Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels Expansion - Review

With Forza Horizon 5, I felt that the team at Playground Games had redeemed themselves after the average Forza Horizon 4, so with the expansions that they were going to bring to the game, I figured those would be just as amazing. Enter Hot Wheels… again, yes the same theme that we got in the second expansions for Forza Horizon 3 is back for another round, but this time things are quite different.

Well, perhaps not that different in terms of visuals as the new area is just flooded with bright orange track, but the rest of it is and that is where the issue arise. The first thing you will note is that there are two aspects to the expansion, in terms of races and story, the first is that progression is tied to points, as you complete races and objectives, you earn more and unlock new challenges. The other aspect is the Hot Wheels story, which like the stories from Horizon 5, have you visit specific locations to begin a race or drive, all the while being told more about the history of Hot Wheels. While the second of the two is tied to the progression of the first part, it still feels different enough, that it could be its own thing, but everything is really tied to that progression.

As you earn the Hot Wheels points or tokens, or whatever they are called, you begin to level up your access through the Hot Wheels academy, which in turn unlocks more events. It has the same basic unlock routine that the main campaign does, there you unlock new parts of a racing type and more speed traps, races and such are added to the map, same here. The problem is that you won’t be able to earn enough tokens, just by racing, so you are going to have to check off some of the missions that the game has for you. Some of these mission are pretty simple, like win a race with a higher difficulty in the Drivatars, or race from point a to point b, within a set time. The issue I had with the missions is that I never cared for them in the main game, sure I would unlock them as I was driving around, but there it felt more like an extension of what I was doing naturally, where as here it feels more forced.

Speaking of being forced, you can’t just race around in any car you like, even if you own it, as the car rankings are tied to the level of your progression through the academy. What this means is that until you unlock the highest rank, the S1 car that you have likely spent a good portion of the main game driving around in, will not be available to you in the Hot Wheels DLC. While I can understand what they were trying to do, the result is just a shoddy attempt to force players to unlock the content that they already own. The more elegant solution would have been to lock all non-Hot Wheels cars away, until players completed the academy, but it is too late for that now.

The other issue with the expansion is the land itself, or the floating location in the sky, there are a few biomes, but they really don’t mean anything as you spend most of the time on the track. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of times when you do leave the track and drive across the ground, but you can’t get from one side to the other, without the track. And there in lies the problem, the track is so large and restrictive, that if you want to drive from the very top, to the very bottom of the map, you will likely have to take so many additional turns, that it will feel like you are spending more time going the wrong way. The reason that I don’t like it, is because on the Mexico map, you can follow the roads to get to your destination, or at any time, hook a turn and just start bashing through the countryside. Here that isn’t possible, mostly because a lot of the track has guard rails and the few times when they don’t, driving off the track will likely have you plummet to the ground.

All of that are issues and they are laughable ones, as none of them should have existed, but once you start driving on the track, you can forget about them, especially in the races. There are of course loops and boost track pieces, like there were in their first use of the licence, but in this one, we have ice tracks, water tracks and plenty of steep banked turns to enjoy. Those latter ones will prove to be challenging, if you are in a slower vehicle, as you may not have the speed going in, or if you crash going around a bend, you can literally start to fall backwards. The magnetic tracks will stop that from happening, but they are not everywhere, so speed is crucial for almost ever aspect of the racing.

On the presentation side of things, the game looks stunning as you would expect, the new locations are remixed versions of the land below, so there is nothing to special about them. The Hot Wheels theme is done well, with clearly visible support pillars dotting the landscape and while there are plenty of things to see off the track, you will rarely find a need to venture out there. The crowds, what few there are, still have as much personality and life to them, as a cardboard box, but as this is just an expansion, I can’t fault the team for not recreating them all over.

On the sound side, things are bland, there is a host of new dialogue, some for the Hot Wheels Story mode, some for the academy and of course, plenty for the DJs. The problem I had is that there is no new music, so the same songs are being blasted across the radio, a dedicated Hot Wheels radio station would have been very welcome.

If you have never played the Hot Wheels DLC for Forza Horizon 3, then most of this is going to be very fresh for you, the problem is that a lot of the content from that is the same here, so returning players will encounter a lot of familiarity during their time in the sky. If that’s not an issue for you, then the games inability to allow you the freedom, something that the Horizon series has built its name upon, is disappointing to say the least. Not only can you not drive the cars you want, but you can’t just do the events you want, as you will need to complete challenges that you may not even remotely care about, in order to earn tokens to proceed. The end result is that the game is forcing you to play their way, removing the fun and freedom that the base game offers.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Xbox

The Pros

+The racing is great, combine that with new surface types like rushing water and ice, will keep you focusing on it

+The Hot Wheels story, though more marketing in feeling, is entertaining

The Cons

-Being unable to drive the cars you want, without increasing your ranking is weird

-Essentially, you are locked to the tracks and those rare times you can leave them, there is little to do