Forza Horizon 5 Interview with Playground Games' Mike Brown
After we got shown the recent Forza Horizon 5 opening reveal, I had the chance to ask Creative Director Mike Brown, about this latest entry within the popular series, including his reaction to their new Let’s Go! streaming show.
Maxi-Geek: First up has to be, why did you decide on Mexico as the destination for the next entry in the series?
Mike Brown: For the selection of Mexico, we actually have to go back in time to around three years ago, where we just finished Forza Horizon 4 and we are just starting the early stages of development for 5 and we knew right from that point that we wanted to make the biggest Horizon game ever and you don’t get to far into that thought, that if you are going to make the biggest game ever, it also needs to be the most diverse, that if its going to be bigger it has to be packed.
So that got us looking for a really diverse host country for the Horizon festival and Mexico as a country is like the whole world in one country, just in the opening drive video we showed (click here to see that video), we have snowy covered mountain tops, you have sandy deserts and lush deserts, you have arid coastlines and tropical coastlines, plus there are things we didn’t see in the video, like rolling hills and farmlands, canyons, awesome historic cities, with brilliant architecture and along with the country of Mexico, it has this incredible culture, that’s known and loved all around the world. So along with this amazing country that is visually to explore, it also brings with it the people, the music and the history, that makes it a really exciting place to take the Horizon festival too.
MG: Part of the Horizon series has been it strong connection to music, with multiple radio stations in each game, each with their own themes. Back with Horizon 3 though, you could link up the game to Groove music and play your music, via the game, will something like that be returning in Horizon 5, maybe via Spotify?
MB: So, we haven’t got anything to discuss about Spotify just yet.
MG: Ok, what about the games soundtrack, can you talk a little about that?
MB: Well, we can’t confirm the entire soundtrack just yet, but we will be doing that in the coming weeks, I think I speak for the music team when I say we are really excited about the soundtrack of this game, I do think it is strongest soundtrack we have had in a Horizon title.
We’ve also been able to work with some artists to create some original compositions for the game, three of the tracks that we heard within that initial drive were original works and we have a few more of those throughout the rest of the game as well. What that allows us to do, is work with an artists, for whom we might really love a particular track that they’ve done and we can say, hey we really love what you did here, we show them the section of the initial drive and say, can you compose us something that really works for this piece. I hope that you would agree that the music we had for the initial drive really gelled with the experience in a way that just made complete sense, so there are a few situations in the game, where we have been able to work with artists, including some Mexican artists to produce original compositions that really make those experiences really sing.
MG: You guys have been doing live streams since the game was revealed. How has the fan reaction to your Let’s Go! content been?
MB: We’ve been really humbled by this, I’m gonna be really honest, when we showed videos, including that initial drive video just now, we are so nervous and scared for what peoples reactions are going to be. As a developer when you are looking at it, you tend to see all the bugs and the things we didn’t mange to do and struggle to see all the incredible things that we did do and its not until you have these sorts of conversations or see the response through our Let’s Go! streams that you get that instant reaction that a player has, the first time that they see a thing and how they are just blown away, by how good it looks or how much fun it looks or how much stuff there is in the game, so it is really great as a developer, to see those reactions first hand.
It is very easy, to just see the thing we have made and see all the bugs, when in reality people don’t notice the same things we notice, they look at it and think it looks absolutely incredible.
MG: What is the thing in the game, that makes you the proudest?
MB: In terms of pride as Creative Director, I have this whole game view where I kinda have some responsibility over all parts of the game, so its difficult for me to pick one area in particular. I’ve been asked this question a few times and honestly, my answer changes each time as well, I think based on where I stand right now and having played the game so much lately, I really love the world.
I think the world of Mexico that we’ve built is so much fun to explore and manages to combine really incredible different areas, in a way that makes total sense as you are driving around it, it feels totally natural, that this canyon would flow into these hills, which would flow into this city, none of it feels ‘gamey’ and I think that is a real achievement from our environment team and I absolutely love just driving around the world.
MG: Finally, cars, they are a pretty important part to any Forza game, can you talk about the cover cars that we saw at the end of the video, or the car list that players can use to fill their in-game garages?
MB: So, we have two cover cars, one is the Mercedes AMG 1, which is the car that you see at the end of the initial drive video, that’s a brand-new car from them, that uses their Formula 1 engine, from their race cars and puts it into a road legal car, it is absolutely incredible. It features a really cool mode where you can switch from street to track mode, which we’ve recreated in the game, so when you put it in track mode, the car lowers, the wing pops out the back, loads of vents open along the side and that’s not just a visual change, that’s a performance change. Even if you are driving around in free roam, you can hit the button, watch the car change and feel the change in handling as well.
The other cover car that we have is the one that opened the drive, that is the Ford 2021 Bronco Badlands, it’s the perfect car to get out and explore the wilds of Mexico, through the deserts and jungles. It is also hottest SUV of the year, and we are really happy to have both cars on the cover of Forza Horizon 5.
MG: What about the full car list, when can we expect that?
MB: Yes, we are not revealing the full car list right now, but will announce the first group this week, so look forward to that.
That was all the time that I had with Mike, so a big thank you to him for answering my questions.
Forza Horizon 5 is coming on November 9 for Xbox One, PC and Xbox Series X|S and will be included within Xbox Game Pass at launch.
