This subversion of the traditional racing game format has been a feature of previous Horizon titles. Frequently you’ll earn more skill points driving from one challenge to another than you do in the race itself. In any case, credits and influence are awarded for pretty much everything you do, from discovering new areas to hitting speed traps or pulling an epic skid. Often, coming fourth in one race will earn you more than winning another.Īutumn is arguably the most visually impressive of all the seasons in Forza Horizon 4, with golden leaves tumbling from trees and lining the roads.įirst place comes with a bonus – but not significant enough for it to really matter. You accumulate credits ( FH4’s in-game currency) and influence (XP) after every race, which seem to be doled out on an almost arbitrary basis, loosely based on event length and level. It’s difficult to explain exactly how the game’s progression system works. It’s an experience that rewards experimentation and exploration more than speed and driving proficiency. Having spent the past five days fully immersed in FH4, I can safely say that it is easily one of the best driving games I’ve ever played – but it didn’t take me long to realise that you don’t actually need to win races to enjoy it.
It’s not about the destination – it’s the journey. Driving games have always been about beating your rivals and reaching the finish line first, but Forza Horizon 4 takes the bold step of making victory a secondary objective. Racing isn’t just video games boiled down to their purest form, it’s arguably the first competitive game humans ever developed: get from here to there faster than everyone else. If every game from chess to Call of Duty can be reduced to overcoming a defined set of parameters to achieve victory, it’s easy to see why the fundamentals have stood the test of time.
In the 70s and 80s, developers were restricted to such simple concepts due to hardware limitations, but as technology advanced and the industry expanded exponentially, the basic tenets of jump, kill and win have endured. Since the earliest days of interactive entertainment, these three genres have formed the backbone and bedrock of video games. Platformers, shoot-em-ups and racers: the holy trinity. Lee Henaghan takes Forza Horizon 4 for a spin.
It’s not just the silly victory dances and weekly challenges this is the first massively multiplayer racing game where winning doesn’t really matter – it’s the taking part that counts.
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