Hot Wheels Unleashed Reviews
Carefully detailed, highly customisable, and buoyantly uncynical, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a surprising and brilliant arcade racer.
More enjoyable and captivating than a first glance suggests, this arcade-style racer is fast and fun
Hot Wheels Unleashed is an excellent arcade racing game that doesn't fully embrace some of the wackier parts of the toy brand.
All of this adds up to a very strong, broadly appealing racer. Hot Wheels Unleashed is up there with Milestone’s MotoGP and Monster Energy Supercross, as well as the F1 and WRC games, as another winner in the ongoing renaissance of licensed motorsports gaming. For those who are perhaps not dedicated motorsports or sim racing fans, it could be a strong contender for their racing game of the year. I’ve become a virtual gearhead over the past four years, and Hot Wheels Unleashed is at least in the discussion for mine.
Hot Wheels Unleashed impressed me on basically every marker. It looks terrific, it feels great, and the track design is extremely well done. I kind of hate the blind box approach of unlocking cars, but that’s a small complaint when getting my wheels on the track is always a delight.
Hot Wheels Unleashed puts the brand to perfect use, marrying bright and bold toy car racing with powerful track creation.
Nonetheless, for all its minor annoyances, Hot Wheels Unleashed gives you a remarkable bang for your buck. Alongside a big career mode, livery editor, two-player local and 12-player online multiplayer, and licensed vehicles, there’s a tightly controlled, great-looking arcade racer that’s perfect for players of all ages and skills–and thanks to its track builder, it’s only going to get bigger and better by the day.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a decent racer with some excellent surrounding elements. It lacks the strategy and realism of a sim, but doesn’t hit the over-the-top chaos and action of an arcade racer either. Despite that, the amount of customization available, and with all of the cars to collect, fans of Hot Wheels toys will likely have a good time with Unleashed.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is the embodiment of a dream shared by thousands of people from different generations. It is difficult not to get carried away by the child that we all carry inside us and enjoy with each car, curve and jump ... but it is a dream that may end soon if those responsible choose the path of microtransactions and loot boxes.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Keep an eye on Milestone's patch and update plans. If the company moves forward with customer-friendly moves, HWU may be a must-buy for arcade-racing fans. Until then, wait and see-unless the sales pitch of "Trackmania but prettier and more arcade-y" makes you want to immediately purchase. In which case, you'll have a good time.
A tavern full of toy cars to have fun with thanks to a fun and clean arcade guide model.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I enjoyed playing Hot Wheels Unleashed a lot. The racing is straight up fun thanks to a top notch handling model that really makes the most of some impressive powersliding mechanics. But I can't help but wonder what could have been had we not got a game brimming with DLC and tied, to its detriment, to uninspired track environments.
Not only a blast of die-cast nostalgia, but a brilliant arcade racer to boot with superb customisation options.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a competent enough racer, but lacks anything to make it unique compared to previous games. It's generally very bland, relies on loot boxes, and the AI rubber bands constantly.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is an excellent arcade racing games with some truly inventive and crazy tracks, wonderfully recreated Hot Wheels toys that drive beautifully and the visuals to back it all up. Unfortunately an in-balance of reasonably long to extremely long tracks and their many hazard risks make it too easy to get frustrated when struggling to reach top spot, and the track builder while very well detailed fails to make the user experience anything but pleasant.
Toy cars, delightfully crunchy tracks and high speeds are what await in Hot Wheels Unleashed. Although the variety is different in terms of both race types and the feeling in the vehicles, there is nothing to stop the race from being terribly fun. In its best moments, Hot Wheels Unleashed can even measure up to timeless classics like Ridge Racer 7, Micro Machines V3 and F-Zero GX.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
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.
Fans of the toy line will likely find stunning digital recreations of the cars they love here, whether now or in one of many content updates already on the cards, along with a generally competent racer to use them in. Still, said fans may find that the dedication to the brand here elevates the experience to a degree, although those with less love for Hot Wheels in general might just see this passable racer as more of a slightly cynical vessel through which to peddle pretend toy cars for the next few years. Shiny and on-brand, but nothing particularly special, honestly.
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a fast-paced racer that captures the frantic action of the miniature, diecast toys. The momentum-based gameplay helps to create intense races where anyone can win or lose. Even though the tracks are exciting and varied, the lack of environments is disappointing. Vehicles look incredible, making you want to collect each of them, however, the grindy blind box system may halt your progress. Overall, this is a solid racer that will knock you over with a nitro-boost of nostalgia. With a roadmap packed with content, I’m excited to see what’s on the horizon.