Hot Wheels Unleashed

Genre: Arcade Racing

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen), 2-12 Competitive (Online)

.

Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES

Hot Wheels Unleashed is an Arcade-style Racing game released in 2021 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. In this game, players drive various Hot Wheels cars on Hot Wheels-style orange and blue courses (complete with loops, jumps, and various other silly hazards) in locations like a garage and a dorm room. Or you can opt to create your own course using Hot Wheels tracks.

The graphics here are generally pretty good for the most part, though of course this is a downgrade from the version of the game released on other consoles, dropping the framerate down to a mostly-stable 30FPS (although I noticed a few hitches here and there), reducing texture resolution, and bringing the overall resolution down as well (sorry, I don’t have exact numbers for you). There’s also a fair amount of texture pop-in, with some textures briefly looking extremely ugly before they correct themselves. However, overall Hot Wheels Unleashed is a fast-paced racing game with visuals that keep up with the action and do a good job emphasizing that speed.

As for the racing itself, this is pretty solid stuff, though it’s nothing that’s going to set the world on fire. There’s a drift-boost mechanic, as well as the use of a Mario Kart 8-style anti-gravity element in some tracks, but for the most part, as far as the gameplay is concerned, this is just a solid but unspectacular Arcade-style racer.

However, when we get to talking about content, that’s another matter. The game only has 5 different locations to race in (6 if you include a location only used in custom tracks, and 7 if you include the one paid DLC track currently available). The game stretches this out as much as it can by having different configurations of Hot Wheels tracks in each location, but these don’t add much visual variety, as these tracks are generally still locked into the same orange-blue Hot Wheels track scheme (with limited variation available), reinforcing the feeling of sameyness in the game.

Then we get to the issue of the lootboxes, which this game sneakily implies to be only an in-game mechanic, but the ability to buy a “season pass” to boost in-game currency says otherwise. What’s more, some of this game’s cars are only available via paid DLC. While cars are generally balanced, there are at least a few that seem like marked improvements over what’s available in-game (at least at the start), which means this borders on pay-to-win. And I can’t help but shake my head when pay-to-win mechanics and lootboxes make their way into a premium-priced kids game.

One can point to the track creator as an excellent way to get potentially limitless free content, but here too there are issues. The track builder is finicky and at times seems overly complicated. Even doing something as simple as laying a track directly on the ground or deleting a previously-placed track piece feels like an ordeal. And it’s a huge disappointment that players cannot download tracks that other players have created, though you can play on others’ tracks online.

On that note, the multiplayer in this game is surprisingly excellent. Not only are the online lobbies still booming as I write this, but jumping into an online game is effortless. Playing in local split-screen works similarly smoothly (once you locate the option), and I honestly didn’t even detect a noticeable drop in the framerate, which is fairly impressive.

On balance, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a solid Arcade-style Racing game that makes good use of its license. It’s sorely lacking content, the monetization is sleazy, and the track creator is frustratingly difficult to work with, but the core racing plays great and is lots of fun in multiplayer whether you’re sharing a couch or playing online. If you’re looking for a fast-paced and fun Racing game on Nintendo Switch, this is an excellent choice.

tl;dr – Hot Wheels Unleashed is an Arcade-style racing game featuring cars and tracks based on the well-known toy franchise. The game is content-poor, includes some concerning monetization, and the track builder is frustratingly difficult to work with, but the core racing gameplay is fun, and both online and local multiplayer are excellent. If you’re looking to add a fun, fast-paced racer to your Nintendo Switch collection, this is a good choice.

Grade: B

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Worst Microtransactions, Best Driving/Racing Game

.

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Exlene, Eli Goodman, Ilya Zverev, Stov, Connor Armstrong, and K.H. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}