‘Forza Horizon 3’ Impressions – Cruising The Outback Is Great, But Not Without Some Issues
Forza games have always frustrated me. I’ve never been a major fan of simulation racers, and while Forza has always been one I’ve dabbled in, I’ve never been too great at them. However, Forza Horizon 3 feels so intrinsically different than any previous racer I’ve played. The Horizon series has always been more of an arcade, laid back game compared to the Motorsport franchise, and Forza Horizon 3 takes that tradition to a whole new level. It also marks the first time in the series history that Forza sees a full release on PC.
As an “Xbox Play Anywhere” title, Forza Horizon 3 nets you a copy on both Xbox One and a Windows 10 PC. This is great, giving more consumers a chance to play the game where they are most comfortable. For someone like me, it’s great as sometimes my PC isn’t available. And the best part about this is Forza Horizon 3 is as solid as they come on console. While the compromise is evident with the title – Horizon 3 is locked at a 30 frames-per-second cap on Xbox One, it’s one of the few games with such a low framerate that I can stand to play. The motion blur implementation is quite good, which is saying something as I normally hate motion blur in games. The game itself looks stupendous – the landscape of Western Australia is on full display and it is really a joy to cruise through. However, the most striking aspect of the visual presentation, in my opinion, is the skybox. Using photogrammetry, the Forza Horizon 3 team is literally using the real Australian sky to showcase its natural beauty. And it works to create such a convincing facsimile of the real thing.
Actually playing Forza Horizon 3 is a treat. The game reminds me more of Project Gotham Racing, one of the great arcade racers of days past, than it does the traditional Forza series. However, none of the depth of the Forza series is lost. If you want to run with simulation steering, tune your car to the max and make sure the damage to your vehicle isn’t just cosmetic, you can. I personally run with all the simulation off, because to me Forza Horizon 3 is best when being played as a fast, loose arcade racer. However, the depth of Forza is there for anyone who chooses to play the game that way.
In terms of performance on PC, things have been a bit hit and miss. While running the game on my i7-6700K, 16GB DDR4 RAM and EVGA GTX 980 SC, I’ve experienced some issues with the game. While my performance isn’t indicative of the whole of PCs out there, I’m not the only one having issues. The game will run on high settings at a locked 60 frames-per-second for the first twenty minutes or so, but once I’ve played for a while, or hit a barn find cutscene, the framerate plummets and stays there, creating a wholly unplayable experience. However, turning off the Xbox Windows 10 app’s Game DVR seems to have helped the issue. Since then the framerate stays pretty consistent. It’s not perfect, but those extended periods of lower than even console framerates have become a thing of the past. And that’s good, because when Forza Horizon 3 on PC is running it’s best, it is very clearly the top tier version of the game. Horizon really shines when running full tilt, especially at 4K, which while you’ll need a monster PC to run adequately, is possible today with the right rig.
One of the key aspects of the “Play Anywhere” initiative is the ability to cross play and cross save your game. And it works pretty much flawlessly with Forza Horizon 3. The first time I tried to connect with a friend online, I was playing on the Xbox One, while he was playing it on his PC. And it was flawless. Connecting is seamless, causing no hiccups or issues when connecting. Interestingly enough, we had more of an issue when trying to connect while we were both on PC, but once we did it was pretty easy to find each other and just cruise the outback. Additionally, setting up events and joining them is a breeze, creating one of the most seamless open-world online experiences since Grand Theft Auto Online.
Forza Horizon 3 continues the series tradition of competent racers and is simply one of the most beautiful games to release on both the console and PC. Players who have the Ultimate Edition of Forza Horizon 3 can enjoy the game now, for the rest of the fanbase, the game officially launches on September 27.
[Featured Image by Microsoft]
