A fun racing game that makes a really good first impression but quickly wears out its welcome.
Hot Wheels Unleashed feels like the perfect Hot Wheels game - you can collect a ton of exact replicas of Hot Wheels cars from your childhood and then take them to the courses that are made up of a bunch of orange track pieces that weave all around your basement. The driving feels surprisingly pretty good and executing a perfect drift feels great. But once the initial shock of "hey this is actually pretty fun!" wears off, the flaws become apparent pretty quickly.
While the tracks built around different environments like your basement, a skatepark, a construction site, etc. are kind of neat, it's hard to really enjoy them. The game doesn't do much with camera tricks or anything to make you feel small and you're racing through these levels so fast I don't usually notice I'm racing under a couch or driving around a kitchen sink until I crash or flip off the track. And if you’re not noticing those big background set pieces, there’s not a lot that sets one orange track apart from another orange track making the levels all feel kind of same-y and boring. The actual progression loop is built around loot boxes - loot boxes that have no problem giving you duplicates of cars you already have. Luckily, you can’t buy said loot boxes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the random car drops suck.
While the core gameplay and the idea of racing around your living room is fun, that childhood joy doesn’t last more than a couple races. Every aspect of the game feels like it’s intent on being an arcade racer but it never really hits that casual, light-hearted fun that other arcade racers have.
+ Great collection of fun Hot Wheels cars
+ It’s fun to race through tracks set up around a basement
+ Good selection of player-made content
- Loot boxes as primary form of unlocking cars
- Tracks all feel pretty samey and the environments aren’t noticeable
- Very unforgiving races
- Wonky physics
- Boring campaign
- Repetitive generic soundtrack
Hot Wheels Unleashed feels like the perfect Hot Wheels game - you can collect a ton of exact replicas of Hot Wheels cars from your childhood and then take them to the courses that are made up of a bunch of orange track pieces that weave all around your basement. The driving feels surprisingly pretty good and executing a perfect drift feels great. But once the initial shock of "hey this is actually pretty fun!" wears off, the flaws become apparent pretty quickly.
While the tracks built around different environments like your basement, a skatepark, a construction site, etc. are kind of neat, it's hard to really enjoy them. The game doesn't do much with camera tricks or anything to make you feel small and you're racing through these levels so fast I don't usually notice I'm racing under a couch or driving around a kitchen sink until I crash or flip off the track. And if you’re not noticing those big background set pieces, there’s not a lot that sets one orange track apart from another orange track making the levels all feel kind of same-y and boring. The actual progression loop is built around loot boxes - loot boxes that have no problem giving you duplicates of cars you already have. Luckily, you can’t buy said loot boxes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the random car drops suck.
While the core gameplay and the idea of racing around your living room is fun, that childhood joy doesn’t last more than a couple races. Every aspect of the game feels like it’s intent on being an arcade racer but it never really hits that casual, light-hearted fun that other arcade racers have.
+ Great collection of fun Hot Wheels cars
+ It’s fun to race through tracks set up around a basement
+ Good selection of player-made content
- Loot boxes as primary form of unlocking cars
- Tracks all feel pretty samey and the environments aren’t noticeable
- Very unforgiving races
- Wonky physics
- Boring campaign
- Repetitive generic soundtrack
I just want to have a talk with whoever designed the spiders.
The first trailer for this game was so amazing; I was so hyped. The cars, those fucking orange tracks; everything was beautiful. After seeing some gameplay, I began to feel that the environments that the tracks are built in are kind of boring and lack any sort of "liveliness". Now that I have played the game, that is exactly the problem.
I will reiterate, the Cars looks so so so so good. These are REAL Hotwheels driving around in my screen; meticulous work went into them. The track pieces look so good too. The problem, however, is that the game is just fundamentally boring to me. The racing itself feels fine, but I think the deadness of the world really sucks this game right down the chute. Stunt Track Driver is my favourite Hot Wheels experience, and that is because the levels are real. They are that fantasy of building cool tracks in your house, on objects that you live with; with real alive/moving things interacting as you race. On that first level when you hit the cat's tail, or the dog barks at the car. Jumping over stairs and fish bowls, ultimately crashing into that TV; that is a REAL environment.
The way these tracks are built just do not tap into that same feeling, adding on to the empty environments. The tracks are pretty much all nonsense logic defying floating in the air. I cannot tell what I am seeing around me most of the time, so the only visuals I have is the monotonous HotWheels tracks.
I played a little of the campaign, and it reuses the same tracks way too much. I pretty much HATE reused content in racing games. I race against easy AI for numerous reasons:
1.) I don't trust driving game AI's not to be bullshit some way or another
2.) I usually hate wasting my time losing in a lot of arcade type games, and that is even more stronger in racing games.
This style I have leads me to enjoy scenery and seeing whats next in tracks over the actually mechanics of driving better than opponents. So when I have no real scenery to look at PLUS that non-scenery is reused constantly, I go into a death state. I also don't like Laps for this same reason, and most of the races are laps. I only like laps in one games, Sonic All Star Racing Transformed, cause the maps actually fucking change each lap.
The Gacha system for new Hotwheels is kind of annoying and dumb.
Finally, the track creator is kind of cool. I tried making a more realistic track that might be created IRL (or at least Stunt Track Driver logic). However, when you pick what start you want, you can pick from Circuit or Point A-B race starters. You can edit individual pieces of the tracks once you have placed them down. You CANNOT swap between which type of race you picked without deleted all the way back to the beginning. This is extremely heinous and made me instantly hate building tracks.
The music is also fucking boring ass corporate E-sports EDM/Techno, whatever. BLand as hell.
SO yeah, this is the best HotWheels game at portraying the visuals of the cars, but kind of lacks in any personality.
I will reiterate, the Cars looks so so so so good. These are REAL Hotwheels driving around in my screen; meticulous work went into them. The track pieces look so good too. The problem, however, is that the game is just fundamentally boring to me. The racing itself feels fine, but I think the deadness of the world really sucks this game right down the chute. Stunt Track Driver is my favourite Hot Wheels experience, and that is because the levels are real. They are that fantasy of building cool tracks in your house, on objects that you live with; with real alive/moving things interacting as you race. On that first level when you hit the cat's tail, or the dog barks at the car. Jumping over stairs and fish bowls, ultimately crashing into that TV; that is a REAL environment.
