


A surprisingly big emphasis on offroad action It’s an entertaining and challenging hack. The limited controllability out in the sticks can end up working to your advantage: some events in the game lack checkpoints and simply require you to get from point A to point B in the shortest time possible, so shortcutting across a field or through a forest can destroy an opponent who’s playing by the rules - as long as you don’t hit a tree or get lost in the process. (Shocker, I know.) The throttle blips up and down as you navigate the terrain - you might never make it out of third or fourth gear in some events - and sliding is a skill that you have no option but to master. My first few experiences with offroad (and partially offroad) events weren’t the best - I was piloting a Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale that had been gifted to me in a prior race, and it’s an entirely different animal rolling through a wide expanse of prairie than it is on blacktop. FH2 puts a surprisingly big emphasis on offroad action, which has you laying waste to crops, getting ridiculous amounts of air as you jump a hill at 130mph, and yes, occasionally drifting through a field of lavender in a $300,000 supercar. That’s when you’re actually on asphalt, that is.
#Best cars in forza horizon 2 drivers
I found myself looking forward to the sound of thunder (yes, you occasionally hear thunder before an in-game downpour) because it kicks the graphics to another level: slick roads shine under sun and moonlight, spray kicks up from the drivers around you, and your beautiful car slips and slides on the asphalt just a little more than it normally would. It features dynamic time of day and a variety of inclement weather scenarios, which alone add an entire dimension to the game that Forza 5 - perpetually sunny, warm Forza 5 - is woefully missing. Under normal conditions, cities and roads have looked great in racing games for a long time, though it’s the extremes where FH2 really shines. It has a noticeable impact, even on my untrained eyes. In particular, Forza 5 had problems with aliasing - visibly jagged lines, particularly along the edges of body panels - and that seems to have been completely cleared up here. The cars and scenery are as flawless as I’ve seen in any console effort. FH2 has some of the finest graphics I’ve seen on the still-young Xbox One (and launch title Forza 5 had already set a tremendously high benchmark for next-gen racers). The cars and scenery are as flawless as I’ve seen in any console effortīut boy, what gorgeous road trips those are. Getting from Nice to Castelletto takes some time, even in a 903-horsepower McLaren P1. It has a weird effect: even though FH2 is an undeniably massive open world with over 700 individual events to enter, I often found that it felt smaller than the original because you’re frequently being ushered between different event-dense areas separated by long stretches of open road. What’s different from the first Horizon, though, is that you’ll take a bunch of forced, guided road trips as you progress, relocating from village to village. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the controls (especially if you’re new to racing games, or it’s been a minute since you’ve loaded up Forza 5). Wash, rinse, repeat.įH2 begins with a required, non-competitive "road trip" to the game’s home base, driving your choice of a small handful of starter vehicles. As the XP builds up, you’ll earn new wristbands, which entitle you to enter more events.
#Best cars in forza horizon 2 series
Each town in the FH2 universe is centered around a multi-race championship, but there’s no real pressure to plow through those series - you can just putt around town, complete challenges, turn up the surprisingly deep radio selection (Microsoft says there are "nearly" 150 tracks in the game), and challenge other drivers to short races for experience points and cash. The basic premise of the game is to drive around and participate in different types of driving events.
