Quite a while back, I reviewed the pretty awesome Horizon Chase Turbo and its Ayrton Senna DLC from developer Aquiris Game Studio. Well, Aquiris are back with the sequel, Horizon Chase 2. I just hope that one of my favourite arcade racers has lost none of it’s charm over the years.

“Horizon Chase 2 is the evolution of the award-winning racing franchise. Born under the arcade sign, this game fulfills your senses through immersive and high-speed gameplay. This is the golden era of arcade racing brought to life over a modern and completely evolved experience.”

Horizon Chase 2 already saw a limited release as an exclusive through Apple Arcade in 2022. It then saw a release on the Epic Store and Nintendo Switch in 2023. And now, finally, the PlayStation and Xbox versions available to buy as I publish this article. I have been playing the Xbox version for this review… and I love it. Yeah, spoilers and all that. I usually leave my judgement for the end of my reviews but, Horizon Chase 2 is awesome and every bit as great as the original was, and still is.

In all honestly, there are no major leaps forward from the first game and that is not a bad thing at all. This is more of a refinement over any kind of overhaul. Though, the graphics have definitely been improved. They still have that cartoon-like style, only now much more busy and detailed. The environments in which the races take place are an absolute joy to experience, and I often found myself being distracted by the beauty of the locales that I was racing around. Everything is just so damn striking to look at, that I kind of wanted to just cruise around the tracks at a leisurely pace, instead of tear around them. Speaking of which, the sense of speed here is amazing and everything flies past you with a buttery smooth frame rate that never seems to falter.

The AI has been improved over its predecessor, and I found that racing against the opponents to be more of a challenge than any kind of nuisance. Now, I’m pretty sure there are fewer cars to drive with Horizon Chase 2. I’ve not played the first one for a while, but I do remember it having a wide array of vehicles. This sequel doesn’t seem to have as many, but the customisation options have been vastly improved. Not only can you change the colour of the cars, you can change how they look via body kits and new skins. You can even change the rims and there are various upgrades to improve the performance of each of the cars too.

Barry Leitch is back to provide the music. He also did the first game, and is famed for his work on the Top Gear (SNES) games that Horizon Chase 1 & 2 are spiritual successors of… which were spiritual successor of the Lotus video game series, which Barry also did the music for. The soundtrack for Horizon Chase 2 is every bit as great as Barry’s previous work, and it is full of nice little touches and nuances depending on the country that you are racing in. There’s something about Barry Leitch and arcade racers that just works.

In terms of gameplay modes, you get the same that you did with Horizon Chase Turbo. You have a World Tour and this is pretty much the main meat here and is exactly what you’d expect. You get to tour the globe and take part in races across multiple countries. Each country has three different regions and each region has multiple races to compete in. The better that you do in each race (place higher, pick up all the tokens), the more trophies you earn and the more trophies you have, the more you can unlock. You earn EXP and can level up your cars, which will unlock new upgrades. Then there is Tournament mode and what you get here are three different difficulties, which each one offering up multiple mini-tournaments consisting of four races each.

Finally, there’s Playground mode and my favourite mode because it is ever-changing. Every few days, you will be given different challenges to complete, spread across all of the races in the game. You have daily online random races in which you will go up against online opponents. There are also individual challenges with a multitude of race modifiers that offer up new challenges. Maybe you’ll have to win a race without using nitros, maybe you need to place first by having fewer than a set number of collisions and more. Win these races and unlock new goodies to play around with. You do get a multiplayer mode too. You can play local split screen with up to four players, online and even cross-play. But, full disclosure, I’ve not tried the multiplayer on Horizon Chase 2 (yet) because I have been so enthralled with the single-player modes. However, I did play a fair bit of multiplayer with the first game, and it was great fun, I don’t see why this sequel would be any different.

The racing in Horizon Chase 2 feels great. The cars handle well and the arcade feels are perfect. The AI offers a challenge without feeling like they are cheating. There’s not much in the way of rubber-banding here, something that the first game really did force on you. Even so, you can’t exactly sprint off into the lead with ease, and carving your way through the pack is immense fun. The races themselves have some really neat additions, such as day to night cycles there’s even changing weather and sandstorms to contend with, races can and do change as you’re speeding along.

You are looking at spending around £16- £19 for Horizon Chase 2 (depending on your chosen platform) and I think that is an incredible price for a game this great and one stuffed with so much content. If you enjoyed the original Horizon Chase Turbo, then buying this sequel is a no-brainer because it is more of the same, only tweaked and improved. If you have never played the original and really like retro-arcade racers, then I suggest that you just buy this and the first game (and the DLCs) because this series is pretty much the finest collection of retro-arcade racers around right now.