One of my favorite series is back with an all new adventure in Mexico, that honestly doesn’t feel all that different from what we’ve seen, but that’s not a bad thing. Forza’s back babbbbby.

Forza Horizon 5, the latest entry in the Forza Horizon series of arcade racing games, arrives today on Xbox consoles and PC for players. It’s available to Xbox Game Pass members as of November 9th. Forza Horizon 5 is a car enthusiasts playground and an incredible way to show off the power of what’s underneath the hood of the Xbox Series X. I’ve always preferred the Horizon series over it’s much more serious Forza Motorsports series. It’s much more fun, high paced and reminds me of one of the greatest games of all time, Burnout Paradise.

You play as a custom character who just so happens to race cars for the world’s most annoying people. I can’t fathom why developers Playground shoehorn in such over the top annoying personalities into their games but I’m sure people like them. Some of them do remind me of popular twitch streamers with their constant jabbering and lame jokes. Most of the story is pretty simple and really revolves around racing really fast from point A to B to sometimes C so you won’t have to converse with them to much but they are there, always ready to scream into your speaker. Oh how I wish I could drive them over and drive solo.

There’s so much to see and do in this game, players will feel like they have an infinite amount of things to do which never feels like a chore. I casually drove around, beating my friend’s scores, unlocking cars, taking photos and of course doing sick jumps. This is the game I’ve been waiting all year for and despite it’s wretched cast of characters and more of the same gameplay, it’s an easy Game of the Year for me. Don’t sleep on it, even if you don’t like racing games. Forza Horizon is wicked fun

What I Loved:
– Forza is back for the next generation of gaming and it looks incredible. Truly the most breathtaking game of the year.
– Character customization is fantastic. Allows players to identify as male, female or nonbinary. Includes for the first time ever prosthetic limbs. Some of the legs feature amazing art illustrations by Raul Urias.
– So much to unlock. Incredibly Fun. You can set the game to run at 60 fps by default (performance mode) and experience incredible fidelity. Or adjust to 30 fps for quality mode. Resolution drops a tad in performance but it’s still close enough to 4K.
– Have I mentioned this game looks gorgeous. Art Direction is outstanding.
– No loading times
– Felt like I was on a much needed vacation. Photo mode will have you hooked even if you’re like me and don’t typically like to use it.
– Awesome list of cars (Over 500!!!!).

Liked:
– Buying houses is a great way to warp around the map quickly. I suggest buying a house early on for easy traversal.
– This is a huge map. Speaking of huge maps, this is a HUGE map. Overall it’s pretty good, and much more exciting than Forza Horizon 4’s mundane UK setting.
– Easy to level up and collect new cars and outfits. Eliminator mode. It’s like Fortnite for cars. It’s fun for a bit of time wasting,

Disliked:
– The soundtrack was mediocre.
– How familiar it all felt, there’s really nothing new. Would love to see some new features added via DLC or in the eventual Horizon 6.
– It can all be a tad overwhelming for newcomers. There’s so much info being dumped on you at all times. Just remember to drive and do what you want, you’ll get through it.

Angered Me:
– The DJ 
– The writing is embarrassingly bad. I’m a tad nervous on how the writing in Playground’s new Fable is going to turn out after playing through this.
 – The characters. Each and every single one of them.
– I’m eagerly awaiting to see what DLC we are going to get for this game. The DLC for Horizons has always been top notch (Hot Wheels in FH3 and LEGO in FH 4 for example) and I can’t wait to see what they do this time around.
– Fans of the franchise will certainly not be disappointed with this new entry in the series. It’s a remarkable game, I just wish it brought something new to the table and ditched the wacky cast of characters and over the top cheesy storyline. It’s all too Fast and Familiar for my liking.

A copy of Forza Horizons 5 was provided by the developer for review purposes and reviewed on the Xbox Series X.