Hot Wheels Unleashed

 Switch
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
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  1. craftsle
    Oct 1, 2021
    9
    Watching the trailers, I wasn't sure if it was a good buy as it seemed like I would quickly get bored.
    But I was wrong, I consider it to be the definitive Hot Wheels video game. The gameplay is quite dynamic and the circuits created by default are not simple circuits with curves, each of these are very well designed, and you realize this as you go through each curve.
    Although this    Watching the trailers, I wasn't sure if it was a good buy as it seemed like I would quickly get bored.
    But I was wrong, I consider it to be the definitive Hot Wheels video game. The gameplay is quite dynamic and the circuits created by default are not simple circuits with curves, each of these are very well designed, and you realize this as you go through each curve.
    Although this version is quite graphically reduced due to the limitations of the console, it is still a pass when running.    … Expand
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Oct 2, 2021
    8
    Hot wheels unleashed
    great for the creative
    Hot wheels unleashed is an arcade racing game with an equal amount of good as bad… firs the good.. the amount of customization and attention to detail in this game is insane.. as you play youll earn coin and blind boxes, giving you random hot wheels cars all with their own stas and are upgradable with different rarities, and yes I did pull    Hot wheels unleashed
    great for the creative
    Hot wheels unleashed is an arcade racing game with an equal amount of good as bad… firs the good.. the amount of customization and attention to detail in this game is insane.. as you play youll earn coin and blind boxes, giving you random hot wheels cars all with their own stas and are upgradable with different rarities, and yes I did pull legendaries… you can also earn these cars in the story mode.. and each of these cars you can customize all th way down to the wheel.. really making this feel lik your toybox wich brings me to the track creator.. im not one to care about these type of things anymore.. but the early teen in me loves the fact you can build a track around your room like the good ole days, having sleepovers with your friends.. coming up with the most ridiculous jump and loops possible.. and yu can play these tracks locally as well as online, though I don’t see the option to download other created tracks which is a bummer, you can however download other players customized cars.. up to 100… when it comes to racing, hot wheels unleashed is best locally or online.. its fast and fun drifting around corners trying to outdo everyone around you.. its hwen you play solo that hot wheels unleashes problems start to show… theres an adventure mode here where youre going through races and time trials basically back and forth, clearing these hllenges to unlock new track bulding items, earn coins, and cars.. and imemdietly I relized, oh no.. theres rubber banding.. unfortuntaly there is no sweet spot difficulty to make racing through this game solo thrilling… easy is essentially free roam mode cause the AI cant keep up, and the rubber banding in medium and hard ruins races.. turning this basically into nothing but time trials essentially.. one wrong move and youre in last place.. that’s how bad the rubber banding is… might as well restart.. much like again.. a time trial.. when I sit down to race.. iwant to race.. don’t pretend theres added difficulty by making the ai slingshot to catch up with me… jst make the ai better the harder it gets.. so unfortunately playing solo turned this into a map cleaner more than anything else.. made worse by how uncreative the tracks are.. The game focused so heavily on detail they forgot to focus on zany fun… sure there are obstacles thrown in there like a spider that shoots a web,but no childlike imagination.. making forts out of pillows, throwing bouncy balls here and there, making me drive over a bowl of water.. a cat swiping at you while you drive around… an insanine incline down a flight of stairs to fly across the room… nothing really to remind me im dirving a hotwheels car.. other than the ocassional vent or couch to drive across, but its so in the background hat I stopped paying attention.. really making getting through the campaign a drag at times, as it is just recycled the same 8 tracks over and over and over…
    That being said if you plan to race online or locally with friends.. hot wheels unleashed has potential to be a staple in your collection.. creating tracks to challenge eachother, designing a staple hotwheel..
    This is a must have for racing fans..
    I give Hot wheels unleashed
    a 7.5/10    … Expand
  3. br0ckw3ll
    Oct 4, 2021
    8
    The racing is fun, the cars are beautifully rendered, and the customisation is extensive. If I had any complaints, it would be that there's a very limited pool of race options - Time Trial, and a regular race. I'd love to see more variety to this in future updates!

    More focus on online, creating a competitive scene would also be appreciated!
  4. NindieSpotlight
    Dec 17, 2021
    8
    Having spent a fair portion of my childhood playing with the cars, tracks, and quite a few playsets there’s absolutely an element of nostalgia in Hot Wheels Unleashed that comes in waves and puts a smile on my face. I can only imagine what weight this collective love for the property, and the associated expectations it comes with, put on the shoulders of everyone working on this project.Having spent a fair portion of my childhood playing with the cars, tracks, and quite a few playsets there’s absolutely an element of nostalgia in Hot Wheels Unleashed that comes in waves and puts a smile on my face. I can only imagine what weight this collective love for the property, and the associated expectations it comes with, put on the shoulders of everyone working on this project. For the most part the great news is that the resulting game is quite a lot of fun even without leaning entirely on the many iconic cars and playsets the franchise brings to the table. Perhaps I’d prefer an element like combat to spice things up a bit more, but going the “toy-sized track within a full-sized environment” route does manage to help compensate to a degree for the missing ability to blow up your competitors. It doesn’t completely lack in technique either, as you’ll need to work on your drift turns (which also then fill your boost gauge) and carefully manage any situation where you may catch air or encounter transitions between a real-world surface and the track since those can quickly lead to disaster if you’re not careful. In terms of things that hold it back the almost mobile-esque unboxing system and the seemingly ever-present hard sell efforts for you to buy DLC for the game that just released can rub the wrong way. That said, the main “local play” mode that switches up scenarios for you to unlock gear, online multiplayer, and a track editor all help to compensate with plenty of opportunities to explore, expand your virtual car collection, and bask in the glory of this iconic franchise.

    https://www.nindiespotlight.com/2021/10/mini-reviews-october-6th-edition.html    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Nov 8, 2021
    75
    Hot Wheels Unleashed is hard. Like, unnecessarily so. I hope that the developers, after reading feedback about the too-tough difficulty level, will patch the game to be more accessible to Hot Wheels' biggest fans: small kids! [Issue #56 – November/December 2021, p. 72]
  2. Starbit
    Oct 17, 2021
    70
    Hot Wheels Unleashed captures the spirit of the toy line in a very appealing way and fans will find here a marvelous experience between collecting cars, customizing them, and making changes to the areas around us. While the gameplay experience could use some tweaks when it comes to its controls, and the high difficulty level will prove tough for some players, it's easy to get completely absorbed by everything that Hot Wheels Unleashed does well.
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  3. TouchArcade
    Oct 6, 2021
    70
    As an overall package, Hot Wheels Unleashed is better than you might have expected. It does its license justice, and the racing action is more than competent. I’m not really a fan of how much luck plays a role, in terms of what cars you get from the Blind Boxes, in how well you’re able to tackle the campaign. If you get bad pulls, grinding for more chances can take forever. I also feel like some of the longer courses are a little too long, running for several minutes in some cases. Again, there is a big update coming very soon and likely more to come in the future, so some or all of these points could eventually be fixed. I can only review what is in front of me, and that’s a game that is quite good but with its fair share of flaws.
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