The storm of Fall releases has finally begun, starting with Forza Horizon 3. Although I had a great time playing the game on Xbox One last week, in the back of mind all I could do was think about the PC version and the possible perks that it would bring.
Well, the PC version unlocked yesterday morning, and since then I've dug my teeth deeply into it, finding that it's good, but not a particularly stellar PC port. Let's go over my impressions.
There are a good set of options. Although I play with everything maxed out, there are enough options that I could see the game running well on lower-end PCs. Environment, texture, shadow, reflection, world car level quality, and more can be tuned with three or more options each, providing a good range of settings to support the various levels of horsepower modern PC gamers have in their systems.
Dynamic graphics mode is a neat idea. My first encounter with this was in Forza Motorsport 6's PC version, and I remain impressed with the technology. What this effectively does is continually monitor your framerate and adjust the graphics settings on the fly to keep your experience as smooth as possible. I have noticed minor hiccups when the changes occur, but for the most it's had successful implementation.
Even maxed out on PC it isn't a big upgrade. I haven't been completely happy with the benefits of playing PC so far. 60 FPS (the Xbox One version runs at 30 FPS) is by far the biggest selling point. Even at 1440p with 4X MSAA I still notice a lot of aliasing issues. Some gamers are arguing that MSAA isn't even working. Whether or not it's true, the image quality of the game maxed out on PC isn't a very noticeable jump over the Xbox One version. I would say that both versions are on a roughly equal playing field.
It's still beautiful, though. The world design in Forza Horizon 3 is the best I've ever seen from an open-world racing game. There is a ton of detail, and a great sense of variety. Previous to this my favorite open-world was in Burnout Paradise. This is definitely a cut above that not only in terms of scale but the design of each area.
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Controls are spot on. Unfortunately, I recently lost my racing wheel and will need to replace it, so I can't comment on how the PC version performs when it comes to racing wheels. However, what I have experienced with the Xbox One controller on Windows 10 is amazing. It feels just like playing the game on Xbox One, with Impulse Trigger support and all. I had no issues with input in the game no matter whether I was using a keyboard or the Xbox One controller, something that can't necessarily be said of other console to PC ports.
Mild performance issues are present. As is the case in virtually any anecdote about PC game performance, this might just be my particular system that's having issues. That said, I have an i5 3570k, 8GB of RAM, and a GTX 1080. Although 98% of the time the game runs smoothly, there are some frame pacing and stutter issues that occur at certain moments. They are particularly noticeable given the tempo of the experience. I have noticed that they are most apparent when you transition into a new "style" of area, such as entering a city.
It's a big game, literally. We're talking around 50GB big. I had to install it on my secondary hard drive because I'm suffering from storage issues on my SSD. This is something to take into consideration.
There are two things that separate it from its competitors. For one, it has a great sense of vehicle variety. One moment you'll be in a supercar, the next in an SUV, then a dune buggy and a truck. There are many classes of vehicle in Forza Horizon 3 which makes it feel almost like the merging of multiple games into one. In addition, there is a ton of geographical variety. There's street racing, but there are also beaches, forests, and puddles you'll drive through. This takes advantage of the large roster of vehicle types, too.
This is a phenomenal game. I mean it when I say that Forza Horizon 3 is a remarkably fun game that I can recommend to just about everyone. It appeals to people who enjoy the classic Need for Speed games, and even racing simulator fans thanks to its high level of detail and wide array of customization options. As of now it's one of my favorite games of 2016.
