The original Forza Horizon was a pleasant surprise: an open-world version of Turn-10's racing sim in which map exploration and off-road racing were favoured over realism and tight racing lines. Forza Paradise, in other words.
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It was such an entertaining alternative to the main series that when the Xbox One launched with Forza Motorsport 5, though a brilliant driving simulator, the move away from Horizon's carefree attitude was somewhat bittersweet.
But we haven't had to wait too long to get our tyres dirty again, as Forza Horizon 2 is due for release on September 30. From what we've played of it so far, that date can't come soon enough.
Horizon 2 - on Xbox One at least - is once again being handled by Playground Games, the "racing game all-stars" studio put together with ex-developers from Codemasters, Bizarre Creations, Criterion, Ubisoft Reflections, Slightly Mad and Black Rock.
The Xbox 360 version, meanwhile, will be developed by racing game veterans Sumo Digital (Sonic & All-Stars Racing) and based on the original game's engine. It's therefore the new-gen version, which is built on Forza 5's graphics engine, that will clearly garner the most attention, and it's this version we recently played.
Visually, Horizon 2 is unmistakably brilliant. When the first batch of screenshots was released, there was an understandable level of cynicism that the images were overly flattering. Yet the front-end menu of the demo we played, in which a Lamborghini Huracán was placed in the middle of a wet road, suggested the visuals were indeed feasible.
Such is the level of detail in Horizon 2 that when it rains, puddles form how you would expect them to in real life, with cracks in the road initially filling up with water until they overflow and the puddles start to form. Unnecessary? Absolutely. But brilliant nonetheless, and resulting in incredible looking road detail.
Granted, we didn't expect to be thrilled by tarmac either, but you should see it for yourself. Also we have to admit we didn't expect the battle of the new-gen racers to be based on how good their weather effects look, but DriveClub's recently touted rain effects have a serious rival in Horizon 2.
When rain hits your car the spattered surface looks amazing, as do the raindrops realistically rolling along your windscreen in the in-car view (complete with window wipers leaving a realistic vertical water trail where they change direction).
Two other aspects both DriveClub and Horizon 2 will share are frame rate and resolution. For all the bluster and fanboy to-and-fros surrounding the PS4 and Xbox One's power, both Sony and Microsoft's big holiday racers will render at 1080p and be locked at 30 frames per second.
While this may feel a little jarring to those who have been enjoying Forza 5's jazz-smooth 1080p / 60fps gameplay since the Xbox One launch, Playground's reason for this is an understandable one.
The change from closed-off tracks to open-world exploration makes it more difficult for the game to predict which scenery is coming up next. This gives it less time to pre-render the next section, and therefore requires more resources to prevent pop-ups.
Ultimately, while the switch is noticeable, it didn't have a major impact on our enjoyment of the game's visuals and we still came away from the demo thoroughly impressed by what was shown.
The race we took part in started at a familiar site: the Forza Horizon festival, returning from the debut title. Whereas the previous festival was located in Colorado, this time the action takes place in southern France and northern Italy, with events set in Provence, Tuscany and Cote d'Azur.
Immediately after leaving the festival area, our race took us through a lavish countryside. The original Forza Horizon let players cut onto the grass to an extent, but many areas were fenced off. This time players are fully free to explore off-road areas.
"EVERY SINGLE CAR IN FORZA HORIZON 2 HAS UNIQUE CHALLENGES AND EVENTS"
"If you can drive there in real life, you can drive there in our game," creative director Ralph Fulton told us.
This allows for some inventive shortcuts while racing. At one point, with a large right turn looming, we cut through a massive field, ploughing crops and fences while gaining XP for the destruction we caused. The uneven surface also caused our car to kangaroo hop along, and we began to accrue additional points for the moves we busted out along the way.
As in the first Horizon, XP is earned for all manner of actions. Deliberately crashing into objects like you were in a '70s chase flick is actively encouraged, as are the token Burnout-esque staples like near misses with traffic and lengthy drifts.
This time however, the XP does more than simply raise your 'fame' level. Whereas levelling up in the first Horizon simply unlocked new events, this time you're also awarded skill points which can be used to add abilities and bonuses from a skill tree.
The first of these new perks most players are likely to unlock allows them to earn XP at any time, including while free roaming, rather than just during specific races. Subsequent skills let you fast-travel to certain locations, earn cash at a faster rate or get more in-game money for selling custom decals.
Given that the racing in Horizon 2 offers more possible routes than in Forza 5, the returning Drivatar feature is also given an upgrade.
More game videos from CVG:
As before, the more you race the more the game can simulate your driving style and the more your own Drivatar starts to act like you do. Forza 5's linear tracks meant this was limited to the way you took corners and how aggressively you overtook opponents, but Horizon 2's open world adds new parameters.
If you tend to take a particular short-cut numerous times the game will learn your affinity for that specific route and your Drivatar is likely to take it during races. If you favour sticking to the road rather than ploughing through fields, your Drivatar will take a similarly straight-laced approach.
Given the game's enhanced MMO feel, these Drivatars also have more of a presence in your single-player campaign. During free roam sections you'll see numerous Drivatars, including those of your friends, pottering around the roads and minding their own business.
It gives the sense of a persistent, always-online community, even if those players are away from their consoles at that point. And, as before, if your Drivatar gets involved in a race while you're off gallivanting in the real world, it'll earn you prize money that you'll collect when you next play the game.
And you'll be playing for a long time, if Playground has its say. Horizon 2 will feature over 200 cars but the development team is eager to make sure players don't just quickly upgrade vehicles until they reach the fastest one then stick with that for the rest of the game.
Instead, every single car in the game will have its own unique challenges and events, similar to the 1000 Club DLC that was added to the original Horizon six months after launch.
This means, according to Fulton, by the time the player finishes the game 100 per cent they'll have taken control of all 200+ cars, taken on over 700 events and enjoyed well over 100 hours of gameplay. And that's before racing online.
A lifespan like that will require racing action that remains consistent throughout to ensure the player is interested enough to see it through to the end. From what we've played so far, Playground may just pull it off.
Forza Horizon 2 is due to ship from September 30 worldwide on Xbox One and Xbox 360
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