Review: Forza Horizon 2

Forza Horizon 2

We sit down and play Microsoft’s newest entry in their long running racing series Forza Horizon 2. Is it worth talking it out for a cruise?

Hated

Forza Horizon 2 features a huge open world that’s larger than the original. The large expansive open world isn’t the problem. The problem lies with the fast travel system. Like the first game fast traveling to the festival is free but fast traveling to any of the hubs across the map will cost you over 9,000 precious credits that are used to upgrade and purchase new cars. This means driving everywhere or burn through your credits by fast traveling. There are billboards littered across the map of Forza Horizon 2 to give you discounts but of course you will need to find a mess of them to give you a real discount. The problem is this makes it a huge inconvenience if you are the kind of person who likes to complete every challenge and find every collectible; since you will spend more time driving to your events than actually racing in the events if you don’t want to pay the credits. I would have liked being able to fast travel to a destination for free once you have discovered them like many other games have done in the past.

Loved

First and foremost, Forza Horizon 2 looks beautiful from the cars themselves to the weather effects and the awesome vistas across Europe. The attention to detail is amazing. When driving off road dirt can be seen forming on the body off your car and when it’s raining the rain can be seen reflecting off the headlights of your car at night. Forza Horizon 2 is one of the best looking racing games that I have ever played in recent years.

Forza Horizon 2 also fixes quite a few problems that I had with the original Horizon. Unlike the original, Forza Horizon 2 never forces you into a car for the events. Forza Horizon 2 follows Forza 5‘s setup and allows you to choose which championship you would like to race in. Each championship bracket features different types of cars including muscle cars, super cars, sports cars, off-road, and so on. Each new location you will get to choose what class you would like to race.

Another feature that is no more with Forza Horizon 2 is the class restrictions. In the first game the events had class restrictions meaning that if your car was too upgraded to enter an event it had to be downgraded first before you could enter. In Forza Horizon 2 you can upgrade your car to the highest class and enter any event without any restrictions. The cars of the other racers will automatically adjust to your car class, so you will not notice lapse in difficulty.

Forza Horizon 2 also brings along plenty of collectibles and special events. Barn finds and showcase events make their return. Showcase events are interesting races that put you against unusual opponents such as a group of jets or a flock of hot air balloons. These races are both fun and challenging and always yield new cars after completion. Forza Horizon 2 nailed the race variety perfectly there is always new races to do and new cars to unlock and purchase.

Overall

Forza Horizon 2 is well worth a purchase if you loved the original or if you are a fan of the core Forza series. From the gorgeous visuals to the tight gameplay that the series is known for. Forza Horizon 2 gives you the freedom to drive whatever car you want and to customize however you see fit with zero restrictions. If you are in the market for a new racer look no further than Forza Horizon 2. I played on the Xbox One version of the game so therefore cannot speak for the Xbox 360 version.

Forza Horizon 2 is a game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft. An Xbox One copy of the game was provided by Microsoft for reviewing purposes.