Forza Horizon 5 | PlayStation 5 Review Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member
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MetaCritic 91/100 - Based on 11 Reviews

Player 2 - 100/100

Forza Horizon 5 is the first time that PlayStation owners can access the franchise, but you're entering at the very best time, at a point where the game has never been better.
PlayStation LifeStyle - 100/100

Forza Horizon 5 was well worth the wait for PS5 owners, who are getting the incredible racing game in its most content-rich state yet. Filled with polish and a progression system that makes every gameplay session feel meaningful, this is one of the best racing games ever made and a must-own for fans. If you've been a PlayStation-exclusive gamer, then make sure to check out what you've been missing.

Power Unlimited - 96/100

If you have even the slightest bit of love for racing, you have no choice but to play Forza Horizon 5. It's still a little weird that games like this are coming to the PS5, but ultimately it's a case of, 'don't ask how it's possible, just enjoy what it is.' Forza Horizon 5 is still the best open-world racer ever made.

Loot Level Chill - 95/100

Forza Horizon 5 was already a masterpiece, but now players get to witness is greatness on PS5, with so much to do and so much to see.

GameReactor UK - 90/100

Forza Horizon 5 is beautiful. It's varied, it's well put together, it's deeply rewarding and overflowing with content to engage with. It's not even as confusing as it has been. That, in my book, makes it one of the best games of the year, but if you are expecting even an ounce of creative reimagining of the core formula, you might feel different.

Gameblog - FR - 90/100

King of the racing games, Forza Horizon 5 is still visually impressive years later and takes advantage from the additional power of the PS5 Pro to push its technical limits even further across all consoles. A must-have for the lovers of the genre that unfortunately comes with a high price.

Meristation - 90/100

Forza Horizon 5 arrives on PS5 with the same energy as we saw four years ago in its original release.

Worth pLaying - 90/100

Despite its age, Forza Horizon 5 is a fantastic open-world, arcade-style racing game. The car handling is superb, there's an overwhelming number of events and races, and the large number of secrets ensures that you'll spend a ton of time driving around and exploring every nook and cranny. The structure and flow are so good that the only game that could match this is Burnout Paradise, a remake of a PS3/Xbox 360 game. Even if your only exposure to this type of game is The Crew: Motorfest, you owe it to yourself to grab Forza Horizon 5, even if you're only a casual racing fan. At the moment, there's really nothing else like it out there.

Pre Order

Standard EditionDeluxe EditionPremium Edition
Base Game
Car Pass
Hot Wheels
Rally Adventure
Welcome Pack
VIP Membership
Early Access

They might still be rivals, but even PlayStation knows Forza Horizon 5 coming to PS5 is a big deal, even if it won't say it out loud. That's why the Xbox port has three editions to choose from. If you just want to play the Xbox published racing game on PS5, you can pick up the standard edition. If you want the car pass, which adds 42 more vehicles to the game, then there's the deluxe edition.

For $100 you can get the premium edition. Not only does that include the base game and the car pass, but it also comes with the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions, a welcome pack, VIP membership, and the early access I mentioned above. Those who pre-order the premium edition will be able to start playing Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 from April 25 instead of having to wait until April 29.

While only the premium edition comes with early access, pre-ordering any edition of Forza Horizon 5 will get you 5,000 Forzathon Points, five backstage passes, and the 2021 Mercedes-AMG One.
 
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I still think that charging 100 bucks for a complete version of a 4-year old game is too much.

Other than that it was always a very pretty and very easy game to pick up and play so I'm not surprised with the high review scores.
 
Game is fucking boring

FH3 was peak. I like FH5 but it all feels very disjointed and pointless. You are constantly being showered in super cars and there's no real sense of progression or a clear goal you're trying to get done. Just dicking around the pretty map in a 4mil car is cool and I like the arcadey driving model, but I dropped this one quickly. Most memorable part of the whole game is the title track to me.

 
5,000 Forzathon Points​
?
Disregarding the stupid name of this currency, is this something you earn in-game at a decent rate? Does it have mtx, log-in bonuses or such things?

I'm open for a new racing game if it dosen't turn out to be a second job. 😋

Edit: After looking this game up and reading the posts below, I'm skipping this one. Might pick it up I'm a couple of years in a sale.
 
