So far I kinda like it… for now. I’ve been getting 3 medals on everything from B class and the majority of A class. Already unlocked S1 class a while ago but I’m still busy with A class. Did 2 bucket list challenges and just collected my barn find as well. Speed/drift/jump zones I wait with until later, I want to focus on the racing first.
I honestly like the 3-medal challenges, also in BM. So far the extra things I had to do were relatively easy, most of the time it’s beat a time, reach a high speed or score an amount of skill points which are all relatively easy.
Started out in that Hot Wheels buggy but it sure is crap on it’s own Hot Wheels expansion. Switched to a Ford Cobra and later a BMW both in B class and things went a lot better. In A I started with the Ford Focus HE and later the Merc A45 AMG HE until I found out that’s not the type of car you need. I’m also enjoying a whole new series of cars, mainly the sedans. Had a blast in A class with my A800 Mercedes pre-order car and also the Infinity Eau Rouge. Shift into highest gear on those speed thingies and you fly by the other drivatars quite fast.
I’m also playing with 75% assists. IIRC average drivatar difficulty / STM off, ESP off, ABS off / manual gearing / driving line off / rewind off / cosmetic dmg. Seems about right on the unpredictable nature of this expansion and usually it takes 1 race to get used to a track and a second attempt to get the 3 stars. I could probably increase difficulty more and still win but screw it, I’m already driving without the line and with rewind off and I prefer it that way. And this way it all stays chill and relaxed.
Haven’t found a single bonus board yet but then again I barely left the plastic tracks either.
Driving on the plastic feels a bit more slippery than on tarmac but I guess in the end that’s fine. I was FAR more impressed with driving on the snow than driving on plastic though.
The tracks themselves then, most of the stunts are fun but getting a boosted jump and landing next to the track happens occasionally. Even if your car resets it’s still possible to win the race at the difficulty I’m driving so that’s okay. I kinda miss corkscrews in the stunts though? Or is that not part of Hot Wheels “lore”? lol
Multiplayer I still have to give a try, will do that tomorrow.
I have a feeling that once the novelty wears off this expansion will get boring fast. On one side I’m glad Playground tried something different (at least in the Forza franchise since let’s face it, other racing games have done this before already). But on the other side it’s a bit over the top and it doesn’t really fit with the entire Australia theme of FH3 IMO. Blizzard Mountain was a great expansion, Tasmania would have been outstanding as a followup. But I guess they were too lazy to send a team over again to down under. Instead we get the orange plastic tracks mounted on copy/paste graphics of the existing world (a main city AGAIN, a forest AGAIN, shipwrecks AGAIN, a big mountain AGAIN… you get the point) which results in a mediocre expansion. Initial impressions are good (not as good as BM though) but I fear it will get old fast.
On the positive side I have this to say :
- It’s new, it’s refreshing, it’s fun at least for now. I wasn’t playing FH3 anymore other than the weekly Forzathons to collect new cars, this now has me returning to FH3 for a few days.
- Lighting / graphics / sky look stunning again. Also really cool how the tracks are lit up at night, the fire loops at night and heck I even like the dino’s.
- Different cars do better now, nice to focus on top speed mostly and drive cars I would normally not drive often.
- There sure is a LOT of plastic road. Do not underestimate how much more kilometers of road there is now, some parts have 2, 3 or 4 roads almost on top of each other. This is the one main advantage of the plastic tracks IMO is that instead of driving on a 2D surface, you now have more or less a 3rd dimension. They should have further worked on that though and add a couple of underground tunnels and underwater tunnels (with glass). But again, probably not part of the Hot Wheels “lore”.
