Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox, PC, £54.99 or included with Xbox Game Pass)
Verdict: Driving for everyone
Rating: 
The same holds true for driving in real life as it is for most driving games: You need to be able to understand what you are doing before you take the wheel. You’ll be unable to use your reflexes or learn the correct button combinations and will soon be stumbling around every corner.
The Forza Horizon series of games has a fifth installment, which is released this week. The entry requirements are low here. Fun is the main focus.
Just hop into any one of a hundred different vehicles — from decades-old vans to bleeding-edge supercars — and whizz around some exotic location.
In this instance, Mexico. The Horizon series is well-known for its amazing graphics, but number 5, which recreates North American country in stunning detail, is something else.
It’s photorealism. Reality is always presenting beautiful sunsets, flamingo-ed waters, and great, cataclysmic storms.
Most of the time, you’ll be driving through this beautiful scenery and taking part in various races or imaginative driving challenges as part a festival that focuses on extreme sports.
But the game is accommodating: if the crowds and techno beats get a little too much — as they did, at times, for me — then you can switch on the car radio’s classical music channel and simply drive around the Mexican countryside. It goes from being rad to relaxing in a flash.
The Horizon series, like any long-running operation, will soon face the question of what changes with each game — other than the setting. It’s hard to argue with something so well-constructed and enjoyable. The road is ahead.
Age Of Empires IV (PC, £49.99 or included with Xbox Game Pass)
Verdict: History is at hyperspeed
Rating: 
How fast can you click? I hope it’s really fast. Age Of Empires IV will require you to master keyboard shortcuts.
Click! Create some villagers. Click! Set them up to gather resources. Click! Raise an army. Click! Send them to the front.
Keep clicking until you have passed through many historical ages and defeated all of your opponents.
It’s just as fast-paced as the original game, almost 25 years ago. There are only a few notable innovations, such as more distinct warring civilizations. This series will eventually become tiresome.