Sunday, March 1, 2020

Eric Vs. 365 - Day 245 - Forza Horizon 3

The Forza Horizon series is unquestionably one of the best, if not THE best, racing series in gamingright now. It looks amazing. It plays amazing. It has tons of content. So why don't I like to actually play it? It's objectively amazing, but I'm pretty darn subjectively bored with it. Today's game is Forza Horizon 3. Read more and watch gameplay below.

I loved Forza Horizon 1 and 2. They were perfect. Or, I guess they were perfect until Horizon 3 and 4 came along and blew them out of the water in terms of visuals and overall gameplay. Something that Horizon 3 or 4 failed to top them in, however, is making the actual racing in the games feel important. Horizon 1 and 2 were all about working your way up the ladder to become the best. Winning races actually mattered. Earning money actually mattered. In Horizon 3 and 4 you aren't an up and coming racer, you're running the show itself, and that freaking sucks because nothing you do feels like it matters.

At least Forza Horizon 3 didn't go totally off the rails yet like 4 did. Your focus is still on earning cars and running races, unlike 4 where your rewards are usually dumb pointless avatar customization options that are a freaking goddamn waste of time. The problem with 3 is actually almost that they threw too much at you so I got bored well before I fully finished the game. That's a weird complaint.

I think I got bored with Horizon 3 so fast because I had already sunk so much time into Horizon 1 and 2. I beat those games basically 100% and spent dozens of hours with each of them. Horizon 3 is a more polished game for sure, but it isn't drastically different from its predecessors so I really felt like I had seen and done it all by the time Horizon 3 came out. I wasn't impressed anymore. It's a "me" thing, not actually a Horizon 3 thing.


It's still fun, though, and I'd never say Horizon 3 or 4 were bad. I just got bored. 

In today's video I drive around a lovely chunk of Australia and chase down Andrew's drivatar a few times. Heh. I also have to say that this game looks damn gorgeous in 4k and HDR on Xbox One X.