Forza Horizon 6 is a great open-world driving game. It's not a hardcore racing sim, although you can fine-tune your car and jack up the difficulty if you wish. What it excels at is low-key chilling. You get exotic cars like candy, and now the engine features ray-traced global illumination and reflections, so that Aston Martin Vulcan gleams in the sun like a fiery chariot of the gods. Japan is the setting, and while Tokyo could have been bigger, the map is as beautiful and fun to explore as ever. There are idyllic country farms to cruise past, highways to blister across, and snowy mountains to climb. You can hunt down regional mascots or try to earn three stars by hitting 200 mphs through speed traps. All sorts of races are available, from cross-country epics to winding street races to rally mudpits. My favorite cars so far are my Nissan GT-R and my orange Lamborghini Hurcan. Could the campaign be more linear? Perhaps. Is the driving AI full of cheaters on any difficulty past Above-Average? I think so. Still, these are minor knocks. If you have any interest in a fun driving game that'll occasionally make you think you're really in Japan (those graphics are good), then check out Forza Horizon 6.
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MOUSE: PI For Hire is a boomer-shooter (man, I hate that term) with a classic animated art style reminiscent of the Steam-Boat Willy era. It's an amazing looking game that absolutely nails what it's going for visually. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't quite hold up. Aiming for a noir story with goofy cartoon elements, MOUSE stumbles with its basic arsenal that just isn't that fun to use. Take a gander at this exciting line up: a pistol, a shotgun, a double-barrel shotgun, a tommy gun, and a cannon ball launcher. The only weapon of note so far after 8 hours of play is the devarnisher, which melts the skin off enemies, leaving only their bones. The feel of these weapons just isn't right--there's no satisfying gib pile after dispatching an enemy with the shotgun like in Doom--and the levels are cramped arenas that don't really stick in your memory. The story is detailed but uninteresting, and the cheese puns are over the top, to the point where I just wish they'd left the whole anthropomorphic mouse idea on the cutting table. What the game needed was more creative weaponry. It's a cartoon world, why can't I have a giant mallet or an anvil launcher? So despite its good looks, I'm not sure I'll finish MOUSE: PI For Hire.
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