I hate Phil claiming it's a licensing issue to backcompat all games. That's a bullshit excuse. They don't want to get games working unless they can make money for it. That's the reason so SAY IT. As the saying goes, don't "piss in my face and tell me it's raining".
The Wii managed to do it, the PS2 and 3 managed to do it, the Wii-U managed to do it, the Gameboy line and DS line all managed to do it, all without licensing deals. They COULD make them run off the discs, but it's not economically viable to do so in their opinions (partially because of the way they have to approach BC), so just SAY that.
There very much are licensing issues with putting games on BC. Theoretically, I suppose they could make BC solely disc-based and allow the entire OG Xbox and 360 catalog to work via the licensing initially done for the game when it was made, which it sounds like is what you're wanting/expecting. However, for people like me who frankly don't really want to deal with discs anymore, lost some physical discs along the way, and/or want to play games they hadn't previously owned, digital versions being made available is the answer. And if digital versions are available for sale, they have to re-license those games. If they're from publishers that still exist, they also have to obtain their permission to rerelease them. If they're from publishers that no longer exist, the rights get even trickier and are occasionally impossible.
Unless you're expecting MS to expend tremendous effort/expenditure to port the entire OG Xbox/360 catalog and give it all away for free digitally (which is wildly unreasonable), they are fairly hamstrung on what can/can't be made available. It's not a "bullshit excuse", it's the legal reality of what they can and can't do, and even if they were willing to do a shitload of work for zero financial return to make this happen, publishers who hold rights to games would likely prevent them from doing so anyway, because they'd understandably prefer that those games either be resold or to have someone buy and try a game for the first time that maybe they missed on initial release last generation.
Some games are also non-starters because of music, brands, characters, etc. within those games. Spencer mentioned on one of these how much he tried to find a way to put Goldeneye on Xbox and ran into myriad legal issues. Honestly, the vast majority of the 360/OG Xbox games most people wanted on BC ended up on there, and it's no small thing the effort that went into emulating the 360/OG Xbox hardware as basically a program on the Xbox One, plus the countless deals and agreements that had to be navigated to pull off getting popular games on BC.
Forcing people to either already own or track down a physical copy of whatever BC game they want to play makes BC way less appealing in ways it doesn't have to be. Expecting MS to give away two generations of games digitally for free is even more ridiculous and probably wouldn't even be allowed by multiple publishers. I know that I personally have zero interest in trying to eBay some rando's scratched-up Splinter Cell disc plus shipping cost, but buying it for a few bucks digitally on the Xbox One BC? That's far less annoying.
I guess you're just really wanting to be able to pop in a disc of Eternal Sonata or something and play it on current (and future) hardware, but that's a hardship you might just have to deal with, because gutting the viability/usage of BC by making it disc-only hurts both MS and the consumer. The alternative of most of the games most people want being made available for free if they have a disc copy of it or for purchase if they don't have or don't want a disc is pretty damn good and very arguably a far better idea for everyone than limiting it to the dying realm of physical media.
Look at it this way. Even if whatever game you're wanting on BC isn't on there, BC is far bigger than just that. The route MS chose with it was successful and widely embraced to the point of MS making it part of their plans going forward, at a time when the rest of the industry was sprinting away from BC, in case it wasn't self-evident that you were citing BC-capable consoles from years/decades ago to try and criticize the one company that presently seems to give a shit about BC. MS is carrying the BC torch to help preserve games and send a message that this is something people care about, and you're complaining about it because they dare to "make money" off it? Seriously?
Really starting to seem like the X1 will never have a 5-star game on this website. Crackdown 3 seems incredibly unlikely.
This and FH3 probably deserved it more than any others and didn't happen.
Yeah, it's a little disappointing. I can make a pretty damn good argument for OG Titanfall and Horizon 2 as well, but those games came out during a period where so much negativity surrounded all things Xbox One that neither really had a chance. GB would have honestly had to "answer" to the gaming community if they'd dared to say anything positive about an Xbox One game at the time, and I get that some of that probably crept in, either subconsciously or otherwise.
I do really appreciate that Jeff put in some time beyond the simple "review requirements" with the game this year and had a lengthy discussion about it in the video, as it seemed like Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 were kinda mainlined in the campaign due to understandable time constraints of the job and then dismissed under a "eh, it's another Forza game" mindset that was a bit of a disservice, IMO.
Still, I must admit that I found myself a bit bummed that this one didn't break through the 5-star glass ceiling here. The game's "flaws" are minor at best. Sure, the showcase events do feel a bit lame at this point, but are so brief and inconsequential that they don't merit much negative attention. Also, I found myself asking what specific changes need to be made to the "standard" horizon event structure. I didn't get the sense that even Jeff had a good answer for that, and that it was more just a generalized "change for the sake of change" sentiment there.
I have a tough time jumping on the "change it up" wagon when these games are so goddamn good. I'm reminded of the halcyon days of the CoD series in its Modern Warfare days. Yeah, they changed it due to popular demand, and it's gotten shittier every year as a result. It wasn't broke, but they "fixed" it. I don't want the excellent Forza Horizon series to follow suit.
The fact is, no one else is even coming close to making racing games this good anymore. Gran Turismo has become this wildly unapproachable, up-its-own-ass, overproduced, and underdelivering shell of what it once was, NFS has been EA'd into oblivion, games like Project Cars and Assetto Corsa are stale enough to make the mainline Forza games seem like Burnout, etc. Playground honestly could get away with mailing this shit in, but instead keeps improving these games to the point of what's very nearly perfection.
I just don't see where that fifth star deserves to be taken away. Horizon 4 looks phenomenal and runs like a dream on PC. The Xbox One X version has the choice it should of 4K/30 or high-res/60, and the regular Xbox One version scales fine. HDR implementation is great this time. The seasons, online world, and tweaks here and there to add some more fun (as Jeff mentioned) absolutely make Horizon 4 feel like more than just an iterative thing.
I somewhat understood the nitpicking on Horizon 3 (spotty PC launch) and Horizon 2 (flagship title on then-hated system), but with Horizon 4, it really feels harsh. It feels like it's getting punished more than it needs to for series fatigue, but also that some of the elements now being called "tired" didn't really get all that much credit when they were fresh ideas, either.
This is a lot of words to whine a bit about a review score, but it irks me a bit that Horizon 2, 3, and 4 are all pretty stellar overall, and none of them got the full seal of approval from GB. Ultimately, the 4-star rating here, while certainly not calling the game "bad" or anything, is still on the very low-end compared with most of the review scores for the game. IMO, Horizon 4 might be the best racing game ever, and it's unquestionably the best one this generation. That should merit 5 stars.
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