Forza Horizon 3

Forza Horizon 3 is the continuation of the popular racing car simulator with first and third-person views. The events of the new part will take you to the expanses of Australia, where you can master regular sports cars, SUVs, buggies, and supercars. The game features a cooperative mode for four players, a huge seamless world, rallying, chases with helicopters, and much more.

The open-world racing arcade Forza Horizon 3 is designed for PC and Xbox One with cross-platform play functionality. The continuation of the arcade Horizon series unfolds in a new region, offering players a huge number of cars and modes. Races take place in a variety of vehicles: sports cars, supercars, hypercars, buggies, and SUVs.

In terms of graphics, Forza Horizon 3 can boast highly detailed car models, although the surrounding environment is not of the highest quality, especially in terms of draw distance. There are several camera views (including from the cockpit), as well as dynamic weather effects.

The physics have been simplified and adjusted so that cars handle more lively, are easier to control, and instead of aimless drifts, players aim to grip, meaning they navigate each turn and follow the ideal trajectory. If players hit a puddle or drive in the rain, they are forced to change their driving style.

The action of Forza Horizon 3 takes place in a fictional Australia, but it is not an entire continent like in The Crew, but only the southeastern part of the country. The area of the world in the third part is twice as large as that of Forza Horizon 2, and is comparable to the open worlds of other arcade racing games from 2016-2017. The change of setting was not without reason — numerous forests and lakes, wild prairies and jungles, rivers, caves, and beaches, as well as small towns and villages have appeared.

An important part of Horizon 3 consists of numerous long routes for off-road races in SUVs and buggies, as well as arcade variations of rally racing. Asphalt tracks are not forgotten, but they host speed races, and the game sometimes switches between asphalt and off-road and then back again.

The duration of races is not very long, ranging from 2 to 5 minutes. However, there is an important innovation — players create races themselves, setting the route, the number of participants, the type of race, and the cars. Stock races can also be edited, allowing for a race across the entire game world for 50 laps or 8 hours.

There is no specific storyline in Forza Horizon 3; the developers set a task for the player, and whether to complete it or have fun in the open world is up to the player. In the first two games of the series, players participated in various racing festivals; now, they have become the organizer of one of these festivals and must make it the biggest in the world.

There are many races, but they boil down to two types — laps and sprints. However, the settings can be anything: street racing, drag, off-road, or rally, with different vehicles participating — hypercars, muscle cars, GTs, buggies, SUVs, and others. Victory is determined by time, who reaches the finish line first, or other variations.

During the race and for the top three positions, the player receives experience, money, and fans. The more experience — the higher the level, better cars and tuning, and new character skills are also unlocked. Money is used to purchase cars and upgrades, while fans are needed to expand festival races and participate in unusual competitions — against helicopters, airships, or boats.

As in other arcades, it is allowed to jump from ramps for distance, break advertising boards for bonuses, or complete sections for speed, so that the camera captures the maximum speed.

The main thing remains — the atmosphere of a car festival. There is no usual "career" and long stepwise progression, good cars are available from the very beginning, and you can update your car collection in various ways — by winning a car in a lottery, buying one, or receiving one for leveling up the festival.

Forza Horizon 3 inherits the tuning capabilities of its predecessors — you can change the body shape, install new headlights, spoilers, rims, tires, change the color, and add stickers, change the number. A character editor has appeared, where you can create your in-game avatar or choose from stock options.

The single-player campaign can also be completed cooperatively with 2 to 4 friends. Friends can easily join your game session, or you can close it off from everyone to play alone.

The online game is designed for 2 — 12 players and is built around completing a festival of 3-5 races or events. Festivals are available both from the developers — balanced and with well-tailored conditions, and from the players themselves — ranging from speed races to tough off-road challenges, with harmful or simply unfortunate conditions.

In races, players have fun in different ways — trying to "infect" each other, ram each other, hunting for the crown of the king, or cruising in the open world in search of the next task.

Leveling up is present and is tied to the experience gained. The better the player performs on the track, the higher they rise on the podium — the more experience they gain and the faster they unlock new cars and upgrades.

The rival system has returned, where you can settle scores with an offender by knocking them off the road or cutting them off in a turn, constant racing lobbies where you can join open lobbies for different festivals, as well as clubs for 1,000 players.

The drivatar system, which is a digitized profile of each player's behavior and driving methods, has received new improvements and is applied in every race. They have become smarter and calmer, but are still capable of aggressive or careful behavior on the road. Their difficulty and number can be adjusted in a separate menu.