‘Hot Wheels Unleashed’ is a much-needed breath of fresh air for arcade racing games on consoles and PC...While still a preview, this makes me beyond excited for full release later this year.
I think from the moment I was born, I was destined to love cars and car culture. My grandfather was a shade tree mechanic at home. Once he had some fuel in a Pepsi can just laying around the garage. I, being a two-year-old wanting a drink, proceeded to ingest and succinctly spit out said fuel. Safe to say I’ve been addicted ever since (to cars that is, not gas). So what do you give a child who wants to go fast, but has no cognitive understanding of the danger? YA GIVE THEM HOT WHEELS! So what do you do when you’re 24 and a games reviewer (barely). YA GET THE CHANCE AT HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED! Before we go any further, I want it to be known that this is a preview build of the game.
‘Hot Wheels Unleashed’ is an arcade racing game developed and published by Milestone Srl. Here you get the chance to hop behind the wheel of your favorite 1:64th scale cars and rip around places like a college library, a skyscraper under construction, and a garage. All while sitting behind the wheel of the coolest Hot Wheels tracks ever created. Like seriously these tracks have nothing on my two-lane drag race loop I had as a kid. Each set has several different layouts and that switch between point to point and lap races. Cars are divided by the rarity of how Hot Wheels makes them, which a really great way to divide it. Granted you have some repeats like Twin Mill and Bone Shaker (two childhood classics for me).
The actual gameplay is an absolute blast. Entering a race and going head to head with the AI is so enjoyable. While the handling of the cars isn’t the best, I mean come on it’s a literal Hot Wheels car what can you expect? That’s the fun in it though. The levels of childhood nostalgia are hyping you up and it lives up to it. I did have times where the AI felt faster and just blew the literal doors off. This is a known issue though. A lot does come down to handling and the power of each car. While a game based on children’s toys, there’s a lot that comes down to the ride you chose. Braking for corners doesn’t really exist, you just drift into turns. While that is frustrating at first, once you get warmed up to hanging it lose it becomes so much fun and skillful at times. Tracks also have their own little quirks and traps to them. Not gonna lie, when a spider shot out its web and trapped me spooked me pretty good.
The game as a whole is exciting, even if just for a preview. The build and structure of menus all make sense, and while I did find some stuff confusing, it became clear that it was mostly just holes that will be plugged in later on. Each track and setting has its own feel to them. Nothing ever felt truly repeated. It kept me on m toes as to what was coming around the next corner. Plus there were just little things to make me smile. From seeing some of my own cars from childhood times to going around a loop and having the music get muffled at the top, to the beauty of the games as a whole. Yes, I get that this is an unrealistic game in all ways, but the settings and the details in them are just staggering. While on the skyscraper world, a segment of the track takes you out over the edge and into the clouds. I just remember looking out into the sky and honestly thinking ‘Wow this is so pretty.’ and just taking the world in. The best part IT WAS LIKE THIS EVERYWHERE! Even the detail on the cars was beautiful. Just seeing the light reflecting as you go through the menu to select, the attention to details like paint and numbers. Just all of it was gorgeous to take in. Sadly the ‘Track Builder’ wasn’t open, but honestly, I didn’t mind. While I’d love to get my hands on that, I feel as if there is a lot here to make me confident about what we have now.
I’ve had a love for Hot Wheels my whole life. It’s truly never felt like there was a game to do them justice. We also live in a world with Forzas, Gran Truisoms, iRacings, and all sorts of sims and simcades. ‘Hot Wheels Unleashed’ is a much-needed breath of fresh air for arcade racing games on consoles and PC. That’s coming from someone who loves his sim racing too. It’s a fun, light-hearted, fast-paced, and exhilarating blast of fun. While still a preview, this makes me beyond excited for full release later this year.