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I was about to pick up the PS5 version, but then it was 50 euros on steam for the complete edition so I got it there. 4 hours in so far, it's just Horizon 4 but with more cringe and in a new map. The series needs a compete reboot at this point. The driving is nice enough I suppose, but it's hard to see where I'm going when I constantly have to roll my eyes.
 
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I was about to pick up the PS5 version, but then it was 50 euros on steam for the complete edition so I got it there. 4 hours in so far, it's just Horizon 4 but with more cringe and in a new map. The series needs a compete reboot at this point. The driving is nice enough I suppose, but it's hard to see where I'm going when I constantly have to roll my eyes.

:pie_roffles:

The dialog is so cringe. Must've been part of those "super experts of cultural studies and inclusion." Kind of like the Spider-Man 2 cultural cringes as well.
 

:pie_roffles:

The dialog is so cringe. Must've been part of those "super experts of cultural studies and inclusion." Kind of like the Spider-Man 2 cultural cringes as well.

That's part of the issue, but the writting is attrocious even ignoring the culture stuff. It would have been so much better if I could go to the next race without context or have people radio me to talk nonsense. It's not like I'm expecting a good story from a racing game, but currently it's just torture.
 
I'd find this game very difficult to review. The driving is fun and engaging, and the visuals are great for an open world racer, but the single player portion feels like it was designed by someone with ADHD. Every 5 minutes I get 'Hey Mark, find this car', or 'choose your next set of races/PR stunts/stuff to do', or 'you have an accolade', or 'you have a wheel spin', etc., Fucking hell love, I already have about 100 things I haven't done yet, give me some breathing space.

The game just relentlessly distracts you from being able to focus on anything meaningful, which is a shame.

And the menus are crazy. There are notifications all over the shop, so if you have OCD you're screwed.

All that being said, the bones of the game is superb, I just wish the campaign was a lot more focused, and had a clear progression path.
 
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Game looks fun but I'll get it when it's at least 50% off. This and the crew motorfest look like great arcade racers to play on my pro. Just too much to play right now but will get to this eventually.
 
I wish these games had a better progression seems like they giver you super cars right away

It's a really big problem in the series and if you are the type of gamer who gets stuck in their ways, I know I am, the reasons to switch things up is few and far between. I also kind of think the formula is pretty stale at this point, but if this is your first exposure to the series, you'll likely enjoy it. The map is pretty great. FH1 and FH3 are my favorites.
 
Horizon is the bright shining beacon in the non-sim gaming landscape. Maybe the best franchise of all time at this point. Already neck and neck with NFS in terms of games that delivered. And I say that as an unabashed NFS fanboy who even loves Payback and carries water for Rivals (!).

Enjoy PS bros. It's a great one. Buy the most expensive edition up front if you have any interest in cars and just save yourself the time. It's the only franchise I do that with and it's been worth it every single time.

This series to me was far and away the best Xbox exclusive since Halo 3. Why they asked this dev to reboot a dead RPG franchise that was never amazing in the first place is a crime that deserves serious international investigation.
 
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FH5 was definitely the 'worst' of the lot, but only because the formula hadn't really advanced since FH3. If it's your first FH though, it should still be amazing.

4 was my favourite!
 

:pie_roffles:

The dialog is so cringe. Must've been part of those "super experts of cultural studies and inclusion." Kind of like the Spider-Man 2 cultural cringes as well.

Horizon is really proof that I will play and love the cringiest and wokest thing imaginable if the gameplay and A/V design are fucking nailed. It's truly the worst thing on the market. Dustborn looks up to Horizon. Imagine a world where Hagerty, Jay Leno and Chris Harris do all the presentations in a Horizon release. I honestly believe God doesn't think we deserve it. 5 is the worst in this way, but it's also got the best map and most refined game mechanics.
 
?
Disregarding the stupid name of this currency, is this something you earn in-game at a decent rate? Does it have mtx, log-in bonuses or such things?

I'm open for a new racing game if it dosen't turn out to be a second job. 😋

Edit: After looking this game up and reading the posts below, I'm skipping this one. Might pick it up I'm a couple of years in a sale.
It's pretty easy to get cars in this game. Theres alot of in game rewards and leveling up that will give you money and cars. There also an auction house where people sell extra cars usually for pretty cheap that you can buy with the in game currency. Alot of times you can buy a car for cheap at the auction house and resell it for a decent profit right away.
 
