I’ve played the entire demo and so far, these are my thoughts, after 100 Completing Forza Horizon, Forza Horizon 2 and 3 (save for a few multiplayer bucket lists for Horizon 2).
The control mechanics seem very close to Forza Horizon 3, which is great, since they drastically changed control from Horizon 2 to Horizon 3. If anything, the control might seem a little tighter, thus rendering even better control than Forza Horizon 3.
Graphics. The graphics definitely seem improved, with much higher resolution on the cars, buildings, etc. I’d like to hold my reservations back for this though until I play the final game on my LG B7 65" OLED.
As for the map, it seems to be around the same size as Forza Horizon 3, which was about 51.6 square miles. Playground Games boasted that the map for Horizon 3 was (if memory serves me correctly) twice as large, whereas this was a lie, and the map was actually almost the same exact size in square miles. And now, again, they seem stuck on a map around 50 square miles. While this isn’t terrible, keep in mind that one of the first open world car games, called Smuggler’s Run had a map that was 6.25 square miles, and there were actually THREE maps that came in at that size, and not just one. So a game from 2000 had 6 square miles, with NO fences, no blockades, for the entire 6.25 square miles, with mountains forming the border of the world, whereas Horizon 4, a game 18 years later, is just 50 or so square miles. That in my opinion is the weakest part of this edition, as well as for Forza Horizon 2. By this point, we should easily be seeing open world racing games with hundreds of open square miles, but I digress.
Gameplay. In Forza Horizon 3, you were the boss, and chose the races you wanted to race, and what cars everyone could use. This proved to be a very unique addition to the Horizon franchise, giving the player complete control over what races they entered, and the length and duration as well. It seems that might possibly be gone. Moreover, I would personally like for the Horizon story to be a continuation of the former championships, rather than a new person each time, but maybe thats just me.
Scenery: While some of you have remarked about seeing certain landmarks, I wasn’t too impressed with the scenery, as I was with Forza Horizon 3. The beach alone was beautiful the first time I raced down it, with the huge rocks jutting skyward, and many of the other places were very unique as well. I did find the dam that you can cross with water flowing over it interesting, and the few villages were well done, but I hope there are many more sights to see when we get the full game.
Demo Stats: From my play time, I uncovered 141 roads, 2 Fast Travel Boards, 1 Danger Sign, 10 out of 25 areas, and of course several races that opened up as you raced each subsequent one. I did not see any more roads that I could travel, without being turned around, nor any other Danger Signs or Fast Travel boards. If any of you did, please let me know.
Those are my thoughts so far. What do you think about the game from your experience with the Demo. If the game continued at this rate, for at least as long as Forza Horizon 3, in terms of races, activities, etc., I’d give it a solid 8 and maybe even an 8.5 depending. With that stated, I’d give Forza Horizon 3 an easy 9.0 from my more than 22 days of actual play time (over 500 hours).