button mapping?

I'll adjust (begrudgingly) if need be as all else seems pretty ace so far.

That's a tempting deal. Are they sending a points card with the game or did you get a code?

I was worried about not having anything to buy with the coupon, but I could preorder Medal of Honor or Assassin's Creed 3...

The only real deterrent is that aggressive DLC schedule that's I've been hearing about. $60 worth by January or some such.

Yeah, the $50 Season Pass is pretty suspect, but I'm just approaching from a perspective that the base game will be just fine for me.

I've purchased a few cars here and there with Forza 4 ('63 Beetle & '66 Country Squire FTW!), but I'm simply holding out for the inevitable GOTY edition to nab all the F4 goods at once. I purchased F3 at launch and then the "kitchen sink" version a year or so later for only $30. If Horizon does the same down the road then I'll do the same, if not I'm sure I'll live.

The 1600 MS points is a download code and I figured I'd just drop another $10 at the MS store for another 1600 point pack since I don't shop there too often. However, this is like the 3rd game of personal interest this season with the same offer ($60 game with $30 in return incentives), so who knows. Shipping is free too which is an extra bonus.

I waited 'till zero hour on Borderlands 2 and missed out on the same offer for that, so I decided not to wait on Horizons. PC guys get great digital pre-order offers but half price on launch day is pretty rare for us Dirty Console Peasants.

Aaron D. wrote:

The 1600 MS points is a download code and I figured I'd just drop another $10 at the MS store for another 1600 point pack since I don't shop there too often. However, this is like the 3rd game of personal interest this season with the same offer ($60 game with $30 in return incentives), so who knows. Shipping is free too which is an extra bonus.

I waited 'till zero hour on Borderlands 2 and missed out on the same offer for that, so I decided not to wait on Horizons. PC guys get great digital pre-order offers but half price on launch day is pretty rare for us Dirty Console Peasants.

Hmm. I've been jonesing for points to catch up on some XBLA releases like Mark of the Ninja and Sine Mora.

Kmart Gamer seems to be no more and Amazon's slacked off on their preorder bonuses, so this looks like it might be the best deal on games until Black Friday. I still hesitate because my 360's disc tray has been acting up for quite some time. I keep the faceplate off and took the white piece off the tray, but I still have to wedge a nail-clipper in there to get it open sometimes. With that in mind I'd been hoping to buy as many of these games on Wii U as possible, namely AC3 and Black Ops 2.

I need to give this some more thought.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I need to give this some more thought.

Along similar lines...

Collector's edition, playing day one, AUD98

or

Import store, standard edition, with a 7-10 working day delivery window AUD63

Is the VIP pass different to the $50 pit pass mentioned, or does one feed into the other (like in F3 when they sent you a 'free' car, but you had to have bought the DLC pack that car was featured in).

SRT did their review. If you want to avoid "spoilers", they liked it.

Aaron D. wrote:

But I ran into my first snag. I pulled out my Speed Wheel to give it a go with the demo and there's no mapping up/down gear shifting on the left-side D-Pad! Three configurations for the wheel and manual shifting is mapped to the face buttons on all of them.

That was the worst! When I first got the wheel for FM4, I kept trying to use the d-pad left and right to steer (while holding the wheel completely still). I couldn't change the gear shifts back to the face buttons fast enough.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Is the VIP pass different to the $50 pit pass mentioned, or does one feed into the other (like in F3 when they sent you a 'free' car, but you had to have bought the DLC pack that car was featured in).

They're different. The VIP bonus for buying the Collector's Edition is five bonus cars at launch; the $50 Season Pass pays for the first six DLC packs and the December expansion; and never the twain shall meet (i.e. when the VIP cars are later made available as a separate DLC purchase, they won't be covered by the Season Pass).

LiquidMantis wrote:

SRT did their review. If you want to avoid "spoilers", they liked it.

LOL, racing game "spoilers".

Great video. I love the depth those guys get into in their reviews. Best "serious" racing game critiques on the web.

Aaron D. wrote:

Okay, so I pre-ordered from the MS Store.

** Free 1600 MS points ($20) + $10 store credit on Horizon pre-orders **

I'm as mad now as I was when I first heard of this kind of deal for Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Maybe even madder. There are no deals like this in the Canadian MS Store. In fact, allow me to list all the 360 games the CanMSS has. Get your scrolling finger ready.

