Matthew Brown

Worse in every regard compared to Horizon 4, except perhaps looks. The dialogue is terrible, feels more like an episode of Sesame Street. This could improve considerably if they kept the player-character silent, but the exchanges with NPCs are embarrassing. The "drivatar" AI is beyond belief, and don't seem to obey any of laws that govern the player. Moving directly from Horizon 4 to 5, I had to lower the difficulty twice just to do better than last place in every race. The "expedition" missions that expand the festival have been identical so far. Drive off road, putt around in a small arena for collectibles, suffer terrible dialogue. They are not fun. They have nothing to do with racing. Among dozens of other small problems that plague this game, the cinematic start of every race includes your UI fading in. As I occasionally play without audio, or very low audio, I can't hear my engine, and can't see my tachometer, and shifting is blind gamble. Fine if you stick to automatic, I guess. Every car will beat you off the line anyway.