The way these tracks are built just do not tap into that same feeling, adding on to the empty environments. The tracks are pretty much all nonsense logic defying floating in the air. I cannot tell what I am seeing around me most of the time, so the only visuals I have is the monotonous HotWheels tracks.
I played a little of the campaign, and it reuses the same tracks way too much. I pretty much HATE reused content in racing games. I race against easy AI for numerous reasons:
1.) I don't trust driving game AI's not to be bullshit some way or another
2.) I usually hate wasting my time losing in a lot of arcade type games, and that is even more stronger in racing games.
This style I have leads me to enjoy scenery and seeing whats next in tracks over the actually mechanics of driving better than opponents. So when I have no real scenery to look at PLUS that non-scenery is reused constantly, I go into a death state. I also don't like Laps for this same reason, and most of the races are laps. I only like laps in one games, Sonic All Star Racing Transformed, cause the maps actually fucking change each lap.
The Gacha system for new Hotwheels is kind of annoying and dumb.
Finally, the track creator is kind of cool. I tried making a more realistic track that might be created IRL (or at least Stunt Track Driver logic). However, when you pick what start you want, you can pick from Circuit or Point A-B race starters. You can edit individual pieces of the tracks once you have placed them down. You CANNOT swap between which type of race you picked without deleted all the way back to the beginning. This is extremely heinous and made me instantly hate building tracks.
The music is also fucking boring ass corporate E-sports EDM/Techno, whatever. BLand as hell.
SO yeah, this is the best HotWheels game at portraying the visuals of the cars, but kind of lacks in any personality.
É um pecado esse jogo sem tão fraco
Tanto, mas tanto potencial desperdiçado que nossa senhora. O jogo tem uma das tematicas mais legais do mundo de corrida por representar os carrinhos de uma forma magnifica, porém tudo se perde na terrível qualidade das pistas e em como elas não são nem um pouco divertidas.
A dificuldade do game é bem quebrada, o normal é maluquice de difícil e o fácil é quebrado de como você completa uma pista sem o menor desafio pra cima de você.
Como disse antes a qualidade das pistas é MUITO ruim. Tentam criar aquela representação de ambientes com coisas gigantes já que estamos correndo com carrinhos de brinquedo, mas elas são chatas, não usam todo o potencial de uma possível exploração de cenário usando saltos e tudo mais, fora que existe um cenário que é totalmente não plausível que é o da construção do prédio. Tipo??? Se o jogo se baseia em um brinquedo, pq diabos teria uma pista em um prédio em construção? Faltou criatividade para as pistas, além de serem poucas as variações de fundos de cenários, tem sei lá, uns 5 cenários diferentes com em torno de 100 corridas que se repetem MUITO.
Pra consolidar a montanha de decepção, o modo de desbloqueio dos carrinhos é através de lootbox..... sim, isso mesmo. Você até tem como desbloquear eles com as engrenagens (dinheiro que ganha com corridas) mas é uma quantia muito limitada e que, pra desbloquear tudo organicamente, você precisaria se afundar no jogo para conseguir, fora que, ao abrir algumas lootbox, vc obviamente vai tirar muitos carros repetidos. Acho que não preciso dizer mais do que isso....
A jogabilidade não é de todo ruim, pelo contrário é gostosinha, mas todo o restante faz com que o game seja chato, vazio, e muito pouco interessante, onde o tédio vai te pegar em questão de menos de 1 hora de gameplay.
Tanto, mas tanto potencial desperdiçado que nossa senhora. O jogo tem uma das tematicas mais legais do mundo de corrida por representar os carrinhos de uma forma magnifica, porém tudo se perde na terrível qualidade das pistas e em como elas não são nem um pouco divertidas.
A dificuldade do game é bem quebrada, o normal é maluquice de difícil e o fácil é quebrado de como você completa uma pista sem o menor desafio pra cima de você.
Como disse antes a qualidade das pistas é MUITO ruim. Tentam criar aquela representação de ambientes com coisas gigantes já que estamos correndo com carrinhos de brinquedo, mas elas são chatas, não usam todo o potencial de uma possível exploração de cenário usando saltos e tudo mais, fora que existe um cenário que é totalmente não plausível que é o da construção do prédio. Tipo??? Se o jogo se baseia em um brinquedo, pq diabos teria uma pista em um prédio em construção? Faltou criatividade para as pistas, além de serem poucas as variações de fundos de cenários, tem sei lá, uns 5 cenários diferentes com em torno de 100 corridas que se repetem MUITO.
Pra consolidar a montanha de decepção, o modo de desbloqueio dos carrinhos é através de lootbox..... sim, isso mesmo. Você até tem como desbloquear eles com as engrenagens (dinheiro que ganha com corridas) mas é uma quantia muito limitada e que, pra desbloquear tudo organicamente, você precisaria se afundar no jogo para conseguir, fora que, ao abrir algumas lootbox, vc obviamente vai tirar muitos carros repetidos. Acho que não preciso dizer mais do que isso....
A jogabilidade não é de todo ruim, pelo contrário é gostosinha, mas todo o restante faz com que o game seja chato, vazio, e muito pouco interessante, onde o tédio vai te pegar em questão de menos de 1 hora de gameplay.
It's been so long since I last got invested into a non-narrative game. Reminds me a lot from when I was a kid with my little black DS Lite playing Beat That!
What I love the most is how the game accepts the idea that the cars are toys, so the design (image and sound) works with that line. Has some charm in that
What I love the most is how the game accepts the idea that the cars are toys, so the design (image and sound) works with that line. Has some charm in that
Poxa, eu queria tanto ter gostado disso aqui. Das primeiras vezes que joguei e não bateu eu fiquei achando que o problema era eu. Mudei dificuldade, insisti, joguei mais fases... mas não teve jeito, eu não gostei.
