pretty darn good. fun to play, looks good feels good. maybe not as good, or as polished, or as good looking as 4 or 5, but the bones are all here. Coming pretty fresh off a reprise with 4, some of the systems and progression here don't feel as smooth. also, skills and chains feel quite stingy compared to 4/5. you just can't really fault it for these things, or any other shortcomings or things it is "missing" compared to 4 & 5, tho. it built greatly on the foundation of Horizon 1 & 2, as Horizon 4 & 5 have also from this one. Australia is the star this time, and it is great fun to rip around the diverse locales. The opening sequence and the showcases are great as always. a fun and worthwhile experience all in all; shouldn't be missed if you like the horizon series and/or racing games. there isn't as much to do or as much variety as found in the sequels, so your mileage may vary. I got to a point where I'd opened each site and completed all the showcases (20ish hours), so not many unique things left to experience; a good point to shelve it. any further horizon fixes will likely be satiated through 5.

p.s. one annoying thing was the amount of traffic. seemed like there was loads more traffic, including drivatars, and it felt like borderline GTA traffic--programmed to get in your way. many times there would be large traffic buildups in front of speed traps. and at least one time, multiple drivatars piled up in front of a stunt jump just as I was driving up to it. the drivatars being ghosts/transparent in 4 & 5 was sorely missed.