Hot Wheels, man. We remember those. In the '90s almost every Saturday morning ad break featured a Hot Wheels commercial braying out superlative adjectives over thrashy rock solos. Invariably, two pearly-toothed, spiky-haired kids would grin as their miniature cars jostled for pole position, giving each other a thumbs-up after a totally tubular crash. All we ever wanted was a simple orange loop — because the loop was the coolest gravity-defying thing ever — but we never got one because the Super Nintendo was a life priority. We did manage to try one once, though, and pinged that car down the straight at full speed, ripping up the lip, only for it to soar off and go clattering across the ground. While you can still spectacularly succumb to gravity in Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, if you blast the accelerator for all its worth you’ll coast that loop through an elating 360 degrees.
Here, the world of collectible racing cars has been virtually recreated in a splendidly inventive fashion. What’s striking about Unleashed 2 is the creativity that’s been put into its various modes, featuring clever ideas that don't just lean on existing tropes, but dig into the fascinating meta of miniature racing within giant, real-world environments.
If you remember the Micro Machines games of the 16-Bit era, Hot Wheels’ similarity can’t be overstated. Where Micro Machines (also a line of collectible toy cars) utilised the abstract notion of racing between pool balls, coffee mugs, and across precariously placed rulers in top-down 2D, Hot Wheels traffics the idea into three glorious dimensions, its iconic plastic track winding through museums, arcade centres, and back yards.
Single player offers plenty of modes, with the main campaign pitting you against 12 opponents across a variety of courses littered with bouncy balls and other random impediments. Each car you choose has simple pros and cons and sports impressively varied handling physics. While the vehicle selection is initially limited, by earning points you can steadily unlock and acquire a whopping 130 different additions, now including motorbikes, ATVs, and muscly Bigfoot monster trucks.
New to Turbocharged is the skill system, offering simplified car tuning benefits, allowing you to get your favourites up to spec for online tussles. As in the previous entry, licensed cars are present and not locked behind DLC paywalls. We got Back to the Future’s DeLorean after only a short time finishing campaign races at a cost of just 5000 points. The Turtles van, though, seemingly sits further away. Certain vehicles have treasure and rarity statuses, and can only be purchased when they make a lucky virtual shop appearance.
The basics of the game are to win races by being first to the finish line or achieve goals around specified tasks. This sequel to 2021's Hot Wheels Unleashed features five all-new environments that employ clever makeshift physical junctures beyond the set track. The mini-golf course and its Wild West-themed wooden tributaries is particularly excellent. You navigate obstacles like giant, web-spitting spiders, while hitting speed pods and ramps, refilling a generous boost meter through driving and drifting, and then using that boost to gain a lead.
New to the mix is a jump mechanic that goes off with a burst of flame, enabling you to engage nifty shortcuts and cross massive do-or-die gaps in the road; and a new shunt feature known as the ‘lateral dash’, allowing you to aggressively barge opponents to your side and make last minute dodges. It works well, feels good, and the vehicle physics respond differently depending on weight, attributes, and nature of the terrain, be it hard plastic, dirt, or grass. When you get comfortable with the car of your choice and learn where to bite the corners, drifting comes easily and feels rewarding. Should you get knocked from the beaten track, you need to hit the shoulder button for a re-spawn, which takes a several penalising seconds. There was one sole occasion, however, when the game got confused and didn’t give us the re-spawn prompt for a prolonged period, killing the time trial. Hopefully this is patched out and doesn’t present too often.
Racing the AI on Normal difficulty provides a fun experience for one or two players locally, and the new story-driven campaign, Creature Rampage, features five boss battles hedged between a long series of racing trials on an over-world map. Threaded with cartoon interludes, it’s aimed at the younger crowd, but, while easy to complete, still offers a fun, lighthearted training experience that ensures learn the ropes.
