Forza Horizon 5: The game that "took its time" to honor the Xbox Series X | S

Always bigger, always more beautiful, forza Horizon 5 will start its Mexican ride on November 9.A technological and visual power debauchery permitted by Xbox Series X and Series S, but not only we are assured on the side of Xbox and Playground Games, the British studio driving this new variation of the racing play.

Forza Horizon 5 // Source: Xbox

Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.Forza Horizon 5 arrives on November 9 on Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and Windows PC (from November 5 if you have taken the premium edition).An ambitious title on the substance and form which takes up the flagship concept of the racing game franchise by making it take the road to the latest generation consoles, but without forgetting the previous consoles and the PCs.The new play by Playground Games, one of the many Xbox Games Studios studios, has been a few hours.The time of a stroll in a fictitious, sumptuous and colorful Mexico, just to take the temperature of what awaits us, between sandstorm, trip to the beach, vehicle customization, cactus to destroy and races to win.

God is beautiful!

Let's go right away: if you are a regular at Forza Horizon, you will not be disappointed.It’s Arcade trendy road race in all its splendor, with a few additions of events and mini-games this year especially.Splendor is the word that best suits the game.

From this trip, we have a memory of beauty of the landscapes, successful light games and interesting changing weather as well as a masterfully orchestrated day passage.Everything is fluid, ultra realistic (in graphics mode 4K/30 FPS on Xbox Series X by default for more fluidity or in performance mode 4K/60 FPS), huge and pleasant to take in hand.But above all, my God how beautiful!(What, did we already tell you?!).

Source: Xbox - Playground Games

Forza Horizon 5 seems to be well started to honor the new generation of Xbox consoles.In any case, this is what Mike Brown, producer of the game assures us, when we question the difficulty of making an ambitious game straddling several generations of consoles.

"From the start, we have designed forza Horizon 5 as a Next-Gen game for Xbox Series X, even if it will also run on Xbox One and Xbox Series S, and also obviously on PC.And it was our line throughout its development, ”says Mike Brown in Frandroid, recalling that his studio is also a specialist in multiplatform portes.

Three years to refine the settings without rushing

At Playground Games, already behind the English trip of Forza Horizon 4, we wanted to take our time to do things right."Usually our development cycle is two years.For Forza 5, we started to think in 2018.With the launch of the new console, we would then have arrived right for the exit.I'm not going to tell you that it scared us a little, but still, ”slides the creative director of the game, smiling."It was also a great challenge to take up.Having to be ready for the launch of a console is hot all the same.It can work hard, in the speed and not necessarily for the version we imagined ".

Source: Xbox - Playground Games

So Xbox has left its British studio the opportunity to take one more year to achieve its objectives."We decided to take three years to deliver, I hope, one of the very best racing games," said Mike Brown."It is difficult to hold your ambitions and we wanted to be ambitious in gameplay as in physics, but also and above all visually to show what the new consoles are capable of".

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A game at 200 km/h filled with details

After walking a few Mexican roads, crossed the forest like the desert, crisscrossed canyons and beaches, we can say that the bet is successful.So much so that we would sometimes forget the speed to slow down and enjoy the landscapes.

"With the power of the consoles, we can better worry about detail," he laughs at indicating."Forza Horizon 5 is a game played at 200 km/h.We build our world with that in mind to allow you to brake at any time to look around you, take photos in motion.The power of the consoles now allows this: having a super detailed environment that you are stopped or rolling at 200 km/h.»»

If there is one thing that appears certain with Forza Horizon 5, it is that the followers of the photo mode will be delighted.Half of the game team is made up of artists who have been able to give free rein to their imagination to create multiple landscapes, populate them and give them life with all the power of the new Xbox Series.

Forza Horizon 5 // Source: Capture in the game - Xbox

"We wanted to offer them a magnificent painting to paint. Le Mexique s’est présenté comme une évidence avec sa variété de paysages, d’environnements, ses changements météo, son histoire et sa culture… La diversité du monde dans un même pays»», se souvient Mike Brown.A vast world, in perpetual evolution, with various driving experiences, influenced as much by the decor as the weather.

« Tout peut changer à tout moment et avoir des impacts sur le gameplay»», prévient le patron du jeu."As a designer, I always try to offer the coolest features and gaming systems to the players to interact with history.But design is at the center of everything and without that, the game is nothing.It pushes him to be even more beautiful and better.»» Ajoutez à cela la qualité du son nettement amélioré par la technologie nouvelle et vous avez le Mexique dans vos yeux et vos oreilles.