Horizon is really proof that I will play and love the cringiest and wokest thing imaginable if the gameplay and A/V design are fucking nailed. It's truly the worst thing on the market. Dustborn looks up to Horizon. Imagine a world where Hagerty, Jay Leno and Chris Harris do all the presentations in a Horizon release. I honestly believe God doesn't think we deserve it. 5 is the worst in this way, but it's also got the best map and most refined game mechanics.

This is so interesting to read.....
 
Why they asked this dev to reboot a dead RPG franchise that was never amazing in the first place is a crime that deserves serious international investigation.

Eh?
Playground pitched it to MS and lobbied hard to make Fable.
Seems like it's paying off for them
 
It's pretty easy to get cars in this game. Theres alot of in game rewards and leveling up that will give you money and cars. There also an auction house where people sell extra cars usually for pretty cheap that you can buy with the in game currency. Alot of times you can buy a car for cheap at the auction house and resell it for a decent profit right away.
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I've been playing through Gran Turismo 1-4 and Burnout 1-3 on my emulation machine over the last couple of years and had a great time. Bought GT7 and sadly bounced off after a few days. These big new racing GaaS games aren't to my taste it seems.
 
FH3 was peak. I like FH5 but it all feels very disjointed and pointless. You are constantly being showered in super cars and there's no real sense of progression or a clear goal you're trying to get done. Just dicking around the pretty map in a 4mil car is cool and I like the arcadey driving model, but I dropped this one quickly. Most memorable part of the whole game is the title track to me.


Ive played the game for 2-3h tops, but I"ve heard this theme for more than 10h probably while working

Masterpiece of a theme. Goes incredibly well with the title screen.
 
Ive played the game for 2-3h tops, but I"ve heard this theme for more than 10h probably while working

Masterpiece of a theme. Goes incredibly well with the title screen.

It's great, and it's a tragedy that this whole game's soundtrack is on Spotify except this
 
I bought it. Looks incredible on PS5 Pro. it's Forza Horizon but probably the best game since 2. I figure I can play it while I listen to long podcasts. Also the amount of content in this game at this point is fucking insane. Nothing compares to it this gen.

:pie_roffles:

The dialog is so cringe. Must've been part of those "super experts of cultural studies and inclusion." Kind of like the Spider-Man 2 cultural cringes as well.

yea I've never heard a person of Latin American descent talk like this, just throwing in random Spanish sentences and shit.
 
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They got to open a new studio, so significant growth opportunities for their workers.
 
They got to open a new studio, so significant growth opportunities for their workers.
I know this is what they say, but let's look at reality. They released a Forza Horizon in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021. Then, nothing. And nobody is talking about Fh6 either. The fact that they ported this game to PS5 tells me it is going to be the FH game for a while.

It seems like the entirety of Playground Games, or close to it, is working on Fable and has been for a long ass time.
 
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Lmao. The ones that left to set up their own thing? what's that got to do with anything we're discussing? 😂
 
I know this is what they say, but let's look at reality. They released a Forza Horizon in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021. Then, nothing. And nobody is talking about Fh6 either. The fact that they ported this game to PS5 tells me it is going to be the FH game for a while.

It seems like the entirety of Playground Games, or close to it, is working on Fable and has been for a long ass time.

Pretty much every Forza Horizon game since FH3 was announced at the summer game showcase of a year, then released later that same year. Typically under 6 months from announcement to release.

Zero surprise there's nothing revealed for FH6!

The fact that they ported this game to PS5 tells me it is going to be the FH game for a while.

This very strange logic. They can literally release a FH6 on Xbox/PC this year without issues. It'd then be ported over to PS/Switch 2 eventually.

Either it's a 2025 or a 2026 title. For sure
 
I fucking loved the crap out of 5 and was also my first serious entry into the franchise excluding a brief stint with 4 that got cast aside for some other release at the time, is it still worth trying to play 3 after having my fill of 5 on both xbox and pc?
 
I fucking loved the crap out of 5 and was also my first serious entry into the franchise excluding a brief stint with 4 that got cast aside for some other release at the time, is it still worth trying to play 3 after having my fill of 5 on both xbox and pc?
Sure. They are effectively the same game, just a different map. There have been graphical improvements but 3 still looks good.
 
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