This outing the Horizon festival has moved itself from the generic hills of nowhere in particular, to the very real Italian Riviera, which certainly looks the part, although I'm still not convinced it's a better map than the original, I just felt that was more diverse, which I was suppose was a result of them just making it up. There is a weak story attached to this one, it's just the usual 'be the best' that comes with every racing game, along with a diverse range of characters, and by diverse range I mean two. There's generic douchebag Ben, and then there's Ashley, a mechanic that insists on calling you dude every two fucking seconds. But at least these characters don't get in the way of the racing, which is magnificent. Turn 10 haven't fallen into the trap of making a racing game anything other than a racing game, unlike other major franchises like 'Need for Speed', and with over 200 cars to choose from it also provides the driver with great diversity. There aren't 50 variants of each car like in 'Gran Turismo', here every car feels different, and that to me is what a driving game should be all about.
Only in Forza does this feel special.
I do have some concerns though, my main quarrel is on the issue of progression, or the lack of. The only concept of progress is in the form of grand tours, but in these tours you're automatically matched to people with similar cars, so theoretically you could use your starter car throughout the whole thing, which defeats the point of a campaign. The payouts are also very low, which does at least make owning a rare car feel that much more special, but because there's no progression it really doesn't matter, and it also renders the class system of older games completely pointless, which was always one of the central features. Also becoming pointless is the wristband system from the original Horizon. It used to be that you couldn't get into certain events without a certain wristband, but now it's just based on levels and serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever since you can enter any event at any time.
Even driving a Jeep around doesn't feel out of place, probably because there's no progression.
But don't fear they haven't ruined all the old features, and there are even some new ones, namely the bucket list feature. This plays out like challenge mode would in other games, which isn't something revolutionary, except that maybe this one is in exotic cars. They've also introduced a perk system that has some basic upgrades, nothing really that dynamically changes the gameplay, but there are some rewards to tailor your experience that can be unlocked by being a skillful driver. It's only a small change, but it's a welcome addition nonetheless. What isn't welcome is the effort put into the returning 'Top Gear' style challenge races, that were arguably the greatest part of the original game. To celebrate this they've stripped them down completely to only four, which is rubbish compared to the wide variety of races we got before, it's not as if you win anything valuable in them either, so what's the point?
Four! Is that really all you could come up with. Look how awesome this picture is.
But in reality even after all those letdowns it's still a fucking awesome game. It just looks so nice, even for the dated 360. You get beautiful views on the riviera, and also 200 stunning cars to endlessly gawp at. There may be some poor textures dotted around the place, but when you're traveling at break neck speed it really doesn't matter, just one sunrise is instantly enough to make any road trip that much more special. There are some off road routes as well, a new territory for the franchise, and it actually works very well. It might not be the most realistic simulation of dirt racing, but for a track racer it's a noble attempt, and certainly a worthy addition. It doesn't drastically change the game, but it makes an interesting change from the monotonous gravel streets. What would be nice to accompany this is a great soundtrack, after all there were some brilliant radio stations in the original. Unfortunately they're now a shadow of their former self, with only a few songs I would call bearable, and a total of one good song, which is 'Red Eyes' by The War on Drugs. But this means we're missing the myriad of brilliant songs from the original, and there isn't even 'The Hives', which I thought was mandatory for racing games.
Horizon 2 has some great visuals, it just feels like an open world racer.
Overall Horizon 2 is still great fun. It has retained most of the charm from the original, there are some notably poor design choices but when it comes down to driving it still is the best in the business. It feels like a classic Forza, and it plays like an open world game, which is an absolutely fantastic experience. It's a serious game that disguises itself as seriously good fun, and really can be enjoyed by any gamer. It may not be as good as the original, but I'm not complaining, I love it.
Final Score: 87/100
No comments:
Post a Comment