Forza Horizon 4 review

Personalization

For the first time, Forza allows players to customize their pilot. Preset characters can be outfitted with clothes and emotes to express themselves with, online or offline.

The game also has a housing system, where players must purchase houses to use as bases. These were the areas of the Horizon Festival, the series’ imaginary racing convention. Think Coachella, but for the car enthusiast.

Now that these areas aren’t scattered across the map, players need to purchase houses to customize vehicles and characters. These additional features seem somewhat useless (especially the housing), but they don’t throw a wrench into the already awesome core game cycle.

Multiplayer options are more robust than ever, with seamless online integration and numerous community events to keep players coming back for more. However, if you’re not one for the competitive online scene, the single-player path is just as engaging. Solo players aren’t overlooked in Forza Horizon 4 – they have as much to do as the online community, and that’s a rare find in today’s gaming industry.

DLC

The base game is already dense, but true gearboxes and car enthusiasts might want more. There is a lot of extra content to pay for in the form of DLC. There are tons of additional cars to purchase and expansion packs that add entirely new maps to explore.

You’d think such a large franchise would fill its games with microtransactions, but Forza Horizon 4 is relatively docile in this respect. There is a lot to pay for after purchasing the game itself, but it feels like a solid product out of the box and not one that shipped halfway. Unfortunately, you still have to pay in-game credits to travel fast, but with no microtransactions to speak of, this acts as an incentive to drive more, rather than pay more.

Final verdict

It’s hard to call Forza Horizon 4 anything other than exceptional. It’s a game that appeals to everyone without detracting from the experience for one type of player or the other. While it doesn’t change much from its predecessor, Horizon 4 is still just as excellent, with sharper graphics, updated features, and a new playground to explore. This is a game that will win over non-racing fans and keep veterans of the genre busy for a long, long time.