@SpazldNinjaDude I get the notion behind it. And you're right that it actually does a fairly good job of what it tries to do. Horizon isn't a bad game- it's just not a Forza game, and could have been called anything else. More like if the newest CoD had only target practice shooting and no actual combat. Even if it was the best target practice sim ever, would that be CoD?
What it suffers from is being generic.
Forza stood out for hyper-realism. Horizon is just another driving game among many similar titles. Not only is it one among many now, but its not as good as other arcade style racers.
Don't get me wrong, I may be snobby about my sim-level racing, but I do enjoy the arcade games too, I just already have a half dozen of those to choose from, but only one Sim-level racer for xbox, Forza.
I didn't like Horizon- call me a Forza snob but it's just Forza dumbed down to an incredible degree and should have been called something else. Beyond that the story line in Horizon even gets mocked by my 12 year old for being dumb.
Dirt Showdown is a close second. It's hilariously fun and a simple distraction. It's multiplayer celebrates what most online races become anyway- a comedy of collisions.
Not really a Warhammer guy, but I'm a huge fan of CA and the Total War series. Without a doubt Total War is my favorite game series, and based on the strength of that series, I would expect good things from their Warhammer efforts.
It's just false advertising to call it Forza. It's just a new Grid game. It has nothing to do with the Forza title, one could have called this by any name but Forza was used to cash in on a successful title.
How can a reviewer make a statement about how realistic a racing game is while at that very moment in the video a car bounces off a guardrail at 150mph with no damage, barely even slowing down?! This is a child's version of driving, and the miserable storyline reflects that audience as well. This is a game any adult will find themselves muting for the short time they bother to play it.
One can drift a VW Bug like Ken Block- because that is what this game WANTS to do- it is trying to be trendy, aimed at the Formula Drift crowd more than the Formula One fans. That's okay, but it seems a bit disingenuous to market an arcade game under the Forza name. Rather like buying the new CoD and finding out it is suddenly a dance party game.
It's a fine game for what it is- an arcade style racer with a pre-teen level storyline to provide a 'reason' to be driving fast. Score it keeping that in mind and it'll score well. But anyone that puts racing and skillful driving above silly storylines and driving between bumpers like they put up for kids at the bowling alley (guardrails serve to keep you on track, this isn't a truly free roaming world) will be back to the real Forza faster than any of the cars in Horizon could get them there.
@RussellGorall I think calling Horizon a Forza game is false advertising. Forza and Gran Turismo imply sim level racing and Horizon just isn't. It's like a slightly tighter Grid. Even in the slowest, most basic rattletrap you will be drifting about like the road is covered in a fine layer of marbles. Because that's what this game wants to do- be the 'extreme' Mtv trendy game that appeals to the Formula Drift crowd more than the Formula One fans.
It's not a bad game at all, for what it is. It's an arcade racer with a tacked on storyline you really won't care a bit about if you are over the age of 12. It's as good as any Grid or Dirt entry, which is just fine. But there is pretty much zero reason to even call this game Forza.
@Jmaster211 You are of course correct. However the Assassin and Templar names seem to stem from the immediate times of the first game, but the game indicates that the struggle between the two organizations has been going on much longer. So what were they before the existence of the Templars during the Crusades? It's just a plot hole among several but stands out because neither organization has anything to do with it's title. The name Assassin's Creed implies murder for hire, but you are simply an agent with a singular enemy. By definition that ceases to be assassins and becomes nothing more than gang warfare. Crips, Bloods, Templars...even the side assassination missions had you target a low level Templar lackey.
A niggling issue sure, but one that would have been easier to overlook had the devs simply not tacked on all the Desmond/modern day bits to the game. His part of the series is what puts these plot holes under a spotlight.
The excuse of getting gaming news out faster is pretty lame. It's video games, not real-time stock market speculation. There wasn't a problem in need of a fix to begin with. A daily show versus a gaggle of seemingly random and self-indulgent video clips isn't an improvement. There are two flaws in the logic of being on the 'scoop' for any scrap of news-
1) It used to be that in the news world, getting it right was more important than being the first to get it wrong. Stories were researched and verified before being released. Now, the obsession with simply being the first to spout some factoid trumps that factoid actually being true. So we get any rumor or accusation getting instant headline attention in the news, but the correction or retraction days later buried on page 8. That is what passes for journalism today.
2) The sheer quality of journalistic efforts is a pale shadow of the past. Today's rush to blather about something, anything, sees horrific abuses of spelling and grammar that would have never made it to print if the focus was on quality work rather than winning the booby prize for being 'first!'.
Lastly, in shopping around for freelance contributors- remember that 'journalist' is a profession, implying professional training and standards. Blogging is not journalism. As the black eye gaming 'journalism' took over the Eve Fanfest debacle should have made clear- too many of these people are merely game fans roleplaying as journalists.
Meh, it's your site. I like the new shows mostly too. Just come on with trying to justify away ending this series as serving a purpose other than letting the cast host individual shows covering the same topics.
The entire use of the term Assassin in relation to the AC games is bad. They are not assassins in any meaningful sense, but rather just soldiers on one side of a conflict that prefer a specific, stealthy approach to combat. While the killing of Yamamoto in WWII for example is considered an assassination, the specific targeting of officers on any battlefield is not. In AC, you simply go thru the game picking off the leadership of one specific faction. This isn't really assassination anymore than bombing military command centers to kill the leadership of an enemy is.
The simple fact is that assassin orders such as in the AC series didn't really exist as such. Even the Hashashins and Ninjas of old are far more legend than reality. Assassinations are generally carried out by loose cabals of conspirators, much like the Gunpowder Treason, or even the 9/11 attacks. Others by lone aggressors almost always fanatical (Wilkes-Booth) or mentally unstable (Hinkley Jr). But entire professional orders of hired killers is as much fantasy as dragons, and even the two or three groups of mercenary killers known to have existed. made no truly significant or lasting impact beyond a curious historical footnote.
The purpose of assassination is policy change, thus assassination is virtually always motivated by more than 'professional' interest such as money. Assassination is an act of desperation in the extreme, and not the cold, cunning form of employment that it's portrayed as in games and movies. Hence most assassins are not professional killers but rather motivated fanatics of some cause.
This episode came out at the beginning of November, and not a single mention of the Gunpowder Treason???
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