Forza Horizon 3 is out and as far as I'm concerned it's spectacular. It has great graphics, tightly honed gameplay, and probably the best open world driving map of all time, but while I really like that stuff it's not why I love the game.

I love Horizon 3, and in fact that whole Horizon series, because it's the only non-kiddie game I can think of that is focused around the singular mission of showing the player a good time.

Don't get me wrong, I like most video games and I think most video games are designed to be enjoyed by players, but they are often designed to be enjoyable through providing a satisfying challenge or a horror experience or a meaningful story. They don’t just want to be pure ‘fun’ they want to do other things as well.

The Forza Horizon series wants to do some of these things (it can definitely be challenging) but it all takes a backseat to fun. Forza Horizon is like a solicitous host who is constantly freshening up your drink, asking if you need anything, and suggesting cool things the two of you can do. At times it can feel overwhelming and almost smothering (the map is so full of objectives and the radio is constantly chattering on with more) but it’s also really nice to feel like the game genuinely likes you and wants you to be happy.

Everything about Horizon seems designed around the goal of pleasing the player. The setting is a fun and welcome car and music festival that can only exist in a video game because it features all the cool stuff (well the PG rated cool stuff) about a festival (great tunes, a wonderful vibe, a ton to do and see) with none of the drawbacks. There’s not a skeevy drug dealing dude or disgusting porta potty to be seen on the whole continent. The characters in Horizon all like you and are congratulatory and excited for you whatever you do. This has gotten to be more and more true as the series has advanced; with the first game featuring some rivals who would taunt and challenge you as you rose through the ranks while the third iteration just features a super chipper lady lieutenant who cheerfully does all the work while you claim all the glory. In the back of my mind I always feel like she’s going to angrily quit or at least demand a raise when I run off to irresponsibly street race while she manages the construction of a festival expansion and the hard work of clearing things with the local authorities, but instead she just gently chides me with a chuckle. And then my good ol’ boy Aussie mechanic calls to tell me he finished fixing up a car I found. For free.

In Forza Horizon 3 you get money, XP, and thousands of fans even when you bork up a race and come in last. In Forza Horizon 3 you get skill points for clean racing AND for slamming into breakable objects. In Forza Horizon 3 everyone in the digital world is happy to go at your pace and do whatever you feel like. If you pass another driver on the road you can race him or tell him to follow you and help look for collectibles and whatever he’s up to he’ll stop and join in your reindeer games. In Forza Horizon 3 nobody yells at you even when you slam into their family van while trying to go sideways in a drift zone on a public road. In Forza Horizon 3 every few races you get a wheelspin that can grant you hundreds of thousands of credits or free cars with absolutely no narrative explanation. The universe just loves you and wants you to be happy so it gives you things.

Most games don’t have that vibe. In shooters everything is trying to kill you. In fighting games everything is trying to beat you up. In sports games your opponents are trying to defeat you. In puzzle games the solutions are often obtuse and difficult and yeah they might make you feel smart, but they’re going to make you work for it. Forza Horizon doesn’t want you to work for it.

In that way it’s a lot like games made for children, but it’s designed and balanced for adults. It doesn’t hold your hand the way a children’s game does, the graphics aren’t cutesy and Forza can be pretty tough if you want it to, but it has the same attitude of positivity and wanting to make sure the player enjoys himself. It reminds me of Kirby’s Epic Yarn or Yoshi’s Woolly World; games that were soft and cuddly and pleasant above all else, with challenge taking a back seat to enjoyment and a friendly vibe.

I wish more games took this approach. We all remember how annoying it was when actors with ‘tude screamed at and degraded us in games like Sewer Shark and ESPN Extreme Games. Why did it take this long to show that the opposite could be quite pleasant?

Life is hard. Games are an escape. Sometimes it’s cool to have a serious or intense story and an atmosphere of foreboding, but frankly just because I’m an adult doesn’t mean I don’t like feeling wanted and admired.

Forza Horizon 3 is a fantasy. A fantasy version of Australia. A fantasy where you own a garage full of rare and valuable cars and all you have to do to get more of them is drive around a little. A fantasy where radio stations have recognizable formats and play mostly good music instead of computer programmed top 40 lists. Why not make it a fantasy where being the boss comes with all the perks and none of the responsibilities and all your employees think you’re amazing even though you never share any of your vast wealth and incredible luck with them?

Let other racing games worry about sending the cops after you or making you race for hours before you can earn a used Subaru. Me, I’m happy taking a vacation down under where people don’t just smile and hand me a vegemite sandwich, they give me free cars! Lots of them!

Damn, I want this game so bad, but I'm poor as hell. I totally agree that more games should go for the pure fun angle, and that design mentality is something that has definitely declined since around the 360/PS3 generation, although Nintendo and indie games have picked up some of the weight that AAA developers have dropped. When I return home from school I'll definitely pick this game up, as I think my Dad would enjoy playing it with me (very rare for my Dad to have any interest in games at all, but racing games have done the trick in the past). Thanks for the great write up!

i feel like if they put the crazy crash stuff from Takedown into this game somehow, it would be the Burnout Paradise i actually would have wanted and loved. But hey, maybe it would have ruined it.

I'm really glad I was able to take advantage of that Target pricing error and get the game for $20 USD ($28 CAD) because the game was $80 CAD and it was absolutely killing me. The only real downside to the game is the performance. Sure it looks fantastic, but not nearly as good as what it's demanding spec wise. Its frustrating to only get 40ish fps with a 980TI.

I've never not been having fun during the 50 or so hours I've put in so far. If I get tired of just doing races back to back, it's so simple to find something else to do like switching up your car type, doing a bucket list, trying to beat leaderboard times, the auction house, cruising around for barn finds... the list goes on. Combine all of that with the ability to play with friends and have custom music, and it's honestly a perfect game to me and I never plan on deleting it from my HD. Still hard to believe how great the Xbox One version looks on such weak hardware.

Playground Games should be proud of this masterpiece.

I think it's a matter of car licensing among other things. Manufacturers don't want lovingly rendered polygonal models of their cars reduced to twisted wrecks that no human could survive.

It would also definitely clash with the laid-back friendly vibe.

I miss Burnout too, it was an amazing series and I played the heck out of it on the OG Xbox, but Forza Horizon is a different thing, and I really love what it's doing too.

I feel like, almost paradoxically, Forza Horizon gets some criticism BECAUSE it's one of the few arcade racing games worth a damn that gets released these days. People want it to represent the whole breadth of the arcade genre because there's basically nothing else (Yes, the Crew and Need for Speed, but both those games were mediocre). When the first game came out up against the also good Need for Speed: Most Wanted, it was able to differentiate more, and people weren't left wishing it also did the things that game did.

I haven't yet tried FH3 beyond the demo, but my cheap ass has been playing FH1 thanks to Games with Gold, and your post really resonated with my experience with that game. It really is a sort of car power fantasy where the entire point is for the player to simply enjoy themselves.

Nice post. You articulated well how the simply joys of this make Horizon 3 such a consistently good time. Playground Games might be the most perfectly named developer out there, because the Horizon games really do evoke that kind of childlike fun where you had a little die-cast car in a sandbox and made it go vroom-vroom over some big jump just for the hell of it. The world is your playground, and in terms of sheer escapism from the often-shitty real world, there are few things better than firing up a Forza Horizon game and just basking in an atmosphere that's basically a giant high-five. I did eventually ramp up the difficulty to "Highly Skilled" Drivatars because I don't really need that "you're winner" kind of affirmation, but I adore the series' positivity and general vibe. I don't care how idealized and unrealistic their virtual Australian festival is; it's a place where I really enjoy spending time.