Não me dei bem com os controles e correr não era divertido. Na dificuldade média o jogo é mais difícil do que deveria ser, deixando muito difícil ganhar uma corrida (eu mesma não consegui nem tive paciência pra insistir e ficar melhor), na fácil ele é fácil demais, sem desafio algum. E sei lá, as pistas só não são divertidas.
O jogo comete um crime enorme que é ser um jogo sobre miniaturas que não te faz se sentir pequenininho no meio de tudo. Claro, são pistas de hot wheels, e tem coisas maiores pra indicar que você está num quarto, ou porão ou etc, mas nada passa esse senso de escala enquanto você corre. Os cenários não são muito integrados às pistas também, o que me parece um desperdício enorme num jogo assim. Sei lá, eu queria passar no meio dos móveis, ter outros brinquedos participando das pistas, pular sobre um ursinho de pelúcia, qualquer coisa assim, sabe?
Tecnicamente eu achei bem bonito, as texturas de tudo lembram os brinquedos mesmo.
E os carrinhos são LINDOS. Eu queria todos na vida real. É uma pena que não teve um jogo tão legal pra acompanhar os carrinhos.
Não me dei bem com os controles e correr não era divertido. Na dificuldade média o jogo é mais difícil do que deveria ser, deixando muito difícil ganhar uma corrida (eu mesma não consegui nem tive paciência pra insistir e ficar melhor), na fácil ele é fácil demais, sem desafio algum. E sei lá, as pistas só não são divertidas.
O jogo comete um crime enorme que é ser um jogo sobre miniaturas que não te faz se sentir pequenininho no meio de tudo. Claro, são pistas de hot wheels, e tem coisas maiores pra indicar que você está num quarto, ou porão ou etc, mas nada passa esse senso de escala enquanto você corre. Os cenários não são muito integrados às pistas também, o que me parece um desperdício enorme num jogo assim. Sei lá, eu queria passar no meio dos móveis, ter outros brinquedos participando das pistas, pular sobre um ursinho de pelúcia, qualquer coisa assim, sabe?
Tecnicamente eu achei bem bonito, as texturas de tudo lembram os brinquedos mesmo.
E os carrinhos são LINDOS. Eu queria todos na vida real. É uma pena que não teve um jogo tão legal pra acompanhar os carrinhos.
this is just mario kart with fortnite skin
absolutely love when a racing game interrupts the race with text boxes explaining how to race. very intuitive design. also love when the first thing a game bombards me with is "LOOK AT ALL OF THIS DLC YOU CAN BUY"
for what it is, it's fine. it feels like what you would want a hot wheels game to feel like, minus the fact that the tracks are absolutely boring. they only get exciting in very short instances, and they mostly feel bland and too open. did these guys never play Stunt Track Driver??
whatever. 10 year old me would have adored this. glad i played it for free.
for what it is, it's fine. it feels like what you would want a hot wheels game to feel like, minus the fact that the tracks are absolutely boring. they only get exciting in very short instances, and they mostly feel bland and too open. did these guys never play Stunt Track Driver??
whatever. 10 year old me would have adored this. glad i played it for free.
It’s just not good. Drifting feels like trash. Races aren’t engaging or competitive. Game looks pretty but feels very cheap. Not fun, I’d avoid.
Well it's not really a bad game but personally I'm disappointed to say the least.
The game plays fine, the cars look great and collecting cars is satisfying, but there's so much paid content, the game literally feels unfinished.
Some of the mechanics don't work well either, tilting the car mid-air, or drifting, the handling just doesn't feel good.
Also there isn't enough content, every race feels the same, even the boss races are just normal races but longer.
As for the stages, I really like how they look, and the stage builder is a nice addition.
Final Rating: "Weak" ~ 4/10.
The game plays fine, the cars look great and collecting cars is satisfying, but there's so much paid content, the game literally feels unfinished.
Some of the mechanics don't work well either, tilting the car mid-air, or drifting, the handling just doesn't feel good.
Also there isn't enough content, every race feels the same, even the boss races are just normal races but longer.
As for the stages, I really like how they look, and the stage builder is a nice addition.
Final Rating: "Weak" ~ 4/10.
If you are not playing it you are missing out? Is game itself 4.5/5 stars? No, but editor and maps made by community are. If you are into creation this will be miracle for you. If you like newer ending stream of original maps here it is. It has some shortcomings when it comes to game-play but it is acceptable even on switch where I play. More DLCs are on the way.
There is a lot of monetizing , but frankly you do not need it. My 4th car out of like 100 I have is my best one and actually do not care about more. You need to have dlc to play some of community tracks but you can play a lot of great maps without dlc content. Most pricey car like 1,200 in game currency and I have 40k of it at the moment and have all cars no problem. You get all the stuff really fast.
I won't describe to you editor, check it online and see it for yourself. IT IS AWESOME!
Completed all campaign challenges + 1st dlc ones and waiting for more, as these are on the way.
There is a lot of monetizing , but frankly you do not need it. My 4th car out of like 100 I have is my best one and actually do not care about more. You need to have dlc to play some of community tracks but you can play a lot of great maps without dlc content. Most pricey car like 1,200 in game currency and I have 40k of it at the moment and have all cars no problem. You get all the stuff really fast.
I won't describe to you editor, check it online and see it for yourself. IT IS AWESOME!
Completed all campaign challenges + 1st dlc ones and waiting for more, as these are on the way.
Hot Wheels Unleashed takes the simple idea of racing toy cars, and blows it up to an incredible scale. While it nearly loses its way with the bafflingly brain dead progression system, and a slew of missing quality of life features (like seriously, no way to save or search custom tracks?) ultimately the tight controls, awesome tracks (and dope track editor), intense time trials, and insanely detailed cars push it firmly into the positive end of the spectrum. If you're looking for a slick arcade racer to sink a bit of time into - either with friends or by yourself - then this is a pretty solid option.
This was such a disappointment. I quess there is a reason why games like this usually have some powerups, weapons and such. It's because they would get boring without them. And it doesn't help that any of the tracks in this game are not memorable, they all feel the same, and car handling just can't compete with the likes of Sonic Allstars Racing or even with Disney Speedstorm. Driving just doesn't feel right, It's not fun.
