Forza Horizon 2 Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos, Achievements, Tips, More

When you think of the Forza brand, you think of sleek, detailed, sim-style racing with stylistic visuals. Those principles have helped to propel the franchise to a level of respect and notoriety amongst the virtual-racing community.

In 2012, Turn 10, the developers responsible for the Forza Motorsport series branched out to a less simulation-style venture with the release of Forza Horizon for the Xbox 360. The open-world racing game was well received as evidenced by its 85 Metacritic score.

This year, the series makes its jump to the Xbox One in hopes of extending its own mark on the virtual-racing genre and building on some concepts introduced in Forza Motorsport.

For the last few days, I've been spinning my wheels—in a good way—with the game. Let's discuss.

Graphics and Animation

If you saw Forza Motorsport 5, you kind of know what to expect from this one in the way of visuals. The car renders are fantastic, which has become pretty standard in most racing games these days. However, what does stand out about FH2, as it did with FM5, is the quality of the backgrounds and scaling of the environments.

Because it's an open-world title, this is an especially impressive quality in FH2. For as far as the eye can see, there is a fully detailed world with depth and clarity. It's really quite beautiful.

The lighting is spectacular and it takes most every thing into consideration in the world the game creates. Rainbows, puddles of water, buildings, trees and the shade they provide are all factors in the virtual mosaic.

Last, but not least, many racing games skimp on human models because after all, they aren't the stars of the show; the cars are.

That's not the case in FH2—at least not in cut scenes. The people look great. Don't get me wrong, we're not talking EA Sports UFC-level of quality when it comes to facial and body renders, but it's still very good.

Even during driving sequences, the people who appear are all animated 3-D models.

The voice acting is sharp and synced properly and it helps to give the game personality. That's something many racing titles lack. These days gamers are spoiled by above-average visuals in most every game. That's a great luxury, but it can also prevent us from appreciating a beautifully rendered game like FH2.

Gameplay and Fun Factor

What kind of racing game fan are you? Do you prefer straight simulations, hybrids, something purely injected with excitement, or can you appreciate all styles?

If the answer is either of the last two, then you'll love FH2.

From a pure fun standpoint, I haven't enjoyed the racing in a game this much since Burnout Paradise and the original Grid. The feeling of speed is phenomenal, but the varying control of different vehicles on multiple surfaces adds the requisite depth to the driving experience. The rumble controllers in the Xbox One have never been more appreciated than in FH2. You can feel the vibrations when accelerating, breaking and crashing. It feels spot on with the action on the screen.

It's not just the driving that makes the gameplay stand out.

Several smart detailed inclusions pushes things to the next level. Anna, your automated GPS voice comes in very handy. You can use your own voice in conjunction with the Kinect to simply ask Anna "what should I do?"

*Tip—Use Anna to your advantage. This type of direction in an open-world game comes in very handy. Sometimes, we can be a little too explorative for our own good. It can lead to misguidance in the game and before you know it, you'll be bored. Anna will keep you on track.

If there's something I miss, it's more graphic damage to cars during wrecks. You can run your vehicle into a wall at 160 miles per hour and the impact won't match the collision. I get that this is probably by design because you can actually see your character in the car.

Showing violent crashes like that could be a bit scary with a human model at the wheel, but wrecks are a major part of driving games and that aspect of FH2 feels empty.

Also in the same vein, car damage seems purely cosmetic. While the vehicle does show wear and tear, it doesn't really affect the way the car drives. That's a bit of a bummer, but somewhat understandable considering there are cross-country races where the road is an afterthought.

Neither of the things I pointed out detracts much from the gameplay in FH2. Consider them more nice to haves rather than missing essentials.

Perhaps the coolest aspect of the gameplay is the use of Drivatars. That's essentially the cloning of people from your friends list and other gamers online. Their likenesses and driving habits are mimicked and reproduced to ensure that you never race against a CPU-like driver. Drivatars were introduced in FM5, but the idea has seemingly improved in FH2.

It adds an identity to your experience and keeps everything fresh.

Sound and Presentation

The sounds of the vehicles are standard, the screeching of tires, etc. is all there. It's hard to get excited about that aspect of a racing game, though. The music is standard as well, but honestly, I'll likely tune that out or even cut it off all together after playing deep into the game.

What won't go dismissed is the cool punch-ins from your British guide through the town of Horizon.

With charm and personality, the guide in the game adds even more personality to the title, and helps the cut scenes come to life.

The overall presentation of number and text graphics is great. FH2 does everything big and in your face in this regard, and it's a perfect match for the action. Because the game itself is so beautiful during normal gameplay, there's no need to cut away to some CGI-created scene.

The graphics are fired across the screen in an exciting and compelling manner that blends in perfectly with the visuals.

FH2 keeps you informed of all pertinent information with overlays and non-intrusive popups throughout your gameplay. It never got in my way, and it kept me engaged on the many goals at hand.

One of the coolest diversions is when you earn a free spin for leveling up as a driver. By pressing the X-button, you bring a wheel up on the screen that you can spin to win credits or even cars. Seeing the prizes scroll on the screen brings the intrigue of a pack opening in games like Madden Ultimate Team or NBA 2K's MyTeam.

The visual and audio presentation of FH2 simply complements the in-game graphics.

Modes, Options, Cars and More

What would a racing game be without a large assortment of vehicles to choose from?

There's more than 200 cars available, which is not a ton considering other racing title have boasted far more, but in an open-world title, it's understandable how that total might be kept down.

Like in all Forza titles, you'll have the option to customize your vehicle, share it and even download others' creations. If you've ever seen some of the designs the Forza community creates, you know some truly slick paint jobs will be available.

At any point in your gameplay, you're allowed to jump online to take on live racers in the FH2 community. Aside from a few visual details, you may not even be able to tell the difference between offline and online racing.

Once online, you can take a road trip with friends, challenge someone to a head-to-head race or simply free roam.

Because of the nature of the game, there aren't a plethora of modes. Most everything happens within your career-mode experience. There are several side missions and other fun diversions within that. It creates and maintains a holistic, one-stop-shop approach that works.

Bucket lists are one example.

Essentially you'll be given a quick scenario that involves taking an exotic vehicle and completing a speed or driving-skill-based task to earn credits. It's fun to do, but not mandatory to complete the career mode.

Click here to see the list of achievements for FH2.

*Tip—Don't ignore the bucket lists. They give sneak peek at awesome cars you'll have the chance to earn or buy later in the game. The same goes for offline races against rivals. These can help you learn a course and get a good handle on your chosen vehicle.

Overall

When developers set out to make a game, they have an objective or an ideal they're trying to accomplish. It seems FH2 is designed to be the fun, wild and crazy brother of FM5. 

It clearly accomplishes its goal.

The gameplay, visuals and presentation make FH2 an exemplary title that delivers just about everything one could expect from a non-simulation racing game.

• Graphics and Animation - 9.75
• Gameplay and Fun Factor - 8.75
• Sound and Presentation - 9
• Modes, Cars and Options - 8
• Overall - 8.9

Follow Brian Mazique aka FranchisePlay, the Sports Video Game Journalist