It's a pretty solid package overall.ДЄpart from the sheer volume of activities, what really stood out for me are Storm Island's weather effects. What all this adds up to is a tremendous amount of off-road racing, especially when you take into account the additional Bucket List, Speed Trap and Speed Zone challenges, online races, and Showdown and Rival events. And last, but not least is Gauntlet вЂ“ night-time, point-to-point racing against the very best of Forza's drivers, and the very worst of Storm Island's elements. Cross Country Circuit features laps around mixed surfaces that take in dirt track and off-road routes. Extreme Cross Country is similar to Brawl racing, but dials up the proceedings with violent weather and even tougher courses. Brawl is an off-road race where you contend with some of the game's nastiest terrain, such as precipitous climbs and drops, and off-camber surfaces. Rampage is a point-to-point race where players are challenged with an obstacle-strewn course. Speaking of races, there's an all-new championship to tackle, and the game comprises some 90 new races in all, each following one of five new racing formats. Six new vehicles doesn't sound like much, but since it seems almost all cars from the original release can be modified with Storm Island-specific gear, the selection of cars available to race is pretty comprehensive.

There's also a Barn Find car, which I won't tell you about вЂ“ but I found it in about 20 minutes and am very happy I did, because it's one of my all-time favorite vehicles. To that end, five new cars join the original Forza Horizon 2 inventory specifically for that purpose -Robby Gordon's Speed Energy Drink Stadium Super Truck, a 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, a Ford Ranger T6 Rally Raid, a classic 1981 Ford Fiesta XR2, and the exceptionally tall 2013 MINI X-Raid All4 Racing Countryman. Storm Island is crisscrossed with dirt tracks, and the type of cars you need to be driving are jacked-up rally cars, SUVs and off-roaders вЂ“ or a car that has been heavily modified with raised suspension, dirt tires and rally transmission. Anyone expecting some glassy smooth blacktop to race around is going to be sorely disappointed. Matching this rough weather is even rougher terrain. Instead, the volcanic island has its own sub-tropical microclimate, and what that means is extreme weather: one moment it'll be bright and sunny the next, a storm will roll in, bringing with it howling winds and almost biblical deluges of rain.

What's different about Storm Island, as you might have gathered from its name, is that it's a far cry from the balmy climes of the Southern French/Northern Italian main game setting. When you do, you're transported to the eponymous island, which is a unique landmass that's around the size of one of the original game's five main areas. Storm Island is a whole new area of Playground Games' seminal open-world racer, and is accessed simply by driving to Nice harbor and electing to travel there. However, I've been playing it solidly since yesterday morning, and I must say that while on the surface it might look somewhat overpriced, it does actually offer pretty damn good value for money. What's also surprising is that at $20, just how expensive Storm Island is.

In a quite unexpected turn-up for the books, the first Forza Horizon 2 expansion pack was unleashed yesterday morning вЂ“ taking many by surprise.

Forza horizon 2 expansion pack