Hot Guff Unleashed
A great idea for an arcade racing game that unfortunately falls short of its potential. The speed and drifting feel good, but many of the tracks end up feeling dull and repetitive.
The game lacks interesting or unique modes–all you get here are races and time trials. The difficulty feels unbalanced with Easy being too easy and Normal being too hard. The lack of a speedometer makes it hard to judge how well you are driving, and the game never explains the different car classes beyond a few stats on the car select screen.
I still had some fun with Hot Wheels Unleashed, but this could have been a great arcade racer. Instead, it's just average.
The game lacks interesting or unique modes–all you get here are races and time trials. The difficulty feels unbalanced with Easy being too easy and Normal being too hard. The lack of a speedometer makes it hard to judge how well you are driving, and the game never explains the different car classes beyond a few stats on the car select screen.
I still had some fun with Hot Wheels Unleashed, but this could have been a great arcade racer. Instead, it's just average.
I don't know if it's the standard for games featuring loot boxes or if I've just been incredibly lucky at avoiding this exact situation, but getting hit with a loot box before even starting the tutorial has to be some kind of record.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a cool game in-concept, with highly-detailed (not on the Switch lmao) car models accurately reflecting the actual Hot Wheels model cars, furiously racing down a toy track complete with loop-de-loops, boosts, and off-track sections showcasing that the courses take place inside of a home. These are toys, after all.
In practice, I'm honestly too blinded by anger from the immediate loot boxes and all of the cool cars being DLC that I'm just gonna end the review highly discouraging spending money on anything ever. The one-two-punch of seeing the Mystery Machine as a playable car, and then seeing "Paid DLC" next to it isn't one I'm gonna forget.
Thankfully, I am a drunken sailor.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a cool game in-concept, with highly-detailed (not on the Switch lmao) car models accurately reflecting the actual Hot Wheels model cars, furiously racing down a toy track complete with loop-de-loops, boosts, and off-track sections showcasing that the courses take place inside of a home. These are toys, after all.
In practice, I'm honestly too blinded by anger from the immediate loot boxes and all of the cool cars being DLC that I'm just gonna end the review highly discouraging spending money on anything ever. The one-two-punch of seeing the Mystery Machine as a playable car, and then seeing "Paid DLC" next to it isn't one I'm gonna forget.
Thankfully, I am a drunken sailor.
This is the most fun I've had with a racing game in a LONG time. The haptics in those Dualsense triggers really went a long way for me, and I would LOVE to put dozens of hours into this... but the monetization is kind of out of control. Imma hold off for a while and see if a "complete edition" or something eventually comes out, because I'm not shelling out $15 each for the Batman or TMNT packs.
I do want to play it all! The game is so much fun! But I don't wanna spend like $100 on getting all the different parts together!
I do want to play it all! The game is so much fun! But I don't wanna spend like $100 on getting all the different parts together!
The plastic car physics is an interesting idea but just ends up being punishing and frustrating where a every mistake can absolutely wreck your race.
As a kid I imagined these cars as having an actual weight and not just plastic toys, this game takes you out of the fantasy completely.
Also I find it odd that this very arcadey and floaty racer won't let you take shortcuts and teleports you back until you do the jump the way God intended.
Easy is a dull cakewalk, Normal is very brutal, mostly because of the punishing design.
I don't understand the design philosophy behind this game and sadly whatever little time I spent with it wasn't very fun.
As a kid I imagined these cars as having an actual weight and not just plastic toys, this game takes you out of the fantasy completely.
Also I find it odd that this very arcadey and floaty racer won't let you take shortcuts and teleports you back until you do the jump the way God intended.
Easy is a dull cakewalk, Normal is very brutal, mostly because of the punishing design.
I don't understand the design philosophy behind this game and sadly whatever little time I spent with it wasn't very fun.
O jogo que todo colecionador de Hot Wheels merecia, mas que inventou de colocar Loot Box. Você ganha os carros aleatórios, maioria repetindo inúmeras vezes (cheguei a tirar 5 iguais quase que em seguida. As pistas são interessantes e desafiadoras, porém, num certo momento eles começam a repetir os trajetos, somente pra deixar o jogo com cara de grande. É muito nostálgico ver carros que eu tinha colecionados em um jogo, aliás até carros daquela séria animada (AcceleRacers). Não deixe de ser divertido, só faltaram algumas coisinhas da franquia pra deixar esse jogo perfeito, mas da pra gastar umas boas horas de jogatina.
Assim, eu não sei explicar exatamente o que faltou nele. Mas definitivamente falta. Ele é legal por sei la, 2 horas. Eu achei que ia dar legal de fazer as pistas tudo mas sei lá, o que os carrinhos tem de carisma o jogo falta. É só um jogo de carro ok
strong sense of speed, really feel like i'm hauling ass here, but drifting is a little finicky and the physics are unreliable. also tracks are bland does not really take advantage of the fact that the cars are very small, i just drive on roads like through a living room rather than driving THROUGH the living room, the actual location isn't really relevant to the layout of the course.
Easy recommend for those looking for their next racing fix, complete with its own quirks in a unique and fresh blend to the arcade racing genre. Gets surprisingly tough surprisingly quick. NameBrand.
I've been looking for a new racing fix for a while, and I've also been looking for more games to play on SteamDeck, so when I saw this I knew I had to try it. Got it cheap through Humble monthly as well. I am... pleasantly surprised!
Like my blurb says, I really think this is an excellent racing game for fans of racing games. The unique scenario of these races being done in actual Hot Wheel's branded toy cars is kinda genius! Cars really do behave as though they're these small toys, complete with the sound effects you might expect from smashing metal and plastic together, but spiced with the imagination of real engines and tires winding around a racetrack. Quite fun!
I spent the majority of my time in the "City" mode, and I'm pleased with the variety of the tracks and stages. There's a couple of races that are the same, but there was such a huge variety that I barely noticed when that happened. Even if that bothered me, I could always quit out and make my own tracks or play the tracks of others, meaning that the track selection is quite literally endless due to the UGC.
