Forza Horizon 2 has been announced for Xbox One and Xbox 360 exactly one week before Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference. Arriving this Fall, it joins the likes of Sunset Overdrive as late 2014 Microsoft exclusives that could make a huge impact.
The original Forza Horizon debuted in 2012, and was well received. It brought the high-quality Forza racing experience to the open-world, competing with games such as Burnout and Need for Speed instead of racing simulation giant Gran Turismo. It was so successful that Playground Games, in collaboration with Turn 10 Studios, immediately began working on a sequel, except this time it’ll support Microsoft’s next-gen console as well. It’s worth noting that the Xbox 360 version is being developed by a studio outside of Playground Games, so the Xbox One version is receiving undivided attention.
This time around the franchise will have “hundreds of cars” including the brand new Lamborghini Huracan, and each of them can be driven in a variety of weather conditions, a first for the series.
Drivatar is back, and supposedly in better shape than Forza 5. It’ll continue to push the envelope for how realistic A.I. drivers can behave by analyzing player drivers and their behaviors and mimicking them in single-player scenarios.
Microsoft has been unloading big reveals prior to E3 on a weekly basis. If they don’t need to save big announcements like this for the show, how big can the show possibly be? We’ll find out next week when E3 rolls around.
