Forza Horizon 4 would be #2 on my list. It is now the benchmark for open world design that #1 (which I agree with) has to beat.
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
Forza Horizon 4 would be #2 on my list. It is now the benchmark for open world design that #1 (which I agree with) has to beat.
i would kind of agree to a point. but the reason i didn't include it in this list, is that because driving sim games are always hit and miss. this version is based of motorsport 7 forzatechs engine but with some tweaked graphics and new mechanics. all of which have been seen countless times in racing sims, The Crew 1/2, F1 2017/2018, project cars, hell even the Need for Speed games..... what i'm saying is, they are all just a slight variation of the same theme, with dreadful Ai, and imho, they get boring very quickly. for a game that is as close to apples to apples as you can get, i believe that game is F1 2018.
I couldn't disagree more, this is absolutely nothing like Motorsport 7 or F1 2018. The only superficial similarity is that it uses the same engine and there are cars, but that's like saying Battlefield is like FIFA. I wish people would stop dismissing Forza Horizon 4 as "just a driving game" and see that's it's a landmark for the gaming industry. It has the finest open world ever committed to a game. The detail is absolutely unprecedented, and the seasons really do change everything. The moment you come to grasp with the incredible world, and the season changes, and you have to experience it all over again. But there's more, it sets a new high bar for graphics tech. The global illumination system is one of the best ever, up there with Quantum Break and Hunt: Showdown. Once you see headlights casting shadows, it's impossible to go back to any other game with driving involved; the subtle bounce of the taillights, the incredible diffused reflections of icy surface, highly detailed parallax occlusion maps on the dirt terrain, etc. etc. And what is totally bonkers is that Edinburgh has hundreds, if not thousands, of buildings and each one has interiors distinctly modeled. You can peer in from the windows and see inside! I mean, not even the drone can get high up to the 4th floor of a building, but you sure can see the fancy painting and the vintage chandelier. Spider-Man's New York was superb just last week, but Forza Horizon 4's Britain makes it look like a last-generation game. This is the new benchmark for open world design, and Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lofty target to overhaul.
But there's innovation wherever you see - the humour and references to classic British comedies, the brilliant Horizon Stories, being the first game that has truly nailed a persistent, shared open world, the co-operative gameplay that removes friction from multiplayer etc.
Forza Horizon 4 is absolutely one of the finest games ever made.
I can understand your enthusiasm for the game, but after playing at E3, and the past couple of days on the kids xbox. i fail to see the graphical fidelity that can not be found in countless other games. sure there are some truly awesome mechanics, within how the cars interact with the environment, but seasons is nothing new and can be dated as far back in games as pokomon black and white, Zelda oracle of seasons. even sim city on the snes. yes i know they are not driving games, but the premise is nothing new.
The first Crew game made use of the same mechanics, travel north, the icy roads made it difficult to race on, when it rained, traction was difficult, when it was hot, driving conditions were perfect, and then the different terrains, salt flats, woods, long grass, mud, all changed the characteristics of the driving.
I do however love the fact that the game is based in the UK, where the weather can and does change very quickly (as seen in the game).
It is a good all round game, it has taken multiple ideas from elsewhere and melded it together. but graphically it is nothing special, mechanics used are re-used and re-worked, many assets found in motorsport 7 can be found in horizon 4, the AI is still as shit as ever, (same for all racing games).... its just another twist on the same theme.
I stand by my statement that F1 2018 is as close to apples to apples racing sim available which is about on par with visuals to horizon 4. what i hate about most games with cars is, you can drive into a lamp post and stop dead with next to no car damage, or/sometimes in the same game, you can hit a traffic light and drive straight through it, again with next to no damage. while railings, that are not fixed to the ground are indestructible. they want to make a realistic driving sim, but will ignore practical physics. that is why i prefer F1 2017/18... there is no BS.
and if you want graphical fidelity, take a look at star citizen and the Last of Us 2, which coincidentally, adopts a season/weather type mechanic that affect playability