Review copies for Forza Horizon 2 on the Xbox One went out to the press on Tuesday. But Microsoft isn’t just letting us get such an early look. They’re giving you an early hands-on, as well.
It’s generally understood that if a film distributor doesn’t show a movie to critics prior to release it’s probably a stinker. Studios would rather audiences discover that for themselves on opening weekend, instead of being steered away in advance by a bad review on Rotten Tomatoes.
Video game access works the same way. When game reviewers don’t receive their copies of games until the day before, that’s also not a good sign.
Conversely, when a publisher throws a demo into the wild, for anyone to download and play two weeks before a game is released, that shows some serious confidence, especially considering how critical the traditional video game audience can be.
There’s no demo available for the Xbox 360 version of the game, but we wouldn’t read into that. It makes sense that Microsoft would want to only be showing the Xbox One version at the moment, as Forza 5 demonstrates the graphics power of the Xbox One perhaps better than any other game currently available for the system.
In Titanfall, available for both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One, the mechanics of game play did not suffer on the Xbox 360, compared to the next-generation version. Read what you will into that, regarding how Forza Horizon 2 might perform on the Xbox 360, compared to the Xbox One.
Forza Horizon 2 will be released for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on Sept. 30.
Image via Microsoft