Forza Horizon 5

The previous generation wasn't super kind to Microsoft's Xbox in terms of exclusives. Halo was almost non existent save for a single entry, Gears of War was aggressively "just" great but never reaching classic status, and by and large many other exclusives were only "good". Even more disappointing was the lack of quantity, while the PlayStation brand was pumping out sequels and new IP like they were going out of style. At the time of writing this, that all looks to change and be much more even this generation - of which I'm incredibly excited for - with the recent acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision by Microsoft. 

Despite all that noise, there has been one series that, in my opinion, is the crown jewel of the Xbox exclusive library. It's consistently pushing out near-perfect experiences that are system-sellers, much like some of the best PS exclusives like Last of Us, God of War, and Ghost of Tsushima. 

That series is Forza Horizon. It's easily the racing series I get most excited for when each new iteration is announced, and for good reason as my track record with it thus far is the Australian-based, Instant Classic Forza Horizon 3, and the English countryside, near classic Forza Horizon 4. The series as a whole brings to mind words like "fun" and "detailed" and "polished". 

Luckily, Forza Horizon 5 not only exudes each of those qualities, it's the series' best entry to date and will likely be the Xbox Series X's best exclusive for quite some time. 

Real life or Horizon screenshot? I'll let you decide

The biggest shift of Horizon 5 is the map itself. In each entry, the map is a character all its own and the English country side of 4, while interesting, was I think what contributed to some of its staleness and lack of staying power. For Horizon 5, we're in Mexico and the results are in.cred.i.ble. The map is complete with coastal towns, beaches, sand dunes, forests, plains, jungles, rainforests, swamps, and even a damn volcano. The volcano in particular is - by a long mile - the most verticality Horizon has ever introduced into a map and all of these locales combined together make for some highly unique biomes that keep the game feeling fresh all the time. And they all play dramatically different too. Sand dunes are there for you to catch massive air, cities are there for more intricate driving, jungles are to explore carefully, while forests have exciting mountain-esque driving. The volcano even plays like a massive playground with the adventure up being half the fun and the uncontrollable speed and air on the way down providing giddy giggles. 

What's more (and potentially most) impressive is just how f**king gorgeous this all looks, especially in 4K output from a Series X console. There are sincerely times where we approach photo realism with this game's visuals and everything from foliage, water, sand, sunlight, rain, and wind are completely stunning. And that's not even mentioning how sexy all the cars look, even if it's a basic SUV or compact car...those all the way up to the sleek and angled exotics reflect the entirety of what's around their environment in their hulls. Forza games have always been some of the best looking games on Xbox and in general, but they've taken the next step with the Series X, and all with zero framerate issues too. 

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...Ford Bronco?

Piggybacking off the cars, I've always adored the car lists in Forza as they really do have something for everybody. It's one of my biggest complaints (among several) with PlayStation's near-equivalent Gran Turismo is that Forza consistently has a list of great starter cars - the new Ford Bronco being my personal favorite starter here - as well as Ferrari's, Lambo's, Aston Martin's and tons of awesome vehicles I've never heard of. Meanwhile GT gets stuck with 200+ different Nissans and they wonder why they're in second place. I was consistently excited with the cars I was finding in the list and, for the most part, they're all easily accessible. Some of them are clearly a grind-in-the-making for the credits you would need, but even some of the top-end exotics are going to be easily purchasable after only a short amount of playtime. Even better is that the list continues to grow through Wheelspins (that hide away some of the more exclusive vehicles) and the Seasonal Events (much more on that later). 

Forza also shines brightly in the gameplay department. It is a technical racing game at its core, but one where the realism has been dialed down just enough to create wild moments, particularly when off road. There's many adjustment options to make the game ball-breakingly difficult, but it keeps an arcade soul that distinguishes it from a game like Gran Turismo and makes it all the more fun for people like myself. It's a game where you can go from feeling like you're playing an old Cruisin USA arcade game in a Red Robin to racing in a highly technical, and challenging race...there's something just awesome about the ability to do both. 

"Oh no, I hope my car doesn't get dirty!"

