I think it’s safe to say we’re all disappointed in the state of Horizon 5, and are all trying to find ways to enjoy it, 5 weeks in with all it’s many documented issues, so…
Today, having grown weary of H5’s many issues, I decided to go racing in Horizon 4, my ALL TIME fave game, and had a bit of a shock.
A couple good, most bad.
The car handling seemed ‘off’ in H4 after 5 weeks in H5. I tried the same cars in 4 and 5 back to back and for some reason, 5 seemed, well, better.
More fluid, and more importantly, more enjoyable. So that’s definitely improved in H5. I’d say more noticeable in the rally cars on dirt.
Horizons 4’s music is waaaaay better IMHO. 3 years after release I still have a Spotify playlist I play regularly of H4’s soundtrack.
5 weeks in to H5 I’ve muted the music because literally nothing caught my ear and most of it just annoyed me.
The engines sounds in H4 are absolutely terrible. I mean, they’re insipid, dull, lifeless, and ultimately ruin the feeling you’re driving powerful million dollar cars.
I don’t remember H4 engines sounding so bad, but there it is when you compare to H5.
The interface in H4 is horrible. I never used to think it was, but having had H5 for 5 weeks, the H5 interface is simpler and more enjoyable to use by a mile.
Despite all the hoo ha about the improvement in H5’s graphics, on Series X 60fps there are interesting differences.
In H4 the rear view mirror has shadows on the cars, but H5 does not. Maybe it’s me but that really takes me out of the experience in H5 to see floating cars in the rear view mirror on something as powerful as Series X.
The cars in the distance in H4 never lose their wheels when going to low poly, but they do in H5. Again, quite the distraction.
All up, H5 looks better, in detail, in lighting, and reflections etc, but surely they can add wheels to distant cars and add shadows to the rear view mirror, even in performance mode.
I’d take a few FPS hit to not be taken out of the experience.
The map in H4 looks so clunky, and you can barely zoom out to see the map, compared to H5.
It’s scroll central compared to H5.
Personally I’d like to see the ability to zoom all the way out (especially useful for route creating when it eventually works).
What I’d love to see is Playground allow us to play the H4 (and H3) map in the H5 with all the new cars and upgraded handing etc.
Maybe remastered, but if not, I’d love that too.
Call it Horizon World, available to those with H4 or H3 (make a map pack for those that only have H5 for a fee), and let us access them all in H5.
I’d happily pay $500 for that feature right now.
Shut up and take my money!
And the maps.
I think H4 has the edge in variation in elevation, in scenery changes, and certainly in having a decent sized city (I’m guessing H5 suffered to accomodate the Xbox One (an 8 year old machine BTW) but mayhem it’s just Mexico not having massive visual changes. I’ve never been to Mexico.
But oh does H4’s map seem small.
They said H5’s was 50% bigger?
It seems a lot more than that I have to say. Mexico seems huge compared to the UK.
Maybe it’s not size but density of roads. When looking at both maps, Mexico seems to have far more roads IMHO.
I have more but I’ll leave it there for now.