Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels Review

Hot Wheels is very popular in the USA. Fifty years ago, they were the best-selling toys of all time, and children still play with them behind a big puddle. Entire generations have grown up with more or less quirky toy cars and creative car circuits that are notoriously obsessive. Hot Wheels is back in Forzy Horizon for the second time, it debuted in the third volume, also as DLC, and this time it also relies heavily on nostalgia. But historically the brand is not so strong here. It will be easier to answer the question: is it a good game or just cheap?

• Published in: Xbox One/One X, PC (Steam and Xbox GamePass), Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X (Verified)
• Publication date: July 19, 2022
• Genre: race
• Czech localization: subtitles and interfaces
• Multiplayer: yes, number of players by activity
• Data to download: about 11 GB
• Game time: campaign about 7.5 hours
• Availability: 3+
• Sales version: digital
• Price: CZK 499 (+ Xbox Game Pass discount)

Arcade on the second

Forza Horizon 5 is arcade through and through. But it’s a fair arcade game, and it’s not lazy in the sense that all cars handle exactly the same, regardless of performance, wheel drive, or design. Jump your car off a cliff for 300 meters and your light cover may crack. Send it head-on into a tree at 250 km/h, just back up and you can continue the race. Is the road too narrow? It’s okay, your Ferrari is forged for off-road and neither the field nor the stream is a hindrance to it. Simulator fans probably got a rash after reading the previous lines, but if you’re one of those fans of unbridled car fun, Forza Horizon is a great choice.

What you won’t find in Horizon is total unrestraint. Yes, there are a few more bizarre races or challenges, but these are still inventions that someone could easily implement in Gymkhana, or maybe they have already implemented in Top Gear. No, I mean a complete break in the circuit that didn’t even see the reality of the train. And that’s exactly what the Hot Wheels DLC brings. The brand new map comes in three parts that roughly correspond to snow-capped mountains, rainforest, and desert canyon. Through them stretch kilometers and kilometers of orange paths. Loops, turns, turns, pointless slides and steep climbs, water slides or icy areas. There’s a lot here. Honestly more than I expected.

Physics simply does not get along with many of the above, and I don’t even recommend thinking about the reality of the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO driving upside down (one could argue with a magnetic caterpillar, but I wouldn’t want to). The way it is. Here you are in an alternate reality where even the greatly relaxed physics model of the classic Horizon has taken a vacation. In addition, a completely new indicator will appear in the middle of the screen. This is an artificial horizon, which will come in handy because in places your car will really look a bit like an airplane, and the terms “up” or “down” will quickly become relative.

I do not recommend thinking about the reality that Mitsubishi Lancer EVO rides upside down.

Fairy tale career

The DLC has a rather interesting career mode. While you focused on individual race types in Horizon 5, here’s a breakdown by performance class. You start with Tier B vehicles and move up one performance level with each unlocked milestone. The motivation to really pursue your career here is great: on the one hand, you can’t drive cars of a higher category than you have unlocked even during free rides, but basically you also unlock new activities, be it racing, various special challenges. , new speed radars and others.

The motivation to really realize a career here is great.

You will also earn exclusive Hot Wheels vehicles as part of your career. Some are quite ordinary and based on real vehicles, others do not deny their toy origin. But there aren’t that many, just ten special ones, and if you’re an avid collector and were hoping to add a lot to your collection, then Hot Wheels doesn’t offer that many.

Horizon Core

When Hot Wheels first appeared in Forza Horizon 3, I didn’t buy the DLC. The whole concept seemed to me too childish and monotonous in principle, even by the standards of the strictly arcade Horizon. But after the experience with this DLC, I regret this decision a little, because it is only through my own experience that such DLCs can actually be amazingly varied and can be a lot of fun.

However, it could be a little more varied. Complete detachment from reality could be used, for example, for a completely new type of racing that cannot be played in the main game, such as a simplified version of the demolition derby. However, the Hot Wheels DLC will offer them around seven hours of honest fun. It’s enough to keep you entertained and finish the campaign before the endless orange twists get a little boring.