Forza Horizon 3 is an open world driving and racing game set in our very own Australia.
There are so many aspects of the game that are impossible not to love, and everything is super customisable. With breathtaking graphics enhanced to 4K on the Xbox One S and Xbox One X, it’s hard not to appreciate the work and attention to detail that was put into the game.
Whether doing jumps on all the sand dunes in the outback, speeding down the Great Ocean Road at over 400 km/h, or even finding out your top speed on the airstrip, there are endless things to do with a massive selection of cars to pick from.
So without any further ado, let’s get into the review. I’ll cover four different aspects of the game: the campaign, the graphics, the sounds, and the customisability of the game, and rate each aspect on a scale of one to five.
The Campaign
Let’s start with the campaign. The theme of the game is that you’re in charge of a massive car festival, and you’re trying to make it as big as possible. The more ‘fans’ you get from completing things like races, driving over massive jumps, and speeding past speed traps, the more you can upgrade each festival, which means you can do more in the game.
There are four festivals, located at Byron Bay, Surfer’s Paradise, the Yarra Valley and in the outback. The more you upgrade each festival, the more things you unlock to do. Every few upgrades, you unlock a ‘showcase event’, which is basically driving in some crazy race against something like a fighter jet or a jeep attached to a helicopter.
Another amazing aspect of the game is that if you don’t want to do it all on your own, there is an online co-op mode where you can do everything you can in single player, except with your mates.
The only fault I can find with the campaign would be that there should be more of a storyline, like in other racing games like The Crew.
I rate the campaign in this version of Forza a 4 out of 5.
The Graphics
The graphics in Horizon 3 are nothing short of stunning. Attention to detail adds a lot, one example being drops of water on cars moving when you’re driving.
Whether you’re destroying the vineyards of the Yarra Valley or driving in the beautiful waves and on the beach at the Twelve Apostles, it’s sort of scary how accurate everything is when it comes to how they constructed Australia inside the game.
All of the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and everything they’ve done, including the little things like moving blades of grass, have added so much to the game.
Here is a photo I took between the night and sunrise in the outback, that beautifully shows off the graphics of the game. Well, it looks better on my TV.
There is literally nothing I could recommend improving when it comes to the amazing graphics in Horizon 3, especially with the enhanced 4K on certain consoles.
I rate the graphics a perfect 5 out of 5.
The Sound
The gameplay and visuals are one thing, the sound is another. Every single car sounds different, and let me tell you they all sound amazing. With the realistic, aggressive sounds coming from the heavily customisable engines, what’s not to love?
From my experience, the music in the game is unlike any other. With radio stations unique to Horizon 3, and popular radio stations that already exist outside of the game, you never run out of music to listen to.
Even if you do run out, if you have a Groove Music subscription, you can play anything from your account, and it will be played in the game like the rest of the music.
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The sound will get quieter when the GPS starts talking, and when you drive into one of your festivals it will change so it sounds like it’s live or coming through some crazy speakers.
Whether you notice it much or not, the sounds add so much to the game.
I rate the sound and music in Forza a 5 out of 5.
The Customisability
Speaking of customisability, another big part of Horizon 3 is being able to make your car exactly how you want it. And if you can’t be bothered tuning your car yourself, you can look up popular tunes for your desired car or a specific tune using keywords.
The same goes for painting your car, or wrapping it with vinyl. The best part is, if you make a design or a tune that a lot of people like, you can end up making a lot of money based on how many other players download it.
Here's a wrap for a car I made that ended up being pretty popular:
When I say, “make money,” I mean within the game, of course. But if you write about it on Steemit, you can make real money :)
In all seriousness, that brings up the one thing I’d like to see added to this game, something that’s probably inevitable, and that’s the ability to earn crypto by selling your customisations to others.
Regardless, being able to customise your car and share your creativity with others is such a fun addition to the game and I’m so glad they included it in Horizon 3.
For customisability, I rate the game 4.5 out of 5.
Add the crypto feature, and it’s a perfect score :)
Total Score and Final Thoughts
1. Campaign: 4
2. Graphics: 5
3. Sound: 5
4. Customisability: 4.5
TOTAL SCORE: 4.6 out of 5
Just when you thought that Forza couldn’t top Horizon 2, they went and created this awesome game. Forza Horizon 3 is a beautifully constructed open world driving game, with stunning visuals and amazing gameplay. With a huge selection of sexy looking (and sounding) cars to pick from, there really is barely anything you can complain about.
Have you ever played any of the Forza games? What did you think?
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All images (except featured image and the radio image) are from my own gameplay.