Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

@Tasuki The Horizon games are pretty much more open world games that you just happen to be in a car all the time. Arcade racing is perhaps a bit off too as they have the Forza sim and customisation built in but then again, you wouldn't get away with driving a lot of these cars through fields etc. Of course 'racing' forms a part of the overall experience, but then you also have things like jumping, drifting, exploring etc too. There are 'set' races and some special events that pit you against Aeroplanes, boats etc and you can challenge 'drivatars' anytime in a point to point race too. There are 'barn finds' which are barns with 'historic' cars in that you can find - a bit like collectibles that become available as you progress,

The 'story' is that you are trying to build up a 'festival' (the Horizon festival) around 'cars' and the more you 'win', the more 'fans' you attract and the bigger the festival becomes which opens up more events and sites too. Its not fixed - in that you have to do all the events to open up the next set or site or have to do them in order. In some ways its a bit like Burnout Paradise but without the smashes and the burnout boosts. You are not limited to staying on Roads either so if you want to drive a Ferrari off-road and use these to make a massive jump, that's up to you - so in that respect its not 'realistic'.

Personally I prefer the Horizon series to the Motorsport series as I get bored of just driving round tracks that seem to end up looking very similar, the only goal being to beat the other drivers to the finish line. I know Horizon has 'races' but you can also spend time just driving around and having 'fun'.

3 is certainly a great game - probably the best in the series so far. 4 is always online so the open world will be occupied by 'real' drivers - not Drivatars which are AI based on your friends driving. It will have seasons that change weekly so the world will change too rather than be 'static' like it is in 3. I expect that it will be 'better' but whether its radically better or not, I don't know. I don't expect too much will have changed in the concept and what you can do.

@crippyd @BAMozzy Thanks for the replies guys. Think I will look into it as it does sound more up my alley then Motorsport. @BAMozzy I agree with ya as I too get bored just going around a race track over and over.

@Tasuki I know a lot of people say its just another Forza game and MS only have say 3 games (Forza, Halo and Gears) but the two are more like GT and Burnout rather than being the 'same' game. Maybe they are not as different as Halo(FPS) and Halo Wars (RTS) but if you want the more 'Sim' based racing that's equivalent to GT, Project Cars etc, then go for Motorsport but if you like more 'Arcade' style with much more variety than just racing a group of cars around a race track over and over and over again, then Horizon is definitely the route (no pun intended) to go.

They do have some 'special' events. In the first (which is BC and 4k now on X) for example, you have Mustang vs Mustang - except its you in a Mustang car racing against an AI in a Mustang Aeroplane. Like Burnout Paradise, there are signs to crash through as well so you can literally spend time just driving around trying to find all of these. Like I said, the object is to do events, normal races, 1v1's, drifting, jumps, Speed traps etc to win fans so you can expand your Horizon festival. Its not 'structured' in that you have to events in an order and some sites are more 'city' based where as another may be more off-road based but as I said, its more around 'fun' than Sim based and more of an open world game with 'driving' as its mechanic too. Australia, the setting of 3, looks stunning and like all Forza games performs at a locked frame rate - Horizon being 30fps though - not that it really matters as its so smooth anyway.

Games with Gold for July announced...

July's 2018 Games with Gold lineup for Xbox One includes: Assault Android Cactus and Death Squared. For Xbox 360 owners (and through Xbox One backward compatibility), July kicks off with Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, followed by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction.

Quite a poor month in my opinion - with exception of Splinter Cell, none of the others will be added to my collection at all...

@BAMozzy VF5 isn't a bad game.

@BAMozzy Wow, what a stinker July is for us Xbox owners! I totally agree that Splinter Cell is the only decent game (for my tastes) in the roster.

@KALofKRYPTON I can't stand fighting games so 'in my opinion' its a very poor month!!!

@BAMozzy That is definitely up my alley, as.I do enjoy the open world racing more like Burnout Paradise or The Crew. I like to just relax sometimes and cruise around and take in the sights in between events, it helps me at least my getting bored and helps break up the monotony of just doing races over and over. Think I might pick it up this weekend.

I find it kinda funny how Games with Gold started out really strong at the beginning of this gen and had some really good titles while PS4 had Indy after indy. Now it seems to have flipped PS+ is getting a pretty good line up while the last few months Games with Gold have been bad.

Pretty poor month for me. Ah well, never mind.

@Tasuki GwG has dropped off in recent months as far as the XB1 offerings go but you also get XB360 games to play as well - at least these are not 'indy' too like the PS3 offerings. To me it feels like the games have dropped off since Game Pass started adding in the 'new' release exclusives, as if its suffering from that...

@Tasuki you can try horizon series through gamepass and see if you like it. Personally it's the best racer this gen, on all platforms and that's the exclusive worth owning xbox one in my opinion. Tons of fun, top notch graphics, so many variety in everything, from cars, through tracks to activities. Driving part has really good balance between arcade and simulation. You just can't go wrong with forza horizon if you like arcade driving games. If you can find forza horizon 3 cheap or affordable, go for it. If you are buying new then you could wait for fh4, but if money isn't problem I would buy fh3 now and then fh4 when it releases. Forza horizon series keeps it value really good, and doesn't drop in price for a really long time.

After all, both games will have enough differences that you can just buy both and enjoy them for a long time.

@NecuVise I don't think the Forza Horizon series is available through game pass at least here in NA at least I didn't see it when I checked.

They announced at E3 or after it that they will add fh3 and all subsequent releases to gamepass, including upcoming fh4. Maybe they will do it it July? I'll try to find you some info on that.

Edit : it seems like they announced that they will add fh4 when it releases but no news on fh3, so sorry for misinformation, my mistake.

Anyway, both have different setting so it's worth owning both and if you buy fh3 now you can wait till black Friday for fh4.

@NecuVise Oh I must have missed that. I heard that 4 was coming in October I think it was but I didn't know the others were. I didn't see any in July's list of games coming to Game Pass but maybe I will hold off on getting it now.

@Tasuki read my edit part

@NecuVise Yeah I caught that, we must haves posted at the same time so I only saw your original response.

@BAMozzy I agree it’s a poor month for GwG with the exception of Splinter Cell but I bought that the day it became backward compatible and it was on sale, I’ve noticed that lately when a game becomes BC it’s on sale for a week, usually at more than 50% off.

@Tasuki I’d definitely recommend FH3 despite FH4 coming out in October because it has great dlc with Hot Wheels and Blizzard Mountain, both of which are different to the vanilla game, plus it really cheap now it’s been out for awhile.

@MaccaMUFC It makes sense to at least try and get any last purchases on games by dropping their price before adding them in as a 'free' game. You aren't going to get many sales after that - other than from those who missed the GwG or not Gold owners. As annoying as it is for us customers who may of recently bought in those sales, if I was running a business, I too would have a final push on selling things before giving them away free.

If MS think that I am going to be tempted by Game Pass with the continuously 'poor' offerings with GwG, they are mistaken. It does feel like they have cut back on the type of games they are offering since they introduced their 'new' release exclusives to Game Pass...

Does Game Pass work on PC? I have no plans to buy an X-Box but if I can sign up and play some games on PC I might consider it.