Core gameplay is the backbone that supports the downright, literal s**t ton of things you can do in this game. Once you begin to fully unlock and explore the world, your map will be peppered with so many things to do that you'll almost feel overwhelmed...almost. There's little things like speed traps, danger signs, and more that can be quick items you hit as you drive around along with XP and Fast Travel boards. Then there's obviously tons of races to partake in, varied in their type (i.e. road, off road, night race, etc.) and their location. There are social activities like Horizon Arcade or the literal Playground of games, along with doing user-created content/races or the battle-royale style Eliminator. And much to the happiness of all Forza fans, especially myself, showcase events are back and cooler and more numerous (yay!) than ever. FH5 easily more than double or triples the showcases available and they're all tons of fun with jaw-dropping finales. And this is all the driving stuff you can do! Along with this there's buy/selling cars, creating custom paints and vinyls, visiting the auction house, taking photos, and more. Forza Horizon 5 is just an insanely fully realized videogame.

And I'll be honest: the thing that gets Forza Horizon 5 a perfect score (spoiler alert if you didn't already guess) is that it's nailed the addictive quality of the best videogames. These features have largely always been in the Forza series, but it's perfected here from the get-go. Leveling up is fast and furious (I'm above level 150 as of writing this) and comes with Wheelspins every time that unlock credits, cars or more. I found the credits to pile on faster in this iteration - largely because of some tweaks and I was playing on a half-peg higher difficulty setting - but it always felt like I was unlocking something. A new car or more credits or even new clothing items for my avatar were never more than 2-3 races away. Much like Call of Duty has nailed its progression system, so too has FH5.

Where's Dominic Toretto when you need him?

On top of all of this, the Seasonal Events that are part of the game from the onset basically extend its life indefinitely. Introduced in Horizon 4, these events are way easier to understand and participate in this time around and (unless my memory is failing me) the fact that they're here from the start means that more people participate in them. These also have an addicting quality as completing enough challenges, races, etc. will often unlock exclusive cars within the season itself and the challenge "season" overall. It's done SO WELL that I find myself having to consciously remove myself from these challenges to focus on finishing some of the core game bits that I'd like to. And the best part is the seasonal challenges push you to try new things. I'd likely not have done an Eliminator match (and gotten quite good at them now) had it not been for these. The same goes for Arcade, live races, etc. 

If you couldn't tell by now, I just abso-f**king-lutely adore Forza Horizon 5. To say it's my favorite in the series is ridiculously high praise and to say that it's one of my favorite racing games of all time is to the stratosphere. It nails everything that it sets out to do and fans of racing, and even those who aren't, should find tons to keep them busy. The fact that it's on Day 1 Gamepass is a game-changing moment for the Xbox family and it's probably one of the best "launch year" next gen exclusives of all time. 

CONS

• Some things are less exciting to unlock than others. The clothing for avatars wasn't doing it for me, neither was the phrases to use with quick buttons
• From time to time, it feels like rubberband racing is present or Drivatars are just unbeatable (without them being on that difficulty)
• The online and seasonal stuff has had some bugs that are annoying (i.e. treasure hunts that dont work)
• I still think it's dumb you have to "pay" to Fast Travel. Eventually you have so much money it doesn't matter, but it's kind of ridiculous

PROS

• The perfect blend of gameplay between more technical racing and wild, Cruisin USA moments
• Series-best map set in Mexico. It has tons of personality, places to go, and things to see with plenty of variety...and a volcano!
• SO.MUCH.TO.DO. FH5 will keep you busy for a very long time with a plethora of events that have excellent variety between all of them
• Seasonal events and challenges extend the life of the game indefinitely and push players to try new things
• Has way more Showcase Events this time!
• Cars, cars, cars. The car list is astounding and most never feel all that far out of reach
• Leveling up and progression is perfected, always scratching the itch of unlocking something
• "Behind the scenes" stuff like vinyls, paints, car upgrades, auctioning, and more are done well here even when they're not in the limelight
• Might be the best looking game I've ever played. On an Xbox Series X, this thing is truly next-gen
• Similarly, the audio (car engines, music list, etc.) are top notch
• Multiplayer events are a blast. I particularly got really into the Eliminator
• Endlessly fun, vibrant, and polished. This is a high point for the series and Xbox

Rath's Review Score |

10/10 - Instant Classic

Enjoy some additional screenshots below!