HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED from Milestone, Koch Media, and Mattel is the best racing game for the series. Find out why in our HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED review!

 

HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED from Milestone, Koch Media, and Mattel is the best racing game for the series. You can enjoy HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED either in the main HOT WHEELS CITY RUMBLE Mode, go for some local or online multiplayer, take on a Quick Race, or race against the clock. On top of this, there’s also a Track Builder option -more on this in a bit – and you can also edit your cars! You can take one of your vehicles and customize its main color, change its material, the material of the sticker, change its interior color, change the color of its rims, change the tires, and more!

The HOT WHEELS CITY RUMBLE Mode is what you’d call a story mode in other games. You’ll need to complete missions around Hot Wheels City to progress through the game. You might need to help restore order after five monsters wreak havoc around the city, so you’ll need to give it your all as you race to the finish line! There will be hidden secrets to find, time attack races, quick races, as well as special races against the big bosses! Each race will have different objectives to complete so that you can continue, such as making it to the end in first place or beating a specific time limit.

Beat a race, and you will be rewarded with Hot Wheels coins, a blind box, or something for decorating. When you complete a race, you might end up with a blind box that will reward you with a new vehicle. You can also purchase these by spending the coins you earn by racing. Blind boxes, as expected, will give you one random vehicle, but there’s also the option of buying specific cars based on the daily rotating selection of vehicles – which, yes, are going to be more expensive than buying a blind box.

 

Each vehicle you unlock will have different stats for speed, braking, acceleration, and handling, as well as have a total boost for when you need to gain some extra speed. Some vehicles will have a boost gauge, while others will have boost charges that can run out. If you end up with duplicate vehicles, you get the option of dismantling a vehicle to get some gears or sell the vehicle to get a bunch of Hot Wheels coins. This is up to you to decide so that you can improve your vehicle’s stats by spending some gears or increase your collection.}}

The controls are easy to pick up, making it possible for gamers of all skill levels to enjoy HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED. You will steer your vehicle with the left analog stick as you accelerate with the ZR button. The ZL button will used for braking or going in reverse if needed. The B button will be for boosting so that you can gain some much-needed speed to outrun your opponents. During big jumps, you can turn your vehicle left or right or lean it forward or back with the left analog stick so that you can try and get the best landing possible.

There’s the option of customizing your basement as well. For your basement, you can decide to decorate the walls, floor, add some arcade machines, add chairs and cabinets, change the paint, add some skateboards – because why not? – posters, doors, tables, a gaming chair, a computer, shelves, stairs, couches, coffee tables, and more! Each item you want to add is going to cost you, so you’re going to have to balance getting new vehicles for your collection with decorating your basement.

 

There are 66 vehicles available at launch for HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED, including not only vehicles from the wide range of Hot Wheels series but also licensed vehicles from real manufacturers such as Dodge, Mini, Fiat, Ford, Honda, GMC, Audi, Chevrolet, and Koenigsegg. On top of this, there are other licensed vehicles from the Back to the Future, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Snoopy, and Knight Rider series. Each vehicle will have a different rarity, going from Common to Rare to Legendary to Super Treasure Hunt. The higher the rarity, the higher the stats!

And now, let’s talk about the Track Builder. You can go into the Track Builder section to create your own tracks on each of the five different environments: Basement, Skate Park, College Campus, Garage, Skyscraper, and Track Room. From the control panel, you’ll be able to set the starting point so that you can start to create your track from the different building modules. For Track Builder, you will have a set number of points to spend on your track, so every element that you add will cost you some points. Special modules, such as the giant spider that shoots webs onto the track, will cost a lot of points, but they do add to the overall design. You can curve each track segment or change its color. The more you play HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED, the more track types you’ll unlock, being able to add ramps, loops, boost segments, change the sides of the tracks, and much more.

 

HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED is the best game the franchise has ever had. It offers six different environments to race in, more than 60 vehicles to add to your collection, customization options for your vehicles, customization options for your basement, local and online multiplayer, and even a Track Builder feature so that you can build whatever track you can imagine. HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED is out on Nintendo Switch with a $49.99 asking price, and there is also plenty more on its way thanks to Season Pass Volume 1 DLC, which will include an expansion of ten extra vehicles, three themed customization packs, and three Track Builder modules. There’s a Season Pass Volume 2 and a Volume 3 on the way as well, so there’s going to be plenty of Hot Wheels action for you on Nintendo Switch.

Disclaimer
This HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Koch Media.