Forza Horizon 6 REVIEW

Review written by Ibrahim Tirmizi

(Played & reviewed on the PC version)

I’m not driving, I’m just flying really low.

This past month, we have had a plethora of great games be released and announced.  Among those games is none other than the latest addition to the Forza series, Forza Horizon 6.

Forza Horizon 6 was released on May 19th and has been getting constant positive reviews and for good reason.

The game takes place in Japan, a location that many fans have been begging to be a destination for years now.  The team at Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have truly made a breathtaking game, with amazing, wide open scenery in nature as well as tight but enjoyable urban driving.  

Something I personally was concerned about, with it taking place in Japan, was that the roads would be difficult or just not enjoyable due to having tight roads that restrict freedom and fluidity. I can happily say that I was proven wrong.  

The roads feel just right in the sense that urban and city driving has more turns and tighter corners while simultaneously not feeling restricting or cumbersome. On the other end, the long winding roads outside of the city allow you to push high speeds with long straights that have slight curves that you can take at high speeds or drift through, whatever you prefer.

Forza Horizon 6 features an in-depth tuning system that truly lets you make a car feel how you want to make it feel.  You want more responsiveness?  Increase tire pressure. You want to make a rally car that makes off roading feel like a breeze?  Loosen the suspension stiffness. 

The game also balances this well by having negative effects occur if you were to overdo something, such as loss of traction if your tire pressure is too high, or increased understeer/oversteer if your suspension is unbalanced too far. 

Although it is technically an arcade racer, the development team has managed to merge the realism Forza is known for quite well with the chaotic craziness of flying through the air in a car.

A complaint that some people have with the game is that it’s not doing anything new from Forza Horizon 5, the previous installment in the series. 

The way that many people, myself included, view it is that Forza Horizon 6 doesn’t need to do anything ground breaking.  It’s just a good all around racing game that just about anyone can get into whether they’re new to the series or veterans of the franchise.

I will say, some things may be slightly overwhelming to new players, such as the previously mentioned tuning system.  However, the game features a ‘setup browser’ that allows anyone to post and rate setups by other players, so you don’t have to mess around with it yourself if you don’t want to. 

Alongside this, each option you tune in your car also tells you what it will do, and what it can and will affect, so it definitely can help you learn more about cars if that’s something you’re interested in. In short, the tuning can be complex and in depth, but they try and help you out along the way so you can get around it entirely if you really want to.

The variety of cars available in the game is already very large and expansive, having around 550 cars at launch not including DLC. (Around 600 with DLC). 

Looking at the previous games' track record, there will more than likely be many more cars added in the future, with seasonal updates and the release of new cars in the real world.

The location, as mentioned before, is Japan.  The game does a really good job bringing up the history of some of the cars you can unlock with in-game dialogue talking about when certain cars were released and what makes them such icons in the car community.

They also talk about landmarks such as the Tokyo Tower.  Japan’s car culture, and their culture as a whole, are definitely covered well without taking away from the premise of this being a racing game that allows you to drive and modify cars from around the globe.

Speaking of modifying cars, the leveling system and progression systems in the game are done very well. You essentially get EXP from doing anything in the game, including just driving around. 

The same is true with the currency, allowing you to constantly get new cars and upgrades while still keeping the really high-end cars out of reach until you’re at an appropriate level. Of course, if you save your money, you can buy these higher-end cars much earlier.  

But, you could instead buy several cars and mod them to become absolute beasts with far less money, which keeps the gameplay loop fresh and enjoyable while still keeping things to chase after.

Conclusion

Forza Horizon 6 is exactly what the title of the game says it is - it’s the latest addition to the Forza Horizon series.  It doesn’t do anything crazy by adding flying cars or tedious systems that no one asked for.  They fixed issues, made the game run better than the previous game, increased graphical quality, and did what players asked for.

It’s not trying to be something it’s not, it’s just a good fun racing game that isn’t so realistic that it’s a simulator, that’s what the Forza Motorsport games are for.  It’s an open-world racing game that’s detailed and fun all around. It’s nothing to write home about, but as the old adage goes, "No news is good news."  It's everything it needed to be.

We here at Gamestellation give Forza Horizon 6:

8/10

Pros:

-Lots of content

-Kept the mechanics players love

-No tedious side activities you have to do

-You get to race a giant mech

Cons:

-Bland story/not focused on

-Some cars may be too easy to obtain

-Tuning can be overwhelming for non-gearhead players

-BowieKnife99

Worth it?

-Yes, especially if you like arcade style racing games with open worlds, such as tje Need for Speed series or Burnout: Paradise.

This game is available on Xbox Series & PC.