Back when I was a kid, I held two standards for racing games- one, it has to have as many cars as possible. Cars good, more cars better. Two, it has to have the free roam mode. I longed for freedom outside the tracks. I would add the modded cars to games to the point of engine's limit and when the eventual crash occurred, I'd lose all interest and it took several weeks for me to regain passion for that game.

For greedy kids like me, Forza Horizon will feel like a heavenly experience from the dreams. Incorrect models? Limited customization options? Younger me wouldn't care about such stuff. I played the first Horizon from the playable stand that was installed in knockoff K-mart here in Korea and that marked my first contact with Forza Horizon series. I played maybe two or three races(no free roam was available, I suppose that was a demo version) and while I enjoyed the game, there was no way for me to play that game outside that supermarket because I didn't have X360. After a while the supermarket changed the game to Lego Batman and the game faded from my memory.

I had to wait till 2016 when Horizon 3 released with PC as one of its supported platforms. And the feeling of playing Horizon in its intended way was, simply magical. Boasting vast beautiful open world with hundreds of cars available, I think I played the game for one straight week using all my available free time. I was hooked. Before that point I had distanced myself from the racing genre because I was tired of console exclusives and rehashes, but Horizon 3 rekindled that passion inside me from years ago.

Then the Horizon 4 came, with one DLC outside of the car pass and strengthened FOMO mechanics in the form of festival playlist. I still played it. I even bought it and played it twice when it had a Steam release later. After few years, we got a Horizon 5. And with my honeymoon period with the franchise long over, I've finally thrown away my tinted glasses and started to see its ever increasing faults.

Car pass comes with so many packs not included in it. Usually there's like, car pass one, car pass two scheme to sell people two season passes. But not this game. You need to spend the whole price, no bundle discount provided.

The level of FOMO hit a record high with more aggressive festival playlist forcing you to choose different cars, and literal checklist of ingame feats. You will feel the absurdness of it early game. You broke 10 destructive objects? Here's a medal! You got 10 cars? Here's another! Unwanted notifications everytime, you'll need to get used to that.

Product placements are excessive and fill the majority of the already short story parts. Like, okay. It's cool to hear the specifications of Ford Mustang Mach-E from the guy who engineered it. Whatever. But I'd like to hear that outside the game, from some Discovery Channel show after 11pm, lie down half asleep.

Expansions are boring. Rally expansion is just mid. No historical group A B 4 stuff, just some lame rivalry between local teams you couldn't care about less. Compare this with Fortune Island back in FH4 with its treasure hunt theme and 10 million reward. Yeah. And we already had a Hotwheels expansion back in FH3. Sure, they added this new weird gyro bar mechanic but I can only wonder who thought adding this scale thing in the middle of the screen all the time is a good idea.

So do I think Horizon 5 lost its magic? No, but that magic is waning fast, following a constant downward slope. I want to think they're still trying, somewhat. They're constantly adding new cars with updates(with FOMO goals... But it's better than nothing). And the basic principle, recipe of the game still remain strong.

To new players to the franchise, Forza Horizon 5 can still feel amazing with the freedom this game offers. But for how long? I can't be sure about the answer. I still recommend this game because there's barely any competitors in its genre that can really compete with this game. The Crew is a typical Ubisoft slop manufacture that can't even be played after some time and I doubt Solar Crown would succeed, sadly. So I give this flawed game a halfhearted thumbs up and few tired handclaps, like most critics and award presenters did.

Back when I was a kid, I held two standards for racing games- one, it has to have as many cars as possible. Cars good, more cars better. Two, it has to have the free roam mode. I longed for freedom outside the tracks. I would add the modded cars to games to the point of engine's limit and when the eventual crash occurred, I'd lose all interest and it took several weeks for me to regain passion for that game. For greedy kids like me, Forza Horizon will feel like a heavenly experience from the dreams. Incorrect models? Limited customization options? Younger me wouldn't care about such stuff. I played the first Horizon from the playable stand that was installed in knockoff K-mart here in Korea and that marked my first contact with Forza Horizon series. I played maybe two or three races(no free roam was available, I suppose that was a demo version) and while I enjoyed the game, there was no way for me to play that game outside that supermarket because I didn't have X360. After a while the supermarket changed the game to Lego Batman and the game faded from my memory. I had to wait till 2016 when Horizon 3 released with PC as one of its supported platforms. And the feeling of playing Horizon in its intended way was, simply magical. Boasting vast beautiful open world with hundreds of cars available, I think I played the game for one straight week using all my available free time. I was hooked. Before that point I had distanced myself from the racing genre because I was tired of console exclusives and rehashes, but Horizon 3 rekindled that passion inside me from years ago. Then the Horizon 4 came, with one DLC outside of the car pass and strengthened FOMO mechanics in the form of festival playlist. I still played it. I even bought it and played it twice when it had a Steam release later. After few years, we got a Horizon 5. And with my honeymoon period with the franchise long over, I've finally thrown away my tinted glasses and started to see its ever increasing faults. Car pass comes with so many packs not included in it. Usually there's like, car pass one, car pass two scheme to sell people two season passes. But not this game. You need to spend the whole price, no bundle discount provided. The level of FOMO hit a record high with more aggressive festival playlist forcing you to choose different cars, and literal checklist of ingame feats. You will feel the absurdness of it early game. You broke 10 destructive objects? Here's a medal! You got 10 cars? Here's another! Unwanted notifications everytime, you'll need to get used to that. Product placements are excessive and fill the majority of the already short story parts. Like, okay. It's cool to hear the specifications of Ford Mustang Mach-E from the guy who engineered it. Whatever. But I'd like to hear that outside the game, from some Discovery Channel show after 11pm, lie down half asleep. Expansions are boring. Rally expansion is just mid. No historical group A B 4 stuff, just some lame rivalry between local teams you couldn't care about less. Compare this with Fortune Island back in FH4 with its treasure hunt theme and 10 million reward. Yeah. And we already had a Hotwheels expansion back in FH3. Sure, they added this new weird gyro bar mechanic but I can only wonder who thought adding this scale thing in the middle of the screen all the time is a good idea. So do I think Horizon 5 lost its magic? No, but that magic is waning fast, following a constant downward slope. I want to think they're still trying, somewhat. They're constantly adding new cars with updates(with FOMO goals... But it's better than nothing). And the basic principle, recipe of the game still remain strong. To new players to the franchise, Forza Horizon 5 can still feel amazing with the freedom this game offers. But for how long? I can't be sure about the answer. I still recommend this game because there's barely any competitors in its genre that can really compete with this game. The Crew is a typical Ubisoft slop manufacture that can't even be played after some time and I doubt Solar Crown would succeed, sadly. So I give this flawed game a halfhearted thumbs up and few tired handclaps, like most critics and award presenters did.