![\"2918\"](\"https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/27131752\/2918-1024x615.jpg\")
<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fTSUgXkfooA<\/p>\n
As an Australian I just had to play this game. Borrowing from a multitude of landscape around the country Forza Horizon 3 brings a new drop-in\/play-anywhere style of gameplay to this latest instalment of the arcade racer franchise.<\/p>\n
Also a new addition is Microsoft\u2019s \u201cPlay Anywhere\u201d feature enabling the game to seamlessly continue between both PC and Xbox platforms.<\/p>\n
I was given the opportunity to play on PC, the graphics incredibly detailed as you\u2019d expect. That wasn\u2019t to say the Xbox One wasn\u2019t holding its own by any means. Right next to me where a string of XB1s belting out the same series of tracks in gorgeous detail. Playing on the PC using an XB1 controller and then later on an XB1 itself I was just as satisfied.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whilst the game is set in Australia it\u2019s by no means modelled one to one on an actual section of Australian roads. One of the courses made available for example, had you driving through what looks to be stilted homes of far north Queensland only to crest a mountain and diving into the sandy beaches, 12 Apostles at your side. Australia may provide the source material for many of the games landmarks and settings but that\u2019s where it starts and ends. That is of course excluding the excruciatingly horrid Australian accent that you kind of expect but hoped wouldn\u2019t be in there narrating one of the NPC\u2019s in the now infamous helicopter drop in race you saw in the trailer.<\/p>\n
I spoke with a member of the development team who all but confirmed the source of Australia was meant only as a setting rather than a recreation. Surprisingly the demo tracks were quite Victorian heavy, the Yarra Valley, the Apostles, what looked like Geelong\u2019s beachfront and then Queensland and the rainforests. Absent were the obvious Sydney international icons such as the Harbour Bridge & Opera House but I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see them in time to come.<\/p>\n
![\"3075\"](\"https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/27131751\/3075-1024x615.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The cars look incredible. Microsoft have never shied away from their detail when it comes to their car modelling and the attention to detail is second to none. I do get the feeling that we\u2019re almost running out of room to push this forward though. They look so incredibly real now between it\u2019s bigger brother \u201cForza\u201d and Sony stalwart & counterpart Gran Turismo car models are so beautifully detailed they\u2019re as if they came out of the manufacturer\u2019s own CAD files.<\/p>\n
As far as the actual gameplay goes, it\u2019s just plain old fun! The Horizon series is unabashedly an arcade racer and shouldn\u2019t be taken as anything more. The game allows you to sit behind the wheel of a multitude of different vehicles, not just your standard supercars. If you have the interest to race in trucks, off-road buggies and more (similar to Dirt 2 & 3) then this will be right up your alley. If you\u2019re after a hardcore car simulation steer clear, but then you probably already knew that.<\/p>\n
Forza Horizon 3 is as close as we\u2019re getting to the awesomeness that was Burnout in this generation of console and with a heavy emphasis on friendly rivalries this is a title you\u2019ll want to be playing with, or rather against, friends in.\u00a0Look out for FH3 in September this year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fTSUgXkfooA As an Australian I just had to play this game. Borrowing from a multitude of landscape around…\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[892,1291,193,1292],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"reckoner_social_message":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}