You'd be surprised to know that driving these Hot Wheels cars around the tracks isn't actually peaches and cream! While the Hot Wheels branding might suggest a younger audience and therefore an easier game, this doesn't play like "petal to the metal" Mario Kart... you really have to be conscious of how you brake, when you brake, when you drift, and how you drift. Boosting at the right moments is also essential to getting the win. I found the skill ceiling of this type of play style to be really engaging and challenging, and it overall made me learn its core systems so I could be a really good driver (for this game). I think it also put me in a bit of a rut when it came to selecting a vehicle (I found my favorite and stuck with it most of the time), but none the less, I think many people will be happy with the depth of the controls and how the cars drive.
I do think that the AI in this game isn't the smartest. I really truly believe that the AI is allowed to rubber band to catch up to you. Even on the normal difficulty, they would give me the hardest time. I'd do perfect laps around courses, PERFECT, and these cars, that I know have 'less than ideal' stats, would zip right in front of me, no boost or anything. So that was frustrating at times. I think this might be to cover up the balancing issue; there really are cars that have stats that are just "better". So maybe the rubber banding was implemented to get around the player being good and having a car with great stats... But who knows. It's cheeky though.
Some of the stage hazards also make me want to die. Every spider map... mmmm... Hate that lol. Really don't like it one bit. It makes some of the time trials especially difficult when you're on the track all by yourself, and speaking of the time trials, some in the post game are wickedly hard, even playing as some of the best and most rare vehicles in the game. I will not be able to 100% the campaign because of some of those.
My last little gripe is some courses/circuits really take FOREVER. We're talking (at its worst) 2.5 minute laps. That really makes me mad when the CPU is rubber banding around like they've got a lag switch, because then we're talking about me losing basically 8 minutes of my life if I don't get in first place.
Overall, and despite my gripes, this is a sweet little package that I had a lot of fun with, and that I know offers a ton of value. If you're not into racing solo, there's an online multiplayer and there's local split screen. The map editor is really fun and pretty intuitive. Coloring your own cars is dope, and so is personalizing your own basement with SWAG. I don't mind the lootbox system either, I thought that it made my collection unique and interesting. It's just overall good and I appreciate the pretty high skill ceiling.
DLC: I probably won't be purchasing the DLC because I'm not THAT into the game after completing the solo mode, but it's there if you want more cars/tracks/etc. The Batman stuff looks pretty cool.
SteamDeck Compatibility: It worked great 95% of the time. There was a few times where it would lag a VERY considerable amount to the point of freezing the game, which definitely affected my experience. Overall good though.
I've been looking for a new racing fix for a while, and I've also been looking for more games to play on SteamDeck, so when I saw this I knew I had to try it. Got it cheap through Humble monthly as well. I am... pleasantly surprised!
Like my blurb says, I really think this is an excellent racing game for fans of racing games. The unique scenario of these races being done in actual Hot Wheel's branded toy cars is kinda genius! Cars really do behave as though they're these small toys, complete with the sound effects you might expect from smashing metal and plastic together, but spiced with the imagination of real engines and tires winding around a racetrack. Quite fun!
I spent the majority of my time in the "City" mode, and I'm pleased with the variety of the tracks and stages. There's a couple of races that are the same, but there was such a huge variety that I barely noticed when that happened. Even if that bothered me, I could always quit out and make my own tracks or play the tracks of others, meaning that the track selection is quite literally endless due to the UGC.
You'd be surprised to know that driving these Hot Wheels cars around the tracks isn't actually peaches and cream! While the Hot Wheels branding might suggest a younger audience and therefore an easier game, this doesn't play like "petal to the metal" Mario Kart... you really have to be conscious of how you brake, when you brake, when you drift, and how you drift. Boosting at the right moments is also essential to getting the win. I found the skill ceiling of this type of play style to be really engaging and challenging, and it overall made me learn its core systems so I could be a really good driver (for this game). I think it also put me in a bit of a rut when it came to selecting a vehicle (I found my favorite and stuck with it most of the time), but none the less, I think many people will be happy with the depth of the controls and how the cars drive.
I do think that the AI in this game isn't the smartest. I really truly believe that the AI is allowed to rubber band to catch up to you. Even on the normal difficulty, they would give me the hardest time. I'd do perfect laps around courses, PERFECT, and these cars, that I know have 'less than ideal' stats, would zip right in front of me, no boost or anything. So that was frustrating at times. I think this might be to cover up the balancing issue; there really are cars that have stats that are just "better". So maybe the rubber banding was implemented to get around the player being good and having a car with great stats... But who knows. It's cheeky though.
Some of the stage hazards also make me want to die. Every spider map... mmmm... Hate that lol. Really don't like it one bit. It makes some of the time trials especially difficult when you're on the track all by yourself, and speaking of the time trials, some in the post game are wickedly hard, even playing as some of the best and most rare vehicles in the game. I will not be able to 100% the campaign because of some of those.
My last little gripe is some courses/circuits really take FOREVER. We're talking (at its worst) 2.5 minute laps. That really makes me mad when the CPU is rubber banding around like they've got a lag switch, because then we're talking about me losing basically 8 minutes of my life if I don't get in first place.
Overall, and despite my gripes, this is a sweet little package that I had a lot of fun with, and that I know offers a ton of value. If you're not into racing solo, there's an online multiplayer and there's local split screen. The map editor is really fun and pretty intuitive. Coloring your own cars is dope, and so is personalizing your own basement with SWAG. I don't mind the lootbox system either, I thought that it made my collection unique and interesting. It's just overall good and I appreciate the pretty high skill ceiling.
DLC: I probably won't be purchasing the DLC because I'm not THAT into the game after completing the solo mode, but it's there if you want more cars/tracks/etc. The Batman stuff looks pretty cool.
SteamDeck Compatibility: It worked great 95% of the time. There was a few times where it would lag a VERY considerable amount to the point of freezing the game, which definitely affected my experience. Overall good though.
at first i was reminded of motorstorm. it's got that same boosty drifty thing that i've been missing from... just about every racing game since the ps3. unfortunately the crash-reset loop that motorstorm got so right is just too slow here. if i wanted a racer that rewards Driving Well i'd fire up gran turismo. not the toy game.
