Forza Horizon Preview - E3 2012
A new direction for the racing franchise holds promise
Forza Horizon’s focus will be on progressing your character from being a nobody to the most popular guy in the crowd. Starting off doing local events, players will later venture out into the open world and get invited to sponsored competitions. There will even be actual characters in the game as well as a light narrative, but it’s said that all focus is still on the racing. Developers promise a variety of events, from organized to street, including some very unique ones that are specific to a sponsor, such as classic/supercar mixes. Outside of organized competition, players are free to roam the world, and will be able to engage in pickup races with AI opponents just by challenging them on the spot.
Playground Games and Turn 10 are also focusing on the game’s multiplayer offerings. The Rivals system from Forza 4 will make a return, albeit in a different form, presenting players with endless leaderboard opportunities. From competing events to posting speed cam records, everything in the game will be tracked, shared, and compared online and with your friends lists. There will be the usual lobbies for all events, as well as the return of playground style challenges. As the game now takes place in an open world, some events – such as Cat and Mouse – can take advantage by letting players hide in buildings and offroad locations, for example.
There is one thought that may immediately come to mind when discussing Horizon’s style and event types – the Dirt series from Codemasters. Turn 10 readily admitted to us that there are certainly elements of various successful racing titles that influenced the guys at Playground Games. However, Horizon promises to be a unique and authentic experience – a simulation within the structure of an arcade experience. If the game is able to pull it off remains to be seen, but regardless of the result, it’s good to see a series expand into new niches within the genre and offer more competition to the current top franchises.
Forza Horizon is a new direction for Turn 10 and Microsoft’s flagship racing experience. It’s likely that we’ll continue to see Forza games within the simulation realm, but the success of Horizon will define whether or not there is a future for this series in the recently popular niche of off-road and Monster-fuelled racing. The right mix of ingredients is there, so only time will tell when Forza Horizon releases in October for Xbox 360.
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