9 Upcoming Must-Play Xbox One Exclusives

By James McGrath /

5. Forza Horizon 2

Alright€”this one is also coming to the 360, but it€™s a Microsoft exclusive, so Sony won€™t see a piece of, and that€™s what matters. What The Crew seems intent on accomplishing with an open-world United States, Forza Horizon 2 is attempting with a sizable chunk of Southern France, Italy and other Southern European bits strewn together. Just how are they bringing it all to life? A technique known as Photogrammetry allows FH2€™s designers to take pictures of objects in the real world, and through additional processes, create a lifelike asset of, well€ just about anything.The tiniest of details - from nuanced road textures, to physically simulated weather that realistically effects your visibility and handling, to the broader European, country landscapes - make Forza Horizon 2 the best looking racing game of the new generation. Lighting was of utmost importance when determining how to deliver the most visually authentic experience, so Forza€™s programmers went and built a working simulation of the Earth's atmosphere. If the sky is grey, it€™s because of an excess of particulates that is physically converting to rain, and when it does, it will fall from the heavens, bead-up all over your gorgeous car bodies, drip onto the asphalt and fill the cracks in the street. Rainbows will naturally happen because€ science. There€™s also going to be a bigger focus on customization and community in Forza Horizon 2, with the return of style points and drive-atar features. That€™s right - virtual ghosts of friends and online strangers will randomly be ripping around the open-world. You can challenge behaviorally accurate bots to stay sharp, or race the world for real on September 30th.