Review | Forza Horizon 4 – The Eliminator

Someone at Playground Games must have had the brilliant idea to add a battle royale to a racing game. And the rest of the studio must have laughed at him or her.. right?

Well, I guess they didn’t laugh. Because Playground Games have added a battle royale game to their open world arcade racing juggernaut. And we’ve played it. This is what we think.

Where to start…

You are driving across the countryside of Britain. And suddenly, between all the enormous windmills in a quaint purple field you see a neon sign: ”THE ELIMINATOR”

This brings up the option to join a new battle royale mode in the game. When you accept the challenge and join the Eliminator, you are faced with quite a long wait for matchmaking. When this is done you are joined by up to 71 other players. You’ll drive around in the same map as before, but suddenly everyone is your opponent.

All players start out with a 1965 Mini Cooper S. Which is a fun little car to drive, but probably not the car you’ll end up using in the final part of the elimination.

Before the game starts you’ll be able to pick your starting location. This can be anywhere on the map. But it’s important to remember that unique locations, towns and villages have more chances on loot. More on that later.

Avoiding or challenging

There is one obvious goal to all of this. You want to be the one to eliminate all the other players. Elimination can happen in various ways.

Challenges

In regular battle royale games players fight till they are the last man or team standing. In Forza there isn’t a whole lot of shooting and murdering. So.. how do you defeat other players? By racing them of course!

When a player is nearby you can challenge them to a race. You’ll get assigned a certain point within the circle. The player to reach this checkpoint first will continue playing. The other player is knocked out. Yes, the Eliminator is harsh.

My tactic? Avoid cars till you are in the smallest possible circle. This way you don’t risk losing in a challenge. But when you are driving a good car, you’d be smart to challenge as many people as possible.

Really don’t want to be challenged? You can hide your car from the minimap by stopping your car and waiting till your minimap arrow darkens. Other players will see you while driving around, but you’ll be invisible on the minimap.

Timeout

As with every other battle royale game, the map shrinks as the game progresses. It’s important to always check the map during a game of The Eliminator. When a new circle appears within the playable area, you’d better pay attention. If you are outside of the circle you’ll have a certain amount of time to get back in the circle. If you linger on for too long your timeout bar will fill up. And then it’s exit for you.

Final race

Challenges, timeouts.. but what happens when the circle gets really small? This is the moment you’ll be accepted to the final race. This race will determine the winner of the elimination. When the last circle has appeared, all remaining players will be racing towards a certain checkpoint on a different part of the map. The first to reach the circle wins The Eliminator.

After a refreshing and interesting game mode, this last race felt a little underwhelming to me. It’s somewhat luck based. And there is always a tree in the way. Always.

Forza Horizon 4 The Eliminator leads you to glory. Until you hit a tree.

Upgrading your car

There are ten tiers of cars in the game. As stated before you’ll start with a 1965 Mini Cooper. At towns, villages and noteworthy locations you’ll find other cars. This will help you in challenges against other players. You don’t want to be challenged by a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante while driving your Mini Cooper.

There are ten tiers of cars. Your Mini Cooper is a level 1 car. Level 10 cars include the Lamborghini Aventador 2012, RJ Anderson #37 Polaris Pro 2 Truck and the Hoonigan Gymkhana 10 Ford Escort Cosworth Group A.

That’s a mouthful.

Conclusion

The Eliminator is a fun, accessible way to engage with Forza Horizon 4. It isn’t too competitive, it gives players the options to play in different ways and makes great use of the wonderful open world Playground Games has created. If matchmaking is improved on this should be a mode added to every future Horizon game. Playground Games has created a reason to look at the game for a second, third or fourth time.

With The Eliminator you’ll also be able to obtain extra achievements. And you’ll be able to progress in-game with The Eliminator levels. And even if, after playing one time, you don’t like the mode you’ll at least have a nice December present. Everyone who finishes a match of The Eliminator receives the Toyota Supra. They’ve probably added this gift to celebrate the return of Toyota to the Horizon series.

Oh, and please never stop with the Eminem lyrics in the mini cutscenes. I can never get enough of Mom’s spaghetti.

It’s a free add-on for Forza Horizon 4, also available for Xbox Game Pass users on both PC and Xbox. It’s a great reason to return to the game but the matchmaking and final race does hamper the experience a little.

Forza Horizon 4: The Eliminator

7.8

7.8/10

Pros

• Accessible fun
• Different playstyles keep it fresh
• It's a battle royale in a car game!

Cons

• Matchmaking is slow
• The minimap could be bigger
• The final race is anticlimatic

Buy on the Microsoft Store