Forza Horizon 4 for Xbox Series X - Review

I never really got into the first Horizon game seeing it on store shelves I didn't know what to expect, horizon two came along and I loved it, then Horizon 3 and it's Australian setting was incredible. Though Forza Horizon 4 and it's UK setting and reliance on ever changing seasons, it just never clicked with me, maybe it's a little Australian bias, but I thought it didn't do enough. I had sunk nearly 200 hours into Forza Horizon 3 but barely a quarter of that into the 4th game, now that it's enhanced for Series X, this gave me the best time to jump in and see if I could increase that count.

Like other games enhanced for Xbox Series X, Forza Horizon 4 dozens bringing a wealth of new content or cars or anything, it again overhauls the performance and the visuals to provide a smoother and ultimately more stunning racing game. The latter part of that statement is hard to believe because the Forza Horizon series with three and then four somehow were beautiful games in their own right, but with the enhanced effects on Series X, Four now appears to be even more beautiful.

Much like the Gears 5 Series X review this is not going to be a full review, that you can find here, this is about the enhancements to the game and why Horizon Four is so much better for it. One of my complaints with the game initially was that it was so bogged down with loading at the start, that by the time I got into the game my enthusiasm for playing it had waned a little. Well the version of the game that I have played was not the enhanced public release, so some things may be a little different, but it was the enhanced version and for the most part what has been promised has been delivered. If you have played the game or seen it played on PC with settings to Ultra, then you should have a good idea of what you're going to get, full 4K visuals, running at 60 frames per second, complete with all the extra effects that just were not possible on the Xbox One.

If you look at the game in screenshots you might not notice anything different, unlike Gears 5 it is really hard to see a difference here in still, but because thoughts it is a game about cars and the motion and movement of cars, it seems a little poetic to have it be something you need to see in action. one of the things that irked me a lot with the original release is that the load times to get into the game were long and it seemed the more you played the longer they tended to be, this is being reduced somewhat. Because the game has to connect to the server and load up the appropriate world based on server information there is still a bit of a long load time, the upside it is far shorter than it was initially.

something else that is better is when you go into races and out of races, there's no more delay of text where it would display the initial text and then reload it in a different font, or have elements appear in a set order. Again it's hard to explain just how good the load times are now but once you see it makes sense, coupled with that the quality of the shadows in the world, the water and all the leaves and dirt and debris that you will constantly be kicking up all look better.

if you're someone who spent dozens upon dozens of hours in Forza Horizon 4, then this upgrade is not going to be a big change for you, you are still getting the same game, racing with the same people, but everything just looks better. if you're like me and didn't spend a lot of time in horizon 4, then this is not going to change your mind, there's nothing new to the game to bring you back, but the enhancements to load times do make a compelling case for giving it a shot and who knows a few races at 60 FPS and 4K and you could be like me a convert; Now if you will excuse me I have more races to win

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Xbox

The Pros

+Still an amazingly solid racing game

+No more issues with loading once you are in the game

The Cons

-That initial load can be quite long still

-Nothing new added, just prettier than it was