Sights & Sounds
- It honestly looks far better than I was expecting, especially in motion. Flying around the tracks featured plenty of colorful eye candy
- Seeing several of the car designs made me feel a bit nostalgic. I collected some cars I owned as a kid, except these didn't have their paint all chipped to ♥♥♥♥ by my Criss Cross Crash
- The sound design is also pretty nice. The soundtrack is forgettable, but otherwise the "game sounds" are well done
Story & Vibes
- It's a Hot Wheels racing game. It's a cynical corporate cash grab featuring a beloved children's toy, and also a game about making your car go fast. There is no story worth mentioning
Playability & Replayability
- If you've played any arcade racing game since the invention of the drift button, this will feel familiar to you. Car handling is way ramped up, presumably to not frustrate the younger target audience
- In that regard, the star ratings on the cars don't mean much except for the speed rating. Just pick the fastest car you have access to, and you'll probably win any race you try (barring a mistake)
- The game modes aren't anything worth mentioning, though the track builder is a neat feature. I didn't delve into the multiplayer. For a single player experience, I mostly focused on the challenge map, which contains a nice variety of regular races, time trials, 1:1 face-offs against special opponents, and other tasks. None of them will take more than a few tries to complete
- Unfortunately, once the map is filled out, there's not really anything left for you to do besides online play (which I assume is dead at this point)
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It would be irresponsible to not mention the absolutely ridiculous DLC tomfoolery at work here. There's hundreds of dollars worth of add-ons in the form of other cars that aren't available in the base game. None of them are better than what you can unlock yourself, so don't waste your money
- The game ran better than I thought it would given the quality of the visuals, which is something
Final Verdict
- 5.0/10. It's just an average arcade racer with a Hot Wheels veneer and ridiculous amounts of DLC. It runs well for a cash grab, but it's still an uninspiring racing title that you'll forget about within a month
- It honestly looks far better than I was expecting, especially in motion. Flying around the tracks featured plenty of colorful eye candy
- Seeing several of the car designs made me feel a bit nostalgic. I collected some cars I owned as a kid, except these didn't have their paint all chipped to ♥♥♥♥ by my Criss Cross Crash
- The sound design is also pretty nice. The soundtrack is forgettable, but otherwise the "game sounds" are well done
Story & Vibes
- It's a Hot Wheels racing game. It's a cynical corporate cash grab featuring a beloved children's toy, and also a game about making your car go fast. There is no story worth mentioning
Playability & Replayability
- If you've played any arcade racing game since the invention of the drift button, this will feel familiar to you. Car handling is way ramped up, presumably to not frustrate the younger target audience
- In that regard, the star ratings on the cars don't mean much except for the speed rating. Just pick the fastest car you have access to, and you'll probably win any race you try (barring a mistake)
- The game modes aren't anything worth mentioning, though the track builder is a neat feature. I didn't delve into the multiplayer. For a single player experience, I mostly focused on the challenge map, which contains a nice variety of regular races, time trials, 1:1 face-offs against special opponents, and other tasks. None of them will take more than a few tries to complete
- Unfortunately, once the map is filled out, there's not really anything left for you to do besides online play (which I assume is dead at this point)
Overall Impressions & Performance
- It would be irresponsible to not mention the absolutely ridiculous DLC tomfoolery at work here. There's hundreds of dollars worth of add-ons in the form of other cars that aren't available in the base game. None of them are better than what you can unlock yourself, so don't waste your money
- The game ran better than I thought it would given the quality of the visuals, which is something
Final Verdict
- 5.0/10. It's just an average arcade racer with a Hot Wheels veneer and ridiculous amounts of DLC. It runs well for a cash grab, but it's still an uninspiring racing title that you'll forget about within a month
Pistas bonitas e carros também mas não curti nem um pouco o feeling da direção. Infelizmente me acostumei demais com jogos mais profissionais e esse não vingou pra mim.
I feel like at this point its accepted that racing games became skewed towards reality. Not realism, reality.
Its kinda a given, expected and probably demanded that each new major release will have licenced cars by major car manufacturers.
Fantasy of owning and driving real cars became integral whatever game is about serious motorsport and grounded driving model or about cop chases in the urban enviorment and effortless drifting.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is also about fantasy of owning and driving cars by a hot manufacturer, however said fantasy is much closer to reality to an average person.
Hot Wheels toy car line up doesnt need no introduction obviously, chances are you may even own some without even being able to remember it.
Not only its cool looking car models, they can even drive, albeit in a straight line and to be able to turn you need to buy proprietary orange road that essentially railroads the the dar in a narrow "slide" or get creative and do some DIY stuff to achieve similiar effect.
In his video about Burnout Paradise (https://youtu.be/djGeem-QYow?si=rFMnaMQv9sp__GgP) Errant Signal compares the game mentality to treating cars like toys, Burnout Paradise indeed captures sense of whimsy of a child smashing toy cars into each other without any second thought about not damaging toys in state of the art 3d real time rendering and soft body simulations.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is this in a more literary sense.
The way game manages to create a fantastical premise while engaging with a sense of reality is trully compelling, while for example Lego games also being real physical toys licenced games generally try to create their own fantastical world with a liberal use of actual Lego bricks, Unleashed puts fantastical into your living room.. or your neon bathed basement... or highrise building thats in the process of being build...
Its comparable to likes of Toy Story, Chibi Robo or Army Man RTS, but can we call it "toys came to life" if toys dont have actual humanity? Are they sentient? Do they have qualia?
Basically Unleashed is exxagarated fantastical idea of playing with Hot Wheel cars, unshackled from reality. Build tracks impossible in real life in your virtual living room, or do so on the top of highrise building - there is some grounded sense of absurdity to it.
And its not just visual texture either, it inspires genuinely most inventive aproach to track design for an arcade racing game i've experienced on the 8th generation of console.
Linear orange orange roads with stage gimmicks and maybe some diverging points give way to driving outside of the track. Its still linear part of the track, but hard walls are replaced with traffic cones. It has certain vibes of breaking the rules despite you in fact obeying the rules still.
Well you can actually break the rules, in a way similiar to Quake famous bunny hopping, but likely intended by the developers and with a certain restrictions.
