Forza Horizon 4 Review Summary

Beautiful and diverse open world: The game features a stunningly recreated British countryside with dynamic seasons, diverse landscapes, and detailed environments. Players appreciate the vibrant and lively world, which includes urban routes, rural expanses, and changing landscapes.

Positive player experiences and value: Players find the game enjoyable, relaxing, and a good value for money. It offers hundreds of hours of content, a satisfying progression system, and a strong sense of freedom and exploration.

Immersive soundtrack and audio: The game features an excellent soundtrack with a variety of radio stations and music genres. The audio design, including engine sounds and environmental effects, enhances the overall experience.

High-quality graphics and performance: The game is praised for its stunning graphics, realistic car models, and smooth performance. It runs well even on modest hardware and supports high resolutions like 4K.

Extensive car collection and customization: The game offers a massive selection of over 700 licensed vehicles, detailed car models, and extensive customization options. Players can tune and modify their cars to their liking, adding depth to the gameplay.

Technical issues and crashes: The game frequently crashes and has various technical issues, including long loading times, random crashes, and problems with online connectivity.

Lack of meaningful progression: The game lacks a meaningful progression system and storyline, making it feel repetitive and boring over time. Some players find the progression either too slow or too fast.

Poor AI behavior: AI opponents exhibit unnatural and sometimes overly aggressive behavior, including rubber-banding and unpredictable actions, which can be frustrating for players.

Online and multiplayer issues: The game has various online and multiplayer issues, including poor connectivity, matchmaking problems, and unstable server performance.

Game delisted and unavailable: The game is no longer available for purchase on Steam due to expired licenses, which has led to players being unable to obtain it or access certain activities and rewards.

Multiplayer and online features: The game supports online multiplayer with various modes, including cooperative and competitive events. Players can interact with others globally, join clubs, and participate in community-driven events.

Open-world exploration: Set in a detailed open world based on Britain, the game allows players to explore various iconic locations and participate in diverse events and activities. The map is large and offers different terrains and environments.

Variety of racing events: The game offers a wide range of racing events, including road races, off-road races, drift zones, and stunt challenges. These events cater to different playstyles and preferences.

Beautiful scenery and soundtrack: The game features stunning visuals with detailed environments and a dynamic weather system. It also includes a variety of radio stations and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack to enhance the driving experience.

Variety of cars and customization: The game offers a vast collection of over 450 cars from various manufacturers, each with detailed customization options. Players can tune and modify their vehicles to suit different racing conditions and personal preferences.

Performance and Optimization: The game shows a mix of performance experiences. While it runs smoothly at high resolutions like 4K and 1080P on various hardware, some players report stability issues, crashes, and high RAM usage. It is well-optimized for both high-end and lower-end PCs, but there are instances of long loading times and connection issues.

Crashes and Stability Issues: Several players experience crashes, freezes, and memory leaks. Specific issues include memory access violations, black screen flickers, and instability in multiplayer mode. Some users report that uninstalling the current version and reinstalling an older version can resolve crashing problems.

Graphics Quality: The game is praised for its stunning and detailed graphics, which are well-optimized across different hardware. Players appreciate the high-quality visuals, including weather effects and beautiful scenery, which remain impressive even in 2024.

Map and Content Issues: The game has a larger map size in its fifth installment, but some players feel it lacks meaningful content. Additionally, the game's size consumes a significant portion of hard drive space, and there are issues with rendering the entire map.

Ultrawide and Automatic Settings: The game supports native ultrawide resolutions and includes automatic video settings based on the player's hardware. These features enhance the gaming experience by providing better compatibility and ease of use.

Highly recommended for racing enthusiasts: The game is praised for its engaging gameplay, beautiful scenery, and relaxing driving experience. It is recommended for a wide audience, including casual players, racing enthusiasts, and car culture fans.

Worth the price: Many reviews mention that the game is worth its price, especially when on sale. It offers a rich experience with beautiful graphics, a variety of gameplay options, and strong social interaction features.

Beautiful and relaxing gameplay: The game is noted for its beautiful scenery, relaxing gameplay, and enjoyable physics. It is recommended for players seeking visuals, free exploration, and a casual racing experience.

Ultimate Edition recommended: Several reviews suggest purchasing the Ultimate Edition for the best experience, as it offers more value and content compared to the Deluxe Edition.

Better with a steering wheel: For a more immersive experience, players recommend using a steering wheel or gamepad. This enhances the realism and enjoyment of the driving experience.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with the game's performance on the Steam Deck and other platforms. Frequent crashes, compatibility issues, and login problems are the most common complaints. However, there are also reports of positive experiences, suggesting that the game can run well under specific conditions.

Monetization: The game faces significant criticism for its handling of DLCs, including their availability, pricing, and aggressive advertising. Microtransactions and in-game purchases are also a source of frustration, although they are not pay-to-win. Technical issues and poor game performance further detract from the user experience. Additionally, users are dissatisfied with the need to repurchase content within the game that they have already paid for through DLCs.

External guides: The game is praised for its detailed vehicle customization and extensive car culture content, but it suffers from a lack of in-game guidance and complex mechanics that can be overwhelming for players. The absence of a manual or in-game tutorials forces players to seek external resources, disrupting the gaming experience.

Missing DLCs in Ultimate Edition: There are mentions of the Ultimate Edition of the game and complaints about missing Downloadable Content (DLCs).

Xbox Game Studios praised: Players expressed gratitude towards Xbox Game Studios for not shutting down servers immediately after the game was removed from Steam.