Well, I will be as objective as possible with this game, many people say that it is a perfect arcade racing, I say that it is not really so and I will present in the review what follows, why do I say this? I'm a big fan of the arcade racing genre, a lot of games like the NFS series when it was in its heyday with underground, most wanted and carbon many other arcade racing games I've played, the motorstorm series for playstation fans and even more underrated games by many they are not as well known as flatout, split/second and blur, which are simply extraordinary games and brought something new and interesting.
I am of course also a fan of the Forza Horizon series. The first game I played was Forza Horizon 3 and it left me speechless with the graphics it had and how many unseen things there were, the selection of cars, showcase events, the way you chose the progress and unlocking the festivals on the map and they were still super fun even after that, of course, was followed by Forza Horizon 4, which introduced something truly revolutionary, events specific to the seasons, the lakes froze in winter and you could walk on them, in autumn and summer you could really see the difference from the sky to the ground, it also introduced story-type missions that had several special missions, for example: you were a driver in the making of a film, you were a drift driver and other scenarios, some of which were really interesting even though the characters were not memorable.
Okay, now let's get back to our game, at the moment I'm writing this review I have over 350 hours in the game and I can say that I've experienced everything the game had to offer. Yes, it's a super good and fun game, but it doesn't really bring major changes compared to forza horizon 4. The first changes that I really liked were the much more diverse environment, you have mountains, desert, plains, jungle, volcano, everything for everyone , but unfortunately the season system doesn't seem to affect the visual part as much from the same point of view as in Forza Horizon 4. Yes, the volcano has snow in the winter and some details are visible, but it's not a massive difference.
The music is quite catchy and really gives you a feeling and vibe of Mexico, the actors try to be Mexican and there are tons of Mexican lines and you might even learn some words from there if you are a little careful, who knows.
On the gameplay side, it seems too similar to the previous title and too few new things brought, yes now you can open your convertible car, but when you race on a higher difficulty the first or second is simply almost impossible to beaten and when you end up in first place it's very hard to lose that place because the AI is simply lazy and doesn't really try to overtake you.
After you've discovered almost everything there is to see on the map, you don't have much to do, the playlist from each season is cool and I really appreciate it, to the same extent as the previous title that brought a new car to the collection every week, but the races are quite repetitive, it would have been cool if there were more races made by the community, not just one maximum 2 during a week. Because those made by the community are really fun and bring something new.
The graphics, as in any game, seem photorealistic with cars that look like they are taken from reality and landscapes full of life and extracted from museums, yes, it leaves you speechless at certain moments at how beautifully the game is rendered, no chance to criticize the graphics. It is and will always be difficult to compare with other racing games.
In conclusion: Forza Horizon 5 is a super fun game for someone who has never played a game in the series and will enjoy it abundantly, I can compare it to the feeling when you eat a cake for the first time in your life. But for someone who has played the previous title, it will feel as if he is given the same cake with some extra layers, and problems encountered in the previous title have not been solved. Yes, I am hard on the game because I hope that the future will bring some major changes and not just another map with new cars, I want innovation and I hope it is possible.
P.S. I wholeheartedly recommend the expansion pack of HotWheels and I hope that the next one will be the same or even better than this, the one with HotWheel is really well done, fortunately it even brings 3 new environments and you can feel the difference very well when you go from one environment to another, and the routes are very different, for example there are certain routes where you slide on the ice and you don't know why to start, or there are upside down routes in the game where you are caught by the car by some magnetic technology (Black magic I tell you ).
I am of course also a fan of the Forza Horizon series. The first game I played was Forza Horizon 3 and it left me speechless with the graphics it had and how many unseen things there were, the selection of cars, showcase events, the way you chose the progress and unlocking the festivals on the map and they were still super fun even after that, of course, was followed by Forza Horizon 4, which introduced something truly revolutionary, events specific to the seasons, the lakes froze in winter and you could walk on them, in autumn and summer you could really see the difference from the sky to the ground, it also introduced story-type missions that had several special missions, for example: you were a driver in the making of a film, you were a drift driver and other scenarios, some of which were really interesting even though the characters were not memorable.
Okay, now let's get back to our game, at the moment I'm writing this review I have over 350 hours in the game and I can say that I've experienced everything the game had to offer. Yes, it's a super good and fun game, but it doesn't really bring major changes compared to forza horizon 4. The first changes that I really liked were the much more diverse environment, you have mountains, desert, plains, jungle, volcano, everything for everyone , but unfortunately the season system doesn't seem to affect the visual part as much from the same point of view as in Forza Horizon 4. Yes, the volcano has snow in the winter and some details are visible, but it's not a massive difference.
The music is quite catchy and really gives you a feeling and vibe of Mexico, the actors try to be Mexican and there are tons of Mexican lines and you might even learn some words from there if you are a little careful, who knows.
On the gameplay side, it seems too similar to the previous title and too few new things brought, yes now you can open your convertible car, but when you race on a higher difficulty the first or second is simply almost impossible to beaten and when you end up in first place it's very hard to lose that place because the AI is simply lazy and doesn't really try to overtake you.
After you've discovered almost everything there is to see on the map, you don't have much to do, the playlist from each season is cool and I really appreciate it, to the same extent as the previous title that brought a new car to the collection every week, but the races are quite repetitive, it would have been cool if there were more races made by the community, not just one maximum 2 during a week. Because those made by the community are really fun and bring something new.
The graphics, as in any game, seem photorealistic with cars that look like they are taken from reality and landscapes full of life and extracted from museums, yes, it leaves you speechless at certain moments at how beautifully the game is rendered, no chance to criticize the graphics. It is and will always be difficult to compare with other racing games.
In conclusion: Forza Horizon 5 is a super fun game for someone who has never played a game in the series and will enjoy it abundantly, I can compare it to the feeling when you eat a cake for the first time in your life. But for someone who has played the previous title, it will feel as if he is given the same cake with some extra layers, and problems encountered in the previous title have not been solved. Yes, I am hard on the game because I hope that the future will bring some major changes and not just another map with new cars, I want innovation and I hope it is possible.
P.S. I wholeheartedly recommend the expansion pack of HotWheels and I hope that the next one will be the same or even better than this, the one with HotWheel is really well done, fortunately it even brings 3 new environments and you can feel the difference very well when you go from one environment to another, and the routes are very different, for example there are certain routes where you slide on the ice and you don't know why to start, or there are upside down routes in the game where you are caught by the car by some magnetic technology (Black magic I tell you ).