The game physics are weird and in general i feel they capture idea of a toy car very well with how it can fly off the track from collision with another car or a stage hazard, while also arcade racing grip for break to drift (altho i had Need for Speed: Most Wanted moments for car turning over from those), but it can be really weird on slops which tracks consists of cuz they are build like a rollercoasters with constant going up and down. If you have too much speed or go nitro at the wrong time you can fly off the track on the up climb which can feel unwieldy. However more advanced players can take adventage of that to take insane shortcuts thru the track, hence breaking the rules. If this was indeed intended mechanic by the devs, then obviously tracks build with some of those shortcuts in mind, however this new style of maneuvering in space makes them non obvious and makes you feel rewarded for breaking the game in the speedrunner way even if was actually intended.
Tracks have checkpoints you have to pass thru in order balance this out and prevent you from lets say somehow skipping to a finish line at the start.
A lot of racing games tend to build their single player progression around packing selection of all its track into repeated loop of playing them over and over again with difficulty naturaly going up via both player and opponent driving progressively faster cars. Sprinkle different gameplay modes that arent just generic racing on top and maybe also add racing same tracks in reverse. The way you pack this repetion in gameplay systems outside of the core racing, and how to contextualise unlocking new challenges and cars to drive - is in my eyes a core of single player progression for racing game. You can call it "content interfacing", because outside of open world context those systems tend to be menu based.
And i feel like this is pretty much weakest aspect of the game and it goes beyond single player experience and negatively impacts multiplayer.
Its not uncommon for racing games developed starting from 7th gen (when online infrastructure for games in general became closer to how we know it today and online on consoles became a more common "default" thing) to have shared progression between single and multiplayer - for example in both Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 and Wreckfest you earn same point and both and use cars from the same garage.
And yeah Hot Wheels Unleashed is also like that. I think what lets it down a lot (and its pretty much universally agreed) is that you get a new cars via loot box system. It pretty much destroys sense of progression, there will be high possibility that you will drive one and only car with high enough average between all stats for the whole game.
Cool toy cars freed from the restains of reality doing impossible things they could before are now ironicaly shackled by arbitatrary assigned videogame stats, arbitatrary assigned value. The game will tell you how this funny looking ice truck that you really like the looks of is actually worthless, and you have no choice but to put this new toy into your toy box and never play with it ever again.
Its quite sad, but i also dont know how they could handled it otherwise with amount cars the game has. The game tries to remedy "same car every race" by having special points on the map you pick races from be locked and having unlock conditions of using car X in event Y, while also giving said car somewhere else on the map. But interfacing for this is super cumbersome, having to find event by name and then I basically just replay it in a worse car than i finished it before.
I found map system itself neat, but those locked points with special conditions really kill the sense of being able to aproach it non linearly. While there are basically only 2 modes (standart racing and lap time goal), it manages to feel like everytime you actually race on a new map, so that pretty impressive. Probably the way tracks are done by putting orange roads differently in the same 4 big rooms enables pretty convenient way to reitarate it and build tracks.
And players can do that themself too with the ingame level editor honestly i cant even remember when was the last time i played around in editor. Obviously this feature is reflective of how people play with Hot Wheels toys and once again enables people to engage with them in ways that reality cant allow.
Its honestly sad that the game has such issues, cuz core racing is really solid and Its most inventive arcade racing we saw this generation full of Forza Horizon 2 clones. Its original soundtrack is cool and while i think licenced OSTs have their place, its so fresh to have a racing game that doesnt need to rely on lets say music from the outside. Altho this music clashes with pretty uninspired presentation otherwise like pretty default looking hud and some bland text during map navigation.
P.S. I failed to include it anywhere above, but its pet peeve of mine that a lot of racing game reviews dont talk about nitro system, like its just a difference whatever game has one or doesnt. So i wanted to talk about it even if in such removed isolated way.
Well there isnt much to talk about, its pretty basic implementation. Its auto charges with time and drifting also charges it. I find it pretty lackluster, it doesnt encourage a play style like lets say Burnout making you put yourself in dangerously or Motorstom making you put yourself on edge and consider enviorment about heat/cooling. There are parts of the tracks that charge it faster making you try to drive on that line, but i think it speaks more to how nicely designed stage gimmicks are and not nitro system itself.
There was like one track with hazard that your nitro bar bleed, so there is also that.
There are some cars that actually have different nitro system, instead of bar you can depleet at any moment you have a bunch of circles that you give you a continues boost upon pressing a button kinda like Hotshot Racing. (reminds me that Hotshot Racing is really cool game).
But because of beforementioned issues with the game progression i didnt really use them much and didnt have much reason to the lower stats aside from that one time to clear a lock on the map.
Use case is more interesting i guess, like amount of air control you can have and how you use nitro boosting to fly over parts of the track
Its kinda a given, expected and probably demanded that each new major release will have licenced cars by major car manufacturers.
Fantasy of owning and driving real cars became integral whatever game is about serious motorsport and grounded driving model or about cop chases in the urban enviorment and effortless drifting.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is also about fantasy of owning and driving cars by a hot manufacturer, however said fantasy is much closer to reality to an average person.
Hot Wheels toy car line up doesnt need no introduction obviously, chances are you may even own some without even being able to remember it.
Not only its cool looking car models, they can even drive, albeit in a straight line and to be able to turn you need to buy proprietary orange road that essentially railroads the the dar in a narrow "slide" or get creative and do some DIY stuff to achieve similiar effect.
In his video about Burnout Paradise (https://youtu.be/djGeem-QYow?si=rFMnaMQv9sp__GgP) Errant Signal compares the game mentality to treating cars like toys, Burnout Paradise indeed captures sense of whimsy of a child smashing toy cars into each other without any second thought about not damaging toys in state of the art 3d real time rendering and soft body simulations.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is this in a more literary sense.
The way game manages to create a fantastical premise while engaging with a sense of reality is trully compelling, while for example Lego games also being real physical toys licenced games generally try to create their own fantastical world with a liberal use of actual Lego bricks, Unleashed puts fantastical into your living room.. or your neon bathed basement... or highrise building thats in the process of being build...
