Forza Horizon 4

Little Britain, Big Fun.

- Paul Taylor

Ladies and gentlemen, we have only good news: Forza Horizon 4 may be the most perfect Xbox One game yet. It is the gamer’s game, boasting lush graphics and encapsulating the social nature of gaming, to the point where Forza Horizon could be your console’s new mascot title. Sorry, Chief.

Forza Horizon 4 is polished and generous in spirit, adding new features while reworking familiar ones from every previous instalment. It’s a spectacle of how beautifully your console can push pixels, shaming every other open-world racer with its graphical prowess while showing off the depth and breadth of its systems. This is so very 2018.

The opening ten-minute salvo is an hors d’oeuvres taste plate of what you will be doing over countless hours in Playground Games’ take on Great Britain. You’re introduced to the four seasons, which do more than shift the colour palette, by turning crisp, springtime lakes into icy skidpans during winter, or throwing worrying puddles on patches of ground during rainy autumn that were previously clear under the glorious summer sun.

Horizon 4 is a social game, encouraging play with other people, whether in traditional competitive play, or – in a nod to MMORPGs – working towards a common goal in hourly events so you can score exclusive rewards. Rack up ‘influence’ – XP by another name – by watching other people’s streams on Mixer, and by broadcasting your own. Or, you can go totally solo if you want and still have a game that eclipses everything else on your console for sheer value.