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Forza Horizon 2

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Forza Horizon 2
Developer(s)Playground Games (XBO)
Sumo Digital (X360)
Turn 10 Studios
Publisher(s)Microsoft Studios
SeriesForza Motorsport
EngineForza Motorsport 5[2]
(Heavily Modified)
Drivatar technology[3]
(for Artificial Intelligence)
Platform(s)Xbox 360
Xbox One
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, online multiplayer

Forza Horizon 2 is an upcoming racing video game developed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles. It is the sequel to 2012's Forza Horizon and part of the Forza Motorsport series. The game will be developed by Sumo Digital for Xbox 360 and Playground Games for Xbox One, with Forza Motorsport series developer Turn 10 Studios supporting both builds.

Gameplay

Forza Horizon 2 again takes place during the fictional "Horizon Festival", this time being held in southern Europe, focusing on southern France and northern Italy.[1] The game world has approximately three times more drivable area than that for the original Forza Horizon, with events set in Provence, Tuscany and Côte d'Azur, among other regions.[citation needed] Players will explore the region, taking part in races and special events in order to advance through the game. Events can take place at day or night, and a dynamic weather system is being added for the first time in a Forza-series game.[4]

Among new features in the game is the "Bucket List", which is a group of challenges for the player to complete, similar to the 1000 Club in Forza Horizon. There will be two separate lists; one for France and another for Italy. It has also been confirmed that these challenges will be continuously updated to provide new challenges throughout the map. Car Meets are an online mode where players can meet up online and compare their cars, similar to "Forzavista" mode in Forza Motorsport 5. Players will also be able to interact with each other in Car Meets, including sharing tuning setups and liveries.[5]

Vehicles

On 22 July 2014, Turn 10 revealed the first 100 of over 200 cars to be featured in the open world game, from exotics, rally cars, trucks, hot hatches, among others. The list includes the 2014 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4, the McLaren P1, and LaFerrari.[6]

Development

Forza Horizon 2 is the second game to be developed principally by a studio other than Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios. Playground Games, the lead developer for Forza Horizon, will be focusing on the Xbox One version, using the graphics engine from Forza Motorsport 5 as their starting point; the game will run at 1080p and a locked 30 frames-per-second.[5] Sumo Digital will take the lead for the Xbox 360 version, starting from the original Forza Horizon graphics engine.[4] Turn 10 Studios will again provide support to the primary developers.[4]

When choosing the locale for Forza Horizon 2, the developers investigated over 30 locations around the world, including California and Australia, ultimately choosing Southern Europe.[5] Creative director Ralph Fulton cited Europe's "fantastic driving roads, amazing environmental diversity, and just stunning vistas that you really want to explore" as some of the major points in selecting it for Horizon 2.[5] Fulton also noted that most of the recent open-world driving games were set in North America and that Southern Europe "just felt fresh, it felt different, it felt new, and it was a gimme for us".[5]

On 27 August 2014, Microsoft announced that a demo version of the game would be made available on Xbox One on 16 September 2014.[7] On the day of the demo release, Microsoft confirmed that the game had been declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release.[8]

Reception

Forza Horizon 2 received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox One version 87.05% and 86/100. [19][20] Writing for IGN, Luke Reilly said that the game had "comprehensively updated" the standards for open-world racing games and that it was "Test Drive Unlimited, PGR, Smuggler’s Run, and Forza Motorsport all crammed into a T-shirt cannon and fired into your face".[15]

Conversely, Polygon's Arthur Gies, while giving the game a positive review, said that the track design in Forza Horizon 2 "can't compete" with the licensed tracks used in Forza Motorsport 5.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b "Forza Horizon 2 Opens Up a Whole New World for Racers". news.xbox.com. Microsoft Corporation. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  2. ^ "Forza Horizon 2 Announcement". Forzamotorsport.net. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Drivatar™ technology". Microsoft Research. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Ryan McCaffrey (2 June 2014). "IGN First: Forza Horizon 2 Announced". ign.com. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e Luke Reilly (4 June 2014). "Forza Horizon 2: Resolution, Framerate, Music, & More Detailed -- IGN First". ign.com. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 10 June 2014. Due to the controversy of the micro transactions in the latest Motorsport title, Horizon 2 will launch with none. Xbox 360 version differences: As the 360 version is a last-ten console, it will not have weather, drivatars, car meets and more to be announced. Also the demo and achievements are different.
  6. ^ Staff (22 July 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 Cars Revealed!". forzamotorsport.net. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Forza Horizon 2 Xbox One demo arrives September 16". CVG. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Forza Horizon 2 Gone Gold". CVG. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  9. ^ "Forza Horizon 2". GameRankings.
  10. ^ "Forza Horizon 2 for Xbox One reviews". Metacritic.
  11. ^ Brett Zeidler (25 September 2014). "Review: Forza Horizon 2". Destructoid. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  12. ^ Ben Griffin (25 September 2014). "CVG Review: Forza Horizon 2". computerandvideogames. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  13. ^ Oli Welsh (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 review: Festival of Speed". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  14. ^ David Roberts (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 review". GamesRadar. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  15. ^ a b Luke Relly (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 review: Fence Splitter". IGN. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  16. ^ Ludwig Kietzmann (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 review: Fetch the Bentley, we're going for a drive". Joystiq. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  17. ^ Paul Taylor (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 Xbox One". Official Xbox Magazine. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  18. ^ a b Arthur Gies (25 September 2014). "Forza Horizon 2 review: Road not Taken". Polygon. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Forza Horizon 2". GameRankings.
  20. ^ "Forza Horizon 2 for Xbox One reviews". Metacritic.
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