It’s largely the other aspects and modes, however, that make Turbocharged really attractive. The course builder is an incredibly creative time sink, gifting you more tools, colour options, and obstacles than the previous game. You select an environment in which to build your track, and then get swallowed by experimentation. It definitely captures the childlike appeal of building a bedroom racecourse in an elaborate way, creating multi-loop chicanes and nigh-on impossible, plummeting leaps. And, while not entirely intuitive at first, it becomes grossly addictive once you’re familiar with the builder toolset. When your masterpiece is done, you can upload your track for others to enjoy in the online arena.
Developer Milestone really listened to the criticisms of the previous entry, and went to town, filling the tank to near-capacity with new events and challenges. There's the self-explanatory Quick Race, for jump-straight-in fun; Elimination, a furiously fun race where the last trailing car is detonated out of existence at set timer intervals; Drift Master, where drifting like a beast is required to avoid cruelly implemented obstacles; and Waypoints, which discards the track entirely to send you under cupboards and down escalators, chasing checkpoints for the best possible time. Only Time Attack has no online presence, simply allowing you to get your best track times up on the leaderboards; while Grab the Gears, involving liberal use of your lateral dash to ping race-extending crates, and Clash Derby, where crashing means points, are limited to online only.
There’s a lot crammed in, capitalising on the groundwork of its predecessor to improve what was already a fun premise. That said, while a well-equipped and smartly produced sequel that well serves arcade racing fans, there are a few disappointments. Graphically, the Switch just can’t roll with the more powerful consoles, and while it looks pretty good, still suffers from a prominent visual smudging. These texture cutbacks are more obvious in handheld, as you can see in our screenshots, but even docked there’s a gulf if you put it side-by-side with, say, the PS4 version.
Additionally, while there’s a graphical mode that supposedly increases visual clarity with no loss of performance, the game drops frames even in the earliest of races. It’s not a problem in a one-player Waypoint time-attack where it’s only you against the clock, but as soon as there are multiple vehicles in the immediate vicinity coupled with a turn that brings big environmental effects into view, you will spot the odd chug. It's no game-breaker, but it's there.
Regarding online, the Switch is the only one among seven online platforms excluded from Cross Play, which is kind of a bummer, especially when considering how many track builder creations will be unavailable to Nintendo players. This, coupled with the visual downgrade, makes this feel slightly less the experience that others will enjoy, like they got the Hot Wheels deluxe set and you got the one that was on sale. The Switch, relatively speaking, is old hardware now, but when we take into account the crispness of Mario Kart 8, we wonder if more optimisation wasn't possible.
Conclusion
Fans of Hot Wheels will feel well served from a nostalgia point of view, and inspired by its huge number of new modes. Unleashed 2: Turbocharged combines furious arcade race challenges with childlike creativity, being able to build tracks any which way, and race them to breaking point. You can feel the Switch’s lack of muscle, with a markedly smudgier feel than the grip offered by more powerful consoles, but as a racing experience bursting with customisation, modes, and creativity to mine, it’s both an excellent successor to the 16-Bit Micro Machines legacy and sits firmly in pole position over its predecessor.
Comments 34
I played the original and it was very nice. Really feels like you're playing with toy cars. I suppose the 2nd entry is similar, but if I get it, it will 100% be on PS5 as it's sadly the better option. That's kinda unfair towards Switch players
Did I miss it, or was there no mention of whether the driving mechanics have been improved? Couldn't get into the first game due to the floaty nature of the driving. Shame, as my four-year-old and I really wanted to enjoy it, as he's into Hot Wheels these days.
to be honest i am seeing a very poor graphics.
Curious how the difficulty is compared to the first game. It was insanely hard on "normal" (screw up once in the final lap and forget about finishing in the top 3), and way too easy on easy.
@calbeau Wow, amazing how time flies. When I was a kid in the late 90's I thought the brand was something new. Not until my dad told me how he played with Hot Wheels in his youth too.
@WaffleRaptor01 I was more into Matchbox back then, but never saw a die-cast car I didn't like. They still appeal to me to this day, and I'm glad my son (and due to his influence, my two-year-old daughter as well) has developed the same taste.
