Beautiful, but predictable
It is hard for me to fathom that we are at the sixth entry in the Forza Horizon franchise, then I remember that the first game was originally released on the Xbox 360. The series has progressively got better over time until it kind of settled into its groove with the fourth entry. Since then, it has had a familiar formula with its normal change of venue. It is also amazing it took six games to make it to Japan, which was easily one of the most requested locales for the series. We are here now, and Forza Horizon 6 nails the aesthetic and culture of the country, but I am starting to feel like the formula is starting to show its age.
Once again, we are jumping into a festival, this time in the land of the rising sun. The game kicks off with its traditional showcase of various race types as you swap between various vehicles in an embellished race. It is great, and I still wish they let you replay this section later in the game. It is a fantastic introduction to the cars, biomes, and sets the mood well. After that your radio buddies kick in as you create an avatar and pick a car to begin your career.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
The object is to complete a series of races to unlock an event where wristbands are earned to compete in more challenging races. Sprinkled in are special events, cars to collect, and plenty of open world collectibles to find. It has been the standard for several games now, and the teams have not altered the formula very much, for better or worse. While I appreciate the customization, I am starting to grow tired of it. I don’t care to see my generic avatar dancing on a podium after each race. There are so many events in the game that skipping this entirely would likely shave off hours of downtime the game experiences. I also never see my avatar outside of these sections, which makes them even less appealing.
While a lot of the structure has remained the same, there are a few new features that fans have been clamoring for. These mostly come in the form of creation tools. There is now a garage that you can customize, which is more in-depth than I expected. There are also tons of ways to customize race types, section off the world for friends, and it is all seamless. These are nice touches for players looking to make the game more their own playground. If you are the type of player that enjoys making their own content, the team has given you all the tools you could want, and these are welcome additions.
The world of Forza Horizon 6 is its biggest feature though. This is NOT a one-to-one creation of any specific area of Japan, but instead more like a greatest hits. There are narrow cityscapes, cherry blossom-soaked roadways, and many other familiar-looking locales that will remind players of Japan. It does an amazing job of creating bespoke areas that feel authentic. The little details really sell the illusion with unique parking lots, exciting tunnels, and narrow roads winding down hills. This map is what people think Japan looks like without ever visiting the country, so in that aspect they nailed it.
It is also worth noting that this is the first game in the series that was built specifically for the new Xbox consoles. That means they were able to add a ton of details to the cars. The most prominent one was seeing how the ice forms on the vehicles in the snowy areas, it is gorgeous. The particle effects and reflections are amazing. The game does support raytracing on console, but only in the quality modes, which limits the game to 30fps, and while it looks great, I simply cannot recommend playing a racing game at a lower framerate when the option is there. Players won’t notice much though as they speed by areas at blazing speeds, it still looks outstanding.
Playground and Turn10 need to be commended as per usual as all of this happens without any issues. There are minimal glitches or issues with the game. It runs beautifully on both Series X and S, I never saw a framerate drop during my multiple hours in the game. Technically this is a showpiece and the world is massive, so it is even more impressive I ran into nearly zero issues.
Progression remains mostly the same with cars coming at a pretty decent clip. The wheelspins have taken a backseat, which is fine as it was way overused in FH5. I am still not a fan of the skill point system though. There are too many cars in this game to have to level them up individually, the skills are not that exciting, so a lot of time I find myself not even bothering with the mechanic. I do love the fact that the navigation system (ANNA) now allows for auto drive to the next event, and the process for picking new events is much better. Overall, they added some decent quality of life upgrades, and I appreciate that.
The Forza Horizon series is still my favorite current racing game series, but the formula is starting to wear out its welcome. I was really hoping to see some more dynamic changes to the main career mode, instead for players who only engage with that aspect, it feels a lot like FH5 in a new map. If you are a creation junkie, this game adds a lot. Either way no one can deny the quality of this title. It is massive, has tons of content, and runs and plays like a dream. There is little to complain about in a technical sense. Add in the fact that players have access to the game if they have Game Pass and it is a no-brainer. Forza Horizon 6 is a quality video game that is just in need of some updates to its core formula.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
