Hot Wheels Unleashed Review

Who doesn’t love an arcade racing title? I’ve been enjoying Hot Wheels as toys and in games for a long time now. When they released the Hot Wheels pack for Forza Horizon a few years back, I played the heck out of that and enjoyed ever single minute. Passing on my love of Hot Wheels to my kids has also been huge for me, reliving the joys of playing with those toys. Now with the release of Hot Wheels Unleashed, I can relive this awesome franchise yet again.

There are tons of courses to race across and dozens upon dozens of cars to unlock, including common cars, rare cars, and even Legendary cars. I was able to pull The Delorian with one of my car packs within the first 30 minutes of playing, and I almost lost my mind!

But the gameplay is what’s key, and the development team knocked it out of the park. This feels and looks very much like a Hot Wheels experience, which is key to pulling on those nostalgic strings we all have. Each curve, each loop, each unique track piece…it all brings me back to what I experienced, and what my kids are experiencing now with the real toys.

While I’ve enjoyed all the modes, I’m particular to the story mode. Doing a variety of different races – time trials, races, bosses, etc. – is really great and they are really varied, which means no to races feel identical, even if they share the same environment or track layout. And that’s key – but even when you get tired of story mode and the pre-built tracks, you can hop into the track builder and create your own creations. This mode, to be fair, takes patience and work. You won’t be building insane courses instantly. There is a good amount of skill to create something that works well, and I can say I didn’t have the patience for it. If you enjoy something like the roller coaster builder in Planet Coaster, than you will be well at home here with Hot Wheels Unleashed. I can’t wait to see what people create online, I really can’t.

Overall, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a fantastic experience and one that you should try if you enjoy Arcade racers. While you wait for the next major open world arcade racer – Horizons 5 – Hot Wheels Unleashed will scratch that itch.