Five Ways Playground Games Altered Forza Horizon 3's Genetic Code #BlogPost

Some say that things get better with age, and in an era where Moore’s Law is beginning to appear slower than technology’s pace, that statement holds true. Pixels, which used to be large blocks that took up a screen, are now divided so finely that one can’t even realize how small they are. Individual units have disappeared into objects, three-dimensional models that traipse from one area to another, exciting us further. Beauty is held in these, now featuring colors and movements so realistic that one can’t even believe that a 24-hour 12K HDR resolution camera’s images can be processed and projected by, essentially, a box.

Such is the advancement of technology; what was a giant machine that took an entire room to store for, in these times, minute amounts of processing power is now something that can fit even on one’s wrist and have well over a thousand times the capability of the old room-sized automation.

Playground Games has upped the ante even further with the newest game, taking the wild, free soul of the previous Horizon game and fusing it with the sleek, sophisticated beauty of the previous Motorsport game. It doesn’t seem, however, like the old games; this one is more of a revolution than an evolution, another red chip to meet the challenges offered by other games.

What, then, have they done to assert their alpha-male status over the little pups?

1. Customization

They’ve been listening very closely to us fans, finding more than a few ways to entice us as both Forza Horizon 2 and Forza Motorsport 6 built upon what was before, continuing to push technology’s boundaries. With each release, however, an increasing number of ardent fans began to note the lack of body kits, being forced to apply decals to emulate the effect of using such a kit. Along with this were complaints of seeing the same wheels for multiple consecutive games, stating that Turn Ten was becoming “lazy” and “unoriginal” for not including “enough customization options.”

Hearing this, they then promptly called several companies that were willing to be promoted in the newest installment of the Horizon series, which lead to adding thirty new rim styles from such companies as ADV.1, Fifteen 52, and Rotiform, and, a first in Forza’s storied history, body kits from companies like Liberty Walk and Rocket Bunny. This may suggest that if there is a Porsche Expansion, body kits by RWB might make an appearance; while it isn’t confirmed, this means that more custom parts may be available in the game, leading to endless combinations of bumpers, flares, rims, and wings.

2. Car Choices

When fans saw that their favorite mental cars from the first Horizon game (yes, you three, FXX, 599XX, and Pagani Zonda R) disappeared to make way for another batch of models, people were distraught, with theories going about as to whether Playground Games was performing such natural selections to better fit road laws and street legality. That theory can be chucked out of the window upon seeing the Motorsport All-Stars Car Pack, where ten race cars are added to this game from the previous game to sate every gamer’s fantasy of blasting throughout the streets in a race car.

Following these and such manic hypercars as the FXX K and Koenigsegg One:1 is a batch of off-roading cars apt to Australia’s environment, spearheaded by the marvelous Ariel Nomad, which, along with several trophy trucks, Class 10 buggies, and other off-roading riots, including the Jeep Wrangler and the newest Ford Raptor, are ready to take on the plethora of new areas that go beyond the towns and outskirts, including titanic sand dunes, winding jungles, and the intriguing outback. Leading a pack of 350 strong, again, is Lamborghini, this time with their Centenario, with the Raptor standing by its side.

3. You Have the Power

Doing a bunch of the same events on the same tracks with (almost) the same cars, after some time, gets boring even with a bunch of off-roading events. Eventually, even Horizon 2 has to tug on an imaginary leash to hold you back from going completely rabid with the game. In this game, one becomes more than the celebratory head of the Horizon Festival through Horizon Blueprint, a base from which so many great ideas launch. With this tool, one can take any of the events that comes standard with the game and alter its time and weather conditions, route, eligible vehicles, and even the name.

From there, such a preset can be shared with the world, featuring posters that are designed to match the type of event, and variants of Bucket List events can be created as well, being adjustable down to the livery of the car that one can use. Going even further, a special radio station, Groove Radio, allows one to take any music from his/her OneDrive and create a playlist in Groove Music on Windows 10. From there, the songs are streamed to the corresponding channel on the game, which is a part of more new channels and genres being introduced to the series, such as hip-hop and music by Future Classic.

4. To the Cloud Storage... And Beyond!

On that note about OneDrive and Windows 10, Turn 10’s experiment with Forza Motorsport 6: Apex can be considered a success, in that it was the first Forza Motorsport game available on the PC. Yes, there were some issues present, but those are to be expected when one tries to create a proof of concept. Such experimentation with the “watered-down” version proved to be a success, meaning that not only will Xbox One and Windows 10 offer Forza Horizon 3 for purchase on their stores, but it’ll also be able to run on both platforms with one purchase on either one.

The game’s save data can be tucked snugly into the cloud above, which can then be recalled when a PC or Xbox One requests it when one signs in. Through Xbox Live, one can also play with other users that have the game regardless of what platform is being used. Up to four players can face the challenges brought by the game’s campaign together in this co-op mode, where anyone can come or go at any time and retain the awards found when playing with friends such that they appear in the game’s single-player campaign, and due to this format of a campaign, repeating the same event isn’t mandatory.

5. Leave More Limits

A video game’s leash is inevitable; there must be a point when physics tugs on the line and tells the player to heel. In previous games, while it was open, there was always a feeling that an invisible barrier or guardrail would show up, sometimes at random, to force one into limits. Within this game, it’s apparent that there’s a greater lack of limits than that of its predecessors, portrayed ultimately when, at the end of the game’s trailer, the cover car takes a dip into, then drifts out of, the water, revealing the efforts made in advancing water’s physics, especially concerning splashes.

Look up to find an endless sky, look around to find a diverse landscape, look to the map to find an area twice as large as its predecessor’s map, look to the ground as puddles begin to accumulate from the changing weather. Less barriers and more roads lead to greater freedoms, which, in an area as large as Australia, are easily found. Take your favorite car and toy with it in ways one could never imagine possible due to some sort of restriction; that’s the beauty of selecting a continent like this for a Horizon Festival, matching with its carefree spirit in seeking the greatest amount of fun.

Honorable Mention: Return of the Auction

To have fun, a great place to start would be the revamped Auction house, where Storefronts are combined with the staple that was featured in Forza Motorsport 4 to provide an experience where creators, the people that portray Forza’s beauty, are honored not only with a new rating system based off of downloads, likes, and uses, but also with cars that are sold with such designs and/or tunes. Storefronts also have a new feature for following a user and his/her creations, and both features are able to work seamlessly on console and PC. The Auction House leaves an open door for unicorn cars and a resurrection of their large followings, leaving many the opportunity to own one of his/her dream cars.

That is exactly the point of this game: to experience our dreams. Dreams of escaping the day’s struggles, dreams of escaping the confines of budgets and time restrictions, dreams of escaping the thought that we are an endangered species that might not be old enough to do such things with these cars. They are dreams, yes, but they are made action through this outlet.

To select the mystery beneath the equator as a safe haven for driving and antics allows us to explore such mutations in the code, to challenge the cars by racing them at full chat on a route or at a circuit. This land of pixels and polygons is where we can escape judgement and love our cars freely to our own desires without any interference by anybody else.

For this reason, the Forza franchise is where dreams are driven.