Forza Horizon 2 is an open-world arcade racer set across southern France and northern Italy, spanning fifteen championships, five showcases and the Horizon finale. The full story was beaten in eleven hours, with the finale won outright.
The visuals are a major step up for the Xbox One, with rain making everything shiny, glowing night-city lights and a car-dirt effect on the road surfaces. The handling feels better than the first game’s, with every car distinct and the rain adding extra slip and slide.
The soundtrack is a highlight, with Pulse the standout station, surprise artists like Chromeo and Jane’s Addiction, and festival audio blending into the car radio as it passes. The road-trip structure between festival hubs makes the game feel like a road-trip sim, and the showcase races are a consistent high point.
The skill-chain system rewards wrecking, clean racing and near-misses, which suits an aggressive driving style. The wheel spins, barn finds and cosmetic-only damage feed a relaxed car-collecting loop, and the rewind feature spares countless retries.
The AI is the biggest criticism, since the races are a cakewalk with every event ending in a fifteen-second lead even off easy difficulty. The missing progression stands out, with supercars handed out freely and no real need to upgrade, and fifteen championships feel slight against the first game’s volume.
The late bucket lists swing to the opposite extreme, with speed challenges demanding perfection and rewards that never match the difficulty. The delisted Storm Island expansion is still advertised in menus, a reminder of content that can no longer be bought.
Overall, the visuals, handling and soundtrack make Forza Horizon 2 a very pretty and fun racer, with the road-trip structure its best idea. The weak AI, the missing progression and the brutal late challenges keep it below the original.