Microsoft; Xbox 360/Xbox One (version tested); £45; 3+

Forza Horizon has moved. The motoring festival that forms the focal point of this vast open racer has abandoned its original Colorado home, turning up instead on the Mediterranean coast.

Gone are the first game’s abrasive hipster bros; tamed are the obnoxious cutscenes that suffocated you with faux-cool lingo whenever you weren’t at the wheel. Sure, there is now a handful of rich 20-somethings racking up their insurance claims because, heck, Daddy can afford it, but this time they want you to be part of the fun rather than running you off the road like B-movie villains. They also stay out of the way for the majority of the game. Thank goodness.

It feels like Horizon 2 has matured significantly, then, but it’s still strictly iterative. There was plenty to love in developer Playground Games’ 2012 debut and it’s all back – just in more generous helpings. The move to Europe brings a much larger playspace, not only in physical dimensions – the map spans a condensed array of French and Italian cities complete with rolling fields, cliffside roads and long tunnels – but also in the spaces in between roads. The countryside is now open, allowing mad dashes through crops, fences and shrubbery.

The shining

With seemingly endless automotive freedom on and off road, the presentation takes a minor hit: there are noticeable texture issues on the Xbox One. There’s also little distinction in the environments themselves – while Horizon’s Colorado felt like a range of hyper distinct regions packed into one space, Horizon 2’s Europe feels more geographically authentic but more samey because of it.

Still, the 200 or so cars are shiny enough to make even the most apathetic magpie perk up and pay attention – there’s a gorgeous sheen to everything. Plus, the new weather effects and day/night cycle add compelling visual diversity to long drives.

It all makes for wonderful racing. No, wonderful driving.

That distinction is important in Horizon 2, because so much of the fun comes outside of races. The structure of the campaign is similar to the first game, but a couple of changes have shifted the way you progress. You still work through a mishmash of different events to progress to the next wristband level, but this time you travel between hub areas that add their own new events into the mix. To ascend to the next level you go on a Road Trip – a lengthy drive from one area to the next, through day and night, rain or shine.

The trips are some of the highlights of Horizon 2, and they give context to aimless cruises through the Italian and French hills. Reliving them at your leisure is just part of the extracurricular fun, and driving from point-to-point is always exhilarating – you’ll never want to fast travel (i.e. skip long sections using the map screen), despite having the option.

Structure and experience

Events are tied to car types – super cars, muscle cars, SUVs and the like – and it only takes around 15 championships to reach the final stage of the game. However, with almost 170 championships including just under 700 events, there’s a hell of a lot to do even after you’ve reached the finale – and it’s all enjoyable if repetitive by nature.

Earning XP has also changed, this time referring to a much more fleshed out skill-based system that rewards you with driver points for drifting, near misses, drafting, getting big air and more. As you go you’ll increase your overall level, add perks to an arbitrary progress tree and spin the Wheelspin, a random lucky dip available whenever you level up. This nets random rewards like credits or perhaps even a free ride. If there’s one flaw in the system it’s that the game makes progression feel slower with how it dishes out cars, even if you’re technically leveling up faster by earning kudos points.

Events like the plane chases from the original game have received tweaks to make the option even more unbelievable, this time featuring a barrage of stunt jets barrel rolling above your head with multicoloured vapour trails billowing out the back while you hurtle towards the finish line. There are also more set piece treats along the way, but they’re best left for you to discover on your own.

The new cross-country races add hilarity to the game’s racing, but they never quite hit the mark. Forza’s handling feels near flawless on road, but stray onto the mud and dirt and it feels floaty and difficult to control. This is exacerbated by the event design itself, which requires precise control to navigate through unforgivably narrow checkpoint spaces. It’s often a case of trial and error with the rewind button, which becomes annoying when your AI opponents run into no trouble at all while snaking through each course.

The fun of it all

Still, that’s hardly a real issue as there’s so much else to keep you occupied while you’re racing around the riviera. The new Bucket List challenges are excellent fun and a regular highlight, taking standard event challenges like time trials, near miss targets and more, and giving you a gorgeous car that you probably haven’t accrued the points to buy yet. It’s both a taster of the rides to come and a quick way to experience something off the beaten path as you drive between main events.

As a festival of speed, Forza Horizon 2 succeeds in almost every way. With such a strong offering of cars and events, and a gorgeous environment that feels more like a holiday destination than a game location, there’s strength and beauty in Playground Games’ second lap. On top, there’s a stronger multiplayer offering, complete with whole Road Trip events to share with your friends, which take advantage of the game’s spaciousness, the day/night cycle and dynamic weather additions. Add in the ability to start clubs and race socially and you have some real longevity here (even if forthcoming titles like DriveClub and The Crew promise a much more expansive social structure).

The game’s only issues are minor – a reliance on a race discipline it doesn’t quite master, and the fact that it really only builds on what we knew from the first game without ever striking out too far on its own. The Horizon offshoot has unshackled the Forza franchise, letting it run free into the wild, and this new adventure ensures that we don’t take that freedom for granted. Everything is bigger and better, everything is designed to make damn well sure that we’re having fun.