Been looking forward for Horizon 5 ever since its E3 showing, I haven't played a realistic racing game since I was very young, so this was practically a fresh experience back into the genre, and those trailers just somehow really managed to entice me and my friends. And I can say now that its out, I'd say it definitely gave me a lot to enjoy for sure. Horizon 5 is a gorgeous game, with loads to do, but I'll admit as I kept playing the more problems I was beginning to have with it as well as getting fatigued, so while I'm not technically done with it, I think I've played enough to give my full thoughts on.
I think where 5 shines the most is in its sense of discovery and the feeling of just driving around Mexico. It feels like there is always somewhere new to explore and with how pretty the game is, and how vibrant Mexico is, it always feels like the large world is begging to be explored just to see what there is, even if it is just to go sight seeing. And there is certainly loads of racing to do that is obviously very enticing and fun, and it is certainly a blast, I especially love dirt racing in this game because you get a look at the most beautiful locales that they managed to put into this game. But overall my highest moments in this game were often just driving long distances to a location and enjoying the sights as I drove along, it really captured the fun feeling of just being able to drive around while plowing through fields and destroying property for a high score. And some of the Horizon Adventure content is super cool as well, anytime you're racing something absurd like jet skiers or a train, or driving a parade float off a fucking cliff just for the hell of it, feels like a massive reward for just doing all the fun stuff that you can uncover in Mexico,
However not everything in the game reaches those highs unfortunately and its where a lot of my personal gripes arise. I do understand that this is a racing game so obviously there is a ton of courses and different races to be had, and they're obviously a lot of fun but after a while they really start to blend together for me. And that wouldn't really be a massive issue if so many of the Adventure missions feel like they were re-treads of the missions the game wants you to do in order to get the big spectacles to begin with. I feel like the game spends its most bombastic missions right at the beginning and it feels a lot more safe and also harder to unlock as you progress through them all. Obviously part of this is certainly a result of me playing the better part of twenty hours or so playing it straight, but I think my criticism would still stand even if it were more spaced out.
I think a lot of that frustration would be mitigated if the online was good right now as well, but holy shit it is terrible. I guess I should've guessed that it could've happened but the servers just don't feel like they're working, and they recently just optimized the game and reworked the servers at the time of writing this, and it feels like I've experienced more latency issues and bugs then I did at the launch of the game, which is disappointing and honestly killed my interest to finish the rest of the story missions right now. None of the bugs are game breaking or anything, but a lot of them are just obnoxious enough to bug me, like the map more than one occasion would just stop directing or misdirect me to a story mission and with how cluttered the map is, it could be kind of a chore to find the mission I wanted. I also think the music selection for this game isn't very good, but its also surprisingly limited, which is more of a nitpick then anything, but hearing the same like six songs on the classical station is just bizarre, they're classical songs and yet Microsoft of all fucking companies can't get the license for more then less an albums worth of tracks?
I know I've been pretty critical and honestly writing too much about a game that probably doesn't warrant it, but its mainly because when the game is great, its fantastic, but I honestly am not too keen on how it launched. Feels like it was a poor time to release it too, because Microsoft is now putting all their attention into the Infinite multiplayer like less than a week after this launched, really feels like this got shafted almost immediately. I think my thoughts could easily change as the game gets updated, but for now, I definitely enjoyed my time with the game a lot but it just misses that mark of me really loving it, at least for now. Here's hoping to a brighter future for it thought!
I think where 5 shines the most is in its sense of discovery and the feeling of just driving around Mexico. It feels like there is always somewhere new to explore and with how pretty the game is, and how vibrant Mexico is, it always feels like the large world is begging to be explored just to see what there is, even if it is just to go sight seeing. And there is certainly loads of racing to do that is obviously very enticing and fun, and it is certainly a blast, I especially love dirt racing in this game because you get a look at the most beautiful locales that they managed to put into this game. But overall my highest moments in this game were often just driving long distances to a location and enjoying the sights as I drove along, it really captured the fun feeling of just being able to drive around while plowing through fields and destroying property for a high score. And some of the Horizon Adventure content is super cool as well, anytime you're racing something absurd like jet skiers or a train, or driving a parade float off a fucking cliff just for the hell of it, feels like a massive reward for just doing all the fun stuff that you can uncover in Mexico,
However not everything in the game reaches those highs unfortunately and its where a lot of my personal gripes arise. I do understand that this is a racing game so obviously there is a ton of courses and different races to be had, and they're obviously a lot of fun but after a while they really start to blend together for me. And that wouldn't really be a massive issue if so many of the Adventure missions feel like they were re-treads of the missions the game wants you to do in order to get the big spectacles to begin with. I feel like the game spends its most bombastic missions right at the beginning and it feels a lot more safe and also harder to unlock as you progress through them all. Obviously part of this is certainly a result of me playing the better part of twenty hours or so playing it straight, but I think my criticism would still stand even if it were more spaced out.
I think a lot of that frustration would be mitigated if the online was good right now as well, but holy shit it is terrible. I guess I should've guessed that it could've happened but the servers just don't feel like they're working, and they recently just optimized the game and reworked the servers at the time of writing this, and it feels like I've experienced more latency issues and bugs then I did at the launch of the game, which is disappointing and honestly killed my interest to finish the rest of the story missions right now. None of the bugs are game breaking or anything, but a lot of them are just obnoxious enough to bug me, like the map more than one occasion would just stop directing or misdirect me to a story mission and with how cluttered the map is, it could be kind of a chore to find the mission I wanted. I also think the music selection for this game isn't very good, but its also surprisingly limited, which is more of a nitpick then anything, but hearing the same like six songs on the classical station is just bizarre, they're classical songs and yet Microsoft of all fucking companies can't get the license for more then less an albums worth of tracks?
I know I've been pretty critical and honestly writing too much about a game that probably doesn't warrant it, but its mainly because when the game is great, its fantastic, but I honestly am not too keen on how it launched. Feels like it was a poor time to release it too, because Microsoft is now putting all their attention into the Infinite multiplayer like less than a week after this launched, really feels like this got shafted almost immediately. I think my thoughts could easily change as the game gets updated, but for now, I definitely enjoyed my time with the game a lot but it just misses that mark of me really loving it, at least for now. Here's hoping to a brighter future for it thought!