Forza Horizon 5 (2021) by Playground Games

Forza Horizon 5 is pure fun.

That's it, that's all there is to it. Oh, and lots of cars.

The Horizon spin-off games have always reminded me of the Fast and the Furious films. They aren't exactly "thinking man's" franchises; there are very few big ideas or serious themes to dig through. No big morals to the story, no ethical struggles, no big ideas to consider or difficult decisions to make. They're just pure bombast, fun, and positivity. And sometimes that's perfectly okay. We could all use a few more smiles in our daily lives, I think.

The design of Forza Horizon 5 is clear right from the get go: Get the player smiling ear-to-ear, and don't have them stop until they're finished playing the game. Horizon 5 is packed to the brim with ostentation, ridiculousness, colorfulness. It's an adrenaline rush and a feast for the eyes. Above all else, this game wants to make you feel good. And it constantly succeeds in that.

This is happening? This is happening.

If you have even a passing interest in motorsports and you're looking for a sandbox to play around in, you'll enjoy this game. In my past I dabbled in automobile modification (with my Supercharged 355 LT1 Camaro, near two decades ago now), and I have even participated in a few proper drag races at the local strip back in my younger days. But I'm more than a decade removed from my last "official" race and I haven't turned a wrench on my own car in nearly as long. I've retired into a quiet life of middle age, in which I drive a ten year old Toyota Camry and pay my mechanic to change my oil so I don't get too dirty. But Forza Horizon 5 brought those old years of cruising up and down the highway and taking trips to the racetrack screaming back to me. While Horizon 5 is focused mostly on being an open world sandbox, it also provides copious amounts of tuning possibilities and car customization options for those more knowledgeable about such things. You can fine tune your suspension, purchase modifications by the individual part, customize the look of your vehicle down to individual parts if you want—or you can absolutely ignore all that and let the in-game mechanic do it for you, and spend your time instead cruising around Mexico and looking for various shenanigans to get lost in.

The actual racing is smooth, responsive, and overall excellent, and the game runs superbly for me, keeping between 80-90 frames per second at 4K on high settings. There are few things that equal the adrenaline rush of taking a jump at 100+ mph, other cars screaming around you, an airplane soaring overhead. The environment is equally compelling and varied, as you'll race through different locales within the beautiful Mexican countryside. And all along the way, the game is drip-feeding your points with which to buy new cars, unlock new abilities, purchase more mods, all so that you're better at getting more XP in a vicious, addictive, well-designed gameplay loop that will keep you driving through the game's content. No pun intended.

The one caveat I have with the game thus far is that it has a tendency to crash on me. Usually within menus, and mostly while editing car modifications. However I chalk this up to launch day jank and I expect these crashes to be patched out very soon, as Playground Games have typically been excellent with post-launch support.

That complaint aside, I really can't say enough about the sheer fun factor this game provides. If you want something to put an endless amount of hours into, something that will make you smile as winter sets in here in the Northern hemisphere, something that will take your mind off a hard day of work the second you launch the game, then buy Forza Horizon 5 without a second thought, because this game will make you happy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