Its comparable to likes of Toy Story, Chibi Robo or Army Man RTS, but can we call it "toys came to life" if toys dont have actual humanity? Are they sentient? Do they have qualia?
Basically Unleashed is exxagarated fantastical idea of playing with Hot Wheel cars, unshackled from reality. Build tracks impossible in real life in your virtual living room, or do so on the top of highrise building - there is some grounded sense of absurdity to it.
And its not just visual texture either, it inspires genuinely most inventive aproach to track design for an arcade racing game i've experienced on the 8th generation of console.
Linear orange orange roads with stage gimmicks and maybe some diverging points give way to driving outside of the track. Its still linear part of the track, but hard walls are replaced with traffic cones. It has certain vibes of breaking the rules despite you in fact obeying the rules still.
Well you can actually break the rules, in a way similiar to Quake famous bunny hopping, but likely intended by the developers and with a certain restrictions.
The game physics are weird and in general i feel they capture idea of a toy car very well with how it can fly off the track from collision with another car or a stage hazard, while also arcade racing grip for break to drift (altho i had Need for Speed: Most Wanted moments for car turning over from those), but it can be really weird on slops which tracks consists of cuz they are build like a rollercoasters with constant going up and down. If you have too much speed or go nitro at the wrong time you can fly off the track on the up climb which can feel unwieldy. However more advanced players can take adventage of that to take insane shortcuts thru the track, hence breaking the rules. If this was indeed intended mechanic by the devs, then obviously tracks build with some of those shortcuts in mind, however this new style of maneuvering in space makes them non obvious and makes you feel rewarded for breaking the game in the speedrunner way even if was actually intended.
Tracks have checkpoints you have to pass thru in order balance this out and prevent you from lets say somehow skipping to a finish line at the start.
A lot of racing games tend to build their single player progression around packing selection of all its track into repeated loop of playing them over and over again with difficulty naturaly going up via both player and opponent driving progressively faster cars. Sprinkle different gameplay modes that arent just generic racing on top and maybe also add racing same tracks in reverse. The way you pack this repetion in gameplay systems outside of the core racing, and how to contextualise unlocking new challenges and cars to drive - is in my eyes a core of single player progression for racing game. You can call it "content interfacing", because outside of open world context those systems tend to be menu based.
And i feel like this is pretty much weakest aspect of the game and it goes beyond single player experience and negatively impacts multiplayer.
Its not uncommon for racing games developed starting from 7th gen (when online infrastructure for games in general became closer to how we know it today and online on consoles became a more common "default" thing) to have shared progression between single and multiplayer - for example in both Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 and Wreckfest you earn same point and both and use cars from the same garage.
And yeah Hot Wheels Unleashed is also like that. I think what lets it down a lot (and its pretty much universally agreed) is that you get a new cars via loot box system. It pretty much destroys sense of progression, there will be high possibility that you will drive one and only car with high enough average between all stats for the whole game.
Cool toy cars freed from the restains of reality doing impossible things they could before are now ironicaly shackled by arbitatrary assigned videogame stats, arbitatrary assigned value. The game will tell you how this funny looking ice truck that you really like the looks of is actually worthless, and you have no choice but to put this new toy into your toy box and never play with it ever again.
Its quite sad, but i also dont know how they could handled it otherwise with amount cars the game has. The game tries to remedy "same car every race" by having special points on the map you pick races from be locked and having unlock conditions of using car X in event Y, while also giving said car somewhere else on the map. But interfacing for this is super cumbersome, having to find event by name and then I basically just replay it in a worse car than i finished it before.
I found map system itself neat, but those locked points with special conditions really kill the sense of being able to aproach it non linearly. While there are basically only 2 modes (standart racing and lap time goal), it manages to feel like everytime you actually race on a new map, so that pretty impressive. Probably the way tracks are done by putting orange roads differently in the same 4 big rooms enables pretty convenient way to reitarate it and build tracks.
And players can do that themself too with the ingame level editor honestly i cant even remember when was the last time i played around in editor. Obviously this feature is reflective of how people play with Hot Wheels toys and once again enables people to engage with them in ways that reality cant allow.
Its honestly sad that the game has such issues, cuz core racing is really solid and Its most inventive arcade racing we saw this generation full of Forza Horizon 2 clones. Its original soundtrack is cool and while i think licenced OSTs have their place, its so fresh to have a racing game that doesnt need to rely on lets say music from the outside. Altho this music clashes with pretty uninspired presentation otherwise like pretty default looking hud and some bland text during map navigation.
P.S. I failed to include it anywhere above, but its pet peeve of mine that a lot of racing game reviews dont talk about nitro system, like its just a difference whatever game has one or doesnt. So i wanted to talk about it even if in such removed isolated way.
Well there isnt much to talk about, its pretty basic implementation. Its auto charges with time and drifting also charges it. I find it pretty lackluster, it doesnt encourage a play style like lets say Burnout making you put yourself in dangerously or Motorstom making you put yourself on edge and consider enviorment about heat/cooling. There are parts of the tracks that charge it faster making you try to drive on that line, but i think it speaks more to how nicely designed stage gimmicks are and not nitro system itself.
There was like one track with hazard that your nitro bar bleed, so there is also that.
There are some cars that actually have different nitro system, instead of bar you can depleet at any moment you have a bunch of circles that you give you a continues boost upon pressing a button kinda like Hotshot Racing. (reminds me that Hotshot Racing is really cool game).
But because of beforementioned issues with the game progression i didnt really use them much and didnt have much reason to the lower stats aside from that one time to clear a lock on the map.
Use case is more interesting i guess, like amount of air control you can have and how you use nitro boosting to fly over parts of the track
Divertido demais, mas com tempo enjoa muito, faltou muito customização igual os de PS2
A very fun and simple game that evokes old hotwheels games from the Playstation 1 era. However much of the game is behind a paywall and microtransactions that leave a bad taste in my mouth. The game has its moments, but after 7 hours of gameplay things started to get a little stale so i dropped
Fucking god awful
Ended up returning this. Gacha system feels bad and I haven't witness a racing AI that has felt this cheaty since The Crew.