Light games, the strength of the game and the Xbox Series

La puissance du SSD des Xbox Series comme les prouesses technologiques récentes (le Xbox Velocity Architecture sur Xbox Series et DirectStorage sur Windows sont pris en charge) concourent à faire de Forza Horizon 5 un des meilleurs exemples d’un jeu « bien dans son époque»».And the main advance that lends itself very well to the title is the lighting."Everything is now easier to manage, more authentic in fact. Nous arrivons à un point où tout devient réaliste grâce à la puissance des Xbox Series et les éclairages, avec les jeux d’ombres, sont impressionnants»», souligne-t-il.

Forza Horizon 5

Added to this is the Ray Tracing in Forza Horizon 5, with incredible reflections on vehicles (in Forzavista and the garage only in 4K/30 FPS, it's a shame - but the suspense continues for the future). « Dans les cinq prochaines années, le ray tracing va devenir essentiel»», prédit Mike Brown."It is not yet technically possible everywhere, the graphics cards are not ready.But consoles now have this advantage.We take a scene and illuminate it like never before, which was impossible with previous generations of consoles for lack of power and sufficient technology.This is one of the big changes made by Xbox Series.»»

Everything is done so that you take advantage of the grand work done by the artists of the team.Forza Horizon 5 adds new game modes like Expeditions that encourages the player to browse the 11 different environments offered.

Source: Xbox - Playground Games

The dynamic weather also brings interesting visual changes to the play areas, much more than the day/night passage or seasonal changes (we tested spring and summer ... from the southern hemisphere, the hot season andthe wet season in Mexico).Make a road under water -fired or in the middle of a sandstorm does not bring the same sensations and requires rethinking its strategy, offering even more variety to the game.

Almost imperceptible differences between generations

Unlike Microsoft's Flight Simulator that Asobo initially designed on PC before carrying it on Xbox Series X, Forza Horizon 5 - obviously less technically demanding - part of the new generation to conquer computers and consolesolder. Mais sans aucun compromis sur le fond nous assure-t-on, afin « d’inviter le maximum de joueurs à vivre l’expérience»», peu importe son équipement de jeu.

Forza Horizon 5 will be the same game, whatever your medium.The same experience to live nevertheless differently.“The difference between the Xbox Series version and the Xbox One version is above all the technological possibilities and the power of the machines. Bien entendu, les temps de chargement sont un peu plus longs sur Xbox One, les paysages moins détaillés et avec moins d’effets de lumière, mais l’expérience est exactement la même»», martèle Mike Brown."It was out of the question that we make different games, with different proposals.It would not be forza and the freedom that we are looking for for all players.»»

On Xbox Series X, we obviously did not record loading to go from one point to another.The menu is fluid, switch to missions and races is done on a snap of the fingers.Thank you the SSD.And Playground promises that loading is optimized as much as possible on Xbox One.

Forza Horizon 5 // Source: Capture in the game - Xbox

In the opening sequence of the game, while you control a vehicle falling from an airplane on one point of the card, crossing the desert, the jungle, the forest and various types of environment, everything is done in continuity. « Vous ne remarquez même pas que vous passez d’une zone à l’autre tant l’écran de chargement est rapide, même sur Xbox One qui a un disque dur moins rapide»», nous glisse-t-on.And we must admit that all this sequence is breathtaking and a good summary of everything that the game has to offer in terms of playability, visual and technical prowess.

Everything has been done to optimize a game which must be a showcase of the new generation above all, while still enjoying the Xbox One players.The American firm wanted to display everything that the Xbox Series have under the hood and allow (promise?) For the Next-Gen game.It's not a question of riding mechanics thanks to its power if the substance has no interest.Entering a new era is also done by putting full eyes.

After a few hours behind the wheel, the mission promises to be on the right track.A few more weeks to validate the game of Next Gen license.And even in cloud gaming. Le jeu sera disponible dès sa sortie et l’on nous certifie qu’il fera parler sa puissance, tout en reconnaissant qu’il restera cependant une petite latence « à recalibrer selon chacun»». Un « léger retardateur surboosté»», comme se plaît à l’identifier Mike Brown.As long as the game is on time.We can't wait to take the wheel under the beautiful and powerful Mexico City (and the rain, and the storm, and the jungle, and the desert ...).

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