Unleashing the beast

How Wheels are a cultural milestone that have been around for decades. Like most things they have also spilled over into video games. For the most part they have been forgettable endeavors that are all about the racing instead of the true draw of the product. Hot Wheels for me was always about collecting them. All the various designs and styles, crossovers, and unique releases were the draw. Then building the tracks and racing them around. Hot Wheels Unleashed feels like the first game that understands this. There are tons of vehicles with more promised for the future and a track builder to play with them on. While the concept is sound it has a few issues that hold it back from being the definitive experience.

Collecting cars is the name of this game and it can be grinding. Milestone has included a wonderful selection of vehicles to choose from. Finishing the main campaign will unlock some, but the rest are done in either a round-robin style store or by buying blind boxes. Unfortunately both of these methods are flawed. The store only accepts currency that is earned in the game, which is good, but the meager selection of five vehicles only switches up every few hours of in-game time, not real-time. This means I had to wait hours to get new cars to purchase.

MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

Buying the blind boxes is also hit and miss. They cost 500 in-game coins per box (boxes are also earned in some campaign races) which takes a lot longer than I would like to earn. I was also greeted with duplicates early on when buying boxes. This felt supremely disappointing as I barely had a nice stable of cars and already seeing doubles. I could sell these or break them down for scrap to upgrade other cars, but the return is nearly half the cost of the box. It is a cycle that could have been addicting, but turns out to be deflating most of the time.

The collection aspect aside, Milestone has done an amazing job when it comes to the game play. Racing feels very good. This is an arcade racer and relies on the drift method of taking turns. Every car has a unique boost mode and earning that boost is as simple as driving well. The game focuses on using boost constantly combined with finding shortcuts on the plethora of available tracks. The campaign mode is broken down into areas and races that range from standard to time trials. Each one has a main goal and side goals that require upgraded cars and better knowledge of the tracks. I really enjoyed rushing through the campaign. The boss races are fun and earning everything will take a decent chunk of time.

The tracks themselves are well designed and deliver a believable micro-world for players. In addition there is also a track editor that lets players craft their own designs and even share them online. The pieces are earned by completing the campaign, so there is more incentive to plow through it than just unlocking cars. I cannot wait to see some of the creations players come up with as the game gets into more hands.

There are four levels of difficulty and each one ramps up just enough. The easiest setting is great for kids jumping in with catch-up abilities while the most difficult one requires in-depth track knowledge and air control of the cars. It can be addicting to jump to a new tier to see if I could nail those secondary objectives. It can be a real challenge, but if I got frustrated I was able to drop it back down and just grind some coins to unlock new cars. Milestone has done an excellent job of letting players have fun regardless of their skill level.

Visually this is one fine-looking game. The detail in each car model showcases the developers attention to detail. These might as well be coming in bubble cards. The damage showcases scratches and the tracks are just gorgeous to look at. The game is a looker on Series X with a stable framerate that blisters by. I loved the detail in the room as well, parts of the track I only saw fly past are intricately designed and detailed. The game looked stunning on my 4K OLED screen.

Hot Wheels Unleashed is a game that tugs at my nostalgia for collecting these cars. I just wish the aggressive DLC plans and grinding for new cars didn’t sour that experience so much. When I was playing I was having a blast. The track design and handling are superb and when I got a new rare car I was super excited. Hopefully they tweak some of the requirements for unlocking cars and I hope the season passes are not overly priced for their own good. I would love to see this game flourish and become a staple of arcade racers. It feels like a renaissance of the genre, and I want Unleashed to be there for a long time coming.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Tons of cars to unlock
  • Solid track design
  • Visuals are superb
Bad
  • Grinding for cars is tedious
  • Lots of DLC planned makes it feel overwhelming
7.5
Good
Written by
Ken is the Editor-in-Chief of this hole in the wall and he loves to troll for the fun of it. He also enjoys long walks through Arkham Asylum and the cool air of Shadow Moses Island. His turn-ons include Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid and StarCraft.