@calbeau
No issues for me, or else I would have highlighted them. I didn't play or review the previous entry, but, for me, the diverse physics for different vehicles and their behaviours according to their weight all worked well. Keep in mind, they're supposed to be toy cars and do succumb easily to simulated gravity effects, so when you have high speed collisions, large jumps, or spinouts, there is a 'floaty' feel at times. Certainly didn't affect the game negatively for me, though.
Hope this helps!
The original was great, challenging and alot of fun. Since this game seems to be even better, I have to play it someday.
@Roger_Brazil
That's the handheld shots. On the actual screen they come off a lot better because it's a smaller size and a higher resolution. Still a bit smudgy, unfortunately.
@citizenerased
Remains way too easy on Easy, seems totally fine for Normal. You gotta keep your lead and not mess up, because if you get blown out by obstacles or go off course and need to respawn, then yeah, that definitely hurts your placement in the final lap. But I didn't feel like these circumstances or penalties were markedly different from any other arcade racing game in terms of difficulty.
Yeah I played the first game and enjoyed it for a while but put it down and didn't go back. I may have to have a think before considering picking this up. The review makes it sound like something I'd Ienjoy. Cheers for the review.
Man, I miss the days when when Nintendo would loan out their characters for games on their platforms. It kinda made you feel like you had a special edition.
This would have been cool to have Mario Kart Hot Wheels as a Switch Bonus.
I remember how Mario, Luigi, and Peach guest starred in NBA Street V3.
@Tom-Massey It certainly does. Thanks for the additional information.
@Tom-Massey So no retrying races 20 times to finish in the top 3 if you're half decent, then? Sounds promising, thanks!
@citizenerased
I certainly didn't experience that problem. As long as you know the course (which is definitely required for winning races) it's not that hard at all. Keep in mind, there's a new tuning system in place too, so you can increase the key parameters of your chosen vehicles in handling, acceleration etc. to make them behave more the way you want. Without having played the original, it's clear Milestone have gone to some lengths to improve on criticisms levelled at it, so I'd assume difficulty balancing is one of them based on what I experienced.
@LEGEND_MARIOID Always welcome! Was nice to do something not 2D and thirty-years old for a change, ha ha.
I feel this game would have been better had it played more like circuit superstars or ultimate racing 2d or a number of other topdown/isometrics instead.
@Vexx234
Also worth mentioning, I feel, is when the mushroom kingdom crew showed up in a version of ssx snowboarding, or in a version of DDR.
@citizenerased I felt the difficulty options ruined the game game for me. I am surprised when I hear people praise the first game.
I've always considered buying the first one but other games had more priority. Maybe I'll finally get this entry since it does seem to be a considerable improvement over the first one according to the review.
@WaffleRaptor01 Hot wheels were around, but they were always junk compared to matchbox. No model and year on the bottom, less licensed cars, less accurate when they were. Though that has changed now, and I'd say they're generally higher quality now. I don't buy toy cars but the last one I bought I believe was a hot wheels.
The first one was a lot of fun! The constant DLC got annoying very quick though...
I thought I would like the first one. I should have. I think I'm bored of racing games. I even got bored of Forza.
The first game was very good and introduced a new type of racing physics that really differentiated it from everything else. I also like that they kept these vehicles as toys that are racing around within a building, it adds a lot of charm.
I HATE seeing drivers and car doors opening in racing games as well, so this game was perfect for me.
So this game had a track editor? Nintendo, this is what F-Zero 99 needs.
@Kiwi_Unlimited Yeah, I remember them being playable in SSX On Tour.
While we're on the subject: Link in Soul Calibur 2.
Damn, this sounds like a really great improvement over the first game. Looks like I might have to check this one out (on black Friday 😋)
I really enjoyed the first one on both Xbox and Switch. This sounds like as solid a port as the Switch can possibly expect. I look forward to picking it up in the new year when on discