Forza Horizon 2 Review - The Horizon Festival moved to Europe with a sequel that presents both technical and gameplay innovations, and carrying the Forza franchise to its most fun and spectacular side. A new open world where we travel the Riviera and Tuscany at the wheel of the best cars in the world and the freedom to go wherever we want.
The Festival of Driving
The first time you played World of Warcraft before level 80, epic mounts before, you were looking forward to level 40 just to ride. It was a long way before getting your precious animals, while a set of the time, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I let you get on the back of any horse you found practically in the first hour of play. With Forza Horizon 2 something similar happens. Come from a Motorsport 5 wherein after many races and many credits you get something halfway decent buy as an Audi R8, but where you still have hours and hours of laps to aspire to a Ferrari or Formula 1 In Horizon 2, following and complete your first championship win in a race against five aircraft, giving you a F430 Challenge: your first Ferrari and have not had to spend a credit.Not that Horizon 2 is not valued or wants to reward your effort too, is inviting you to the pleasure of driving from another point of view. If Motorsport focused on the perfection of each curve, Horizon does the same in style. It is not surprising; Playground Games, this study seemed to have come out of nowhere a few years ago, is made up of veterans Bizarre and Codemasters, and brought together some of the best ideas from games like Project Gotham Racing and Dirt, respectively. That score we see constantly whenever we make a good skid or manipulation, is the evolution of kudos applied to the world of Forza Horizon 2. And it fits perfectly.
Traveling Europe
The big news is the festival itself. Change of location, a Colorado surprised us by their variety, the European landscape of northern France and Italy along its coastal areas on a journey inward. It keeps the open world that allows us to go where we want and choose the different championships in the order that suits us all to go level up, get new bracelet and opt for a spot in the finale.But the big changes come with the climatic cycles. Forza Motorsport is a great simulator, but his unfinished task has always been to improve the execution time and add climate change. In the first Horizon and we could see a cycle of day and night, but now with its second installment where we see real storms with a level of detail of the most spectacular of the game and is a great welcome for the series. All this technical festival has not been achieved with impunity. The softness of Motorsport achieved with 60 frames has been sacrificed in pursuit of a very stable 30 frames per second, far more teeth softened saw fleeing lighting simple static mapping as the original series, to recreate that fluid over time and these torrential rains more dynamically.
It is true that having a base and created with Forza Horizon 2 allows Playground play advantage. This time, it's the basis of their fifth installment which allows the game look so dramatically and add that depth on driving, but thanks to having these built foundation is like the study has managed to focus on creating a fun game. One of the main developments with respect to the first issue, for example, is able to drive "off-road". It's a look at Off-Road, like Rally tests that came through DLC in the first game and here are already included as standard (though not hesitate to return in the future enhanced). In this mode, the races take a more open dye where the important is to take the bumps well and opening enough to make the turn towards the next checkpoint, while trying to dodge trees, fences and all kinds of obstacles.
It is one of the big differences with Motorsport. Does this mean that Horizon is more arcades?. Not that Horizon is the saga of Forza Horizon 2 arcade, is a completely new and complex game if you want it to be. You can keep playing with the rules, add more simulation in the very direction of the car, the physics of the wheels or have influence shock damage. You even have all the tuning options enabled so you can get into the telemetry. That your new Ferrari blocking your wheels too? You can reduce the braking pressure sacrificing speed. All these factors will influence the race, to which is added the most basic aid for less experienced players, such as route guidance or the ability to rewind a few seconds and fix that curve that did not come out quite right.
With so many options simulator, where most notice the arcade aspect of the title is actually being able to go with any type of car for any terrain. In any Forza Horizon exit the circuit was practically to repeat the test, because the race cars do not have any kind of stability or grip off-road. In Forza Horizon 2 this restriction does not exist, which allows you to take many shortcuts with relative ease. So much so that to achieve the best records, you will see many players’ off-road cutting curves provided the checkpoint permits. While Playground encouraged to find the best shortcuts in races, these small cuts that help not hinder cornering, going a bit against the very spirit of driving and competition, making even self feels wrong to take advantage them.
Another significant point is that which has to do with events. Used to play with great variety, the Forza Horizon 2 series has always been characterized by a conservative look, focusing solely on racing. Forza Horizon 2 tries to disguise this fact by calling differently to each event: Running, street race, race asphalt, etc. But even if we go through cities, countryside, dirt or asphalt, the reality is that all events are racing and nothing else. We could call the variety trial Rivals, in which the end of an event we can play against a ghost of a friend or unknown driver and try to beat your brand. Even the end of wristband events of the first game we beat proposing a famous opponent of AI controlled championship, has disappeared.
Equally, there are missing some of the latest trends of gender as social events where brands find friends and achievements to beat, or even those little evidence within the own career as a skid, keep the tip speed or make the perfect curve . Horizon continues to maintain and add radars called Life Experiences, forcing us to ride a specific car for a singular test. The problem is to get something out of the whole, too separate from the main events.
A Festival of Driving With Friends
The online mode of Forza Horizon 2 is quite attractive. Thanks to its open world can interact with others online in two types of forms: a closed one in which the game takes us through several predefined tests; and other open where the players themselves who choose the next event. The first one has seemed much more appealing. All players must attend one point and classified according to the outcome of each event. To many, this will remind the Need For Speed: Most Wanted Criterion and her travels across town to the next test. It is a game mode that may not appeal to everyone, as it is slower than pressing a few buttons on a menu, but PlayGround has better resolved the situation, making us waste so much time in going to the designated place and allowing us to keep winning points for our driving style and not only for our position on the scoreboard.In addition, tests are more varied than in the single player mode. To the already established careers have other stages where we will be divided into teams and import overtaking others in which a player infected and the other survivors, and a sort of catch-up in which you have to hit another shock and then flee. Without doubt, a recreation yard online.
Forza Horizon 2 is and no one should want to stay with the feeling that it is just the arcade branch of the saga. It's much more than that, and it shows in every corner. It may be less demanding with our ability to Motorsport and not focus on official tracks the curves are not always perfect for getting the most out of our engines, but all that does not take advantage of the main series, it changes by type of pleasure: the free driving; the dreamy landscapes; the fun and ease of access to more than two hundred vehicles. All seasoned with a soundtrack that has been enhanced beyond the three styles and stations of the first game. Electronic, rock and more eclectic to drum 'n' bass, pop and even classical music (again honoring the Project Gotham Racing series) alternative and commentator who, while taking too many known records (Sheldon The Big Bang Theory), we will accompany every race.
Forza Horizon 2 Rating
Forza Horizon 2 is a great way to enjoy the Forza series in the new generation. Not only does wonders Motorsport engine 5 but transports us to a world beyond the official competition, dreamlike landscapes halfway between Tuscany and the French Riviera, where we will use more than ever, all terrain and not only the road network. Not everything is perfect as it lacks variety in the content focused on the race and also misses some diversity on the stage itself. But for anyone looking for a progressive driving, with plenty of choices and the difficulty in the simulation of vehicle that can reach extreme challenging, there is no better place than the second festival of Horizon.Pros
- The open world works perfectly, with a great location.
- The ability to tweak the difficulty and vehicle behavior in detail.
- Technically looks great thanks to its landscapes, day and night cycle and climate change.
- More and better accessibility to the purchase of vehicles.
Cons
- Very focused on the races, with little variety.
- The scenery is spectacular, but seems little changed.
- Not criminalized in some corners it less technical.