Dance Central 2
Gears of War 3
Kinect Sports
Kinect Sports: Season Two

Phew, time for a break! Actually I'm just kidding. That's all the games.

Sure I can log in to the USMSS, but my only shipping options are to the US. And even if I got it shipped to Point Roberts or something, I'll bet dollars to spacebucks that the 1600 points would only be redeemable within the US anyway.

DAMMIT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE INTERNET.

Gravey wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

Okay, so I pre-ordered from the MS Store.

** Free 1600 MS points ($20) + $10 store credit on Horizon pre-orders **

I'm as mad now as I was when I first heard of this kind of deal for Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Maybe even madder. There are no deals like this in the Canadian MS Store. In fact, allow me to list all the 360 games the CanMSS has. Get your scrolling finger ready.

Dance Central 2
Gears of War 3
Kinect Sports
Kinect Sports: Season Two

Phew, time for a break! Actually I'm just kidding. That's all the games.

Sure I can log in to the USMSS, but my only shipping options are to the US. And even if I got it shipped to Point Roberts or something, I'll bet dollars to spacebucks that the 1600 points would only be redeemable within the US anyway.

DAMMIT THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE INTERNET.

At least you have a store in Canadia... down here... (Lick road clean wi' tongue et. al.)

m0nk3yboy wrote:

At least you have a store in Canadia... down here... (Lick road clean wi' tongue et. al.)

I was thinking of you when I was venting about my own problems. Let's say I'm mad for all the Commonwealth.

Gravey wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:

At least you have a store in Canadia... down here... (Lick road clean wi' tongue et. al.)

I was thinking of you when I was venting about my own problems. Let's say I'm mad for all the Commonwealth.

Damn Yankies

This might be cool:

Forza Horizon SmartGlass Experience

Explore the open roads of Colorado with the Forza Horizon SmartGlass Experience. Explore and interact with the complete map of the Forza Horizon game world through intuitive gestures on your tablet or mobile device while seamlessly playing the game on your TV screen. No pausing required - keep the pedal down no matter where your destination lies.

Alright, just pre-ordered the LCE from Best Buy. $10 in in-store credit, and the bonus cars are the 458 and the Golf R. I am at least a little assuaged.

First 15 minutes of the retail version.

I was a bit iffy on the cool-kid car culture aspect of the game, but I gotta admit that the first 5 minutes of "get to the festival" gameplay were exhilarating as hell. Kind of sold me on the story fluff (though the sexy girl part was kind of goofy/uncomfortable).

Most impressive either way.

Who likes short shorts? And standing jumping jacks? Everyone in Colorado, according to Forizon.

Edit: I'm letting that typo stand.

Gravey wrote:

Who likes short shorts? And standing jumping jacks? Everyone in Colorado, according to Forizon.

Is a sample size of one statistically sound? Because I do.

Aaron D. wrote:

(though the sexy girl part was kind of goofy/uncomfortable)

When Dan Greenawalt says, over and over and over, that he wants Forza to make car lovers out of gamers and vice versa, I wish he or Playground Games would realize that those gamers or car lovers could also be women who might not appreciate being assumed to be men (or might be men who don't want to be treated like boys).

Well, that's a larger problem with video games in particular and entertainment in general, but in the 21st-century there really shouldn't be anything gender-specific about cars of all things.

I'm always afraid to post about my take on the gender issues, as they are perhaps not as informed or progressive as they should be, but... I don't think anything they do here is worse than having cheerleaders at a football game. This is a pretty deeply rooted societal thing. Probably even just human nature, and that is very difficult to suppress. Sexy people will always have an edge in certain aspects of life, and people will always be drawn to them. When you add business sensibility to that inescapable reality, it's hard to imagine a world free of...well, whatever you want to call it.

Suffice to say, and I don't want to derail, but the problem is that the sexy people are exclusively female, in order to appeal to an audience assumed to be exclusively male. Why is the Horizon Festival organizer a woman in hot pants flirting with the player character, and not, say, a shirtless Ryan Gosling lookalike? It's not human nature, it's a social thing, made worse for being unfortunately deeply rooted and perpetuated by business sensibilities.

It wouldn't be hard to amend either. Let the player choose a male or female avatar, and drop the romantic undertones from NPC interactions, since no one who's mentally sound should be looking for an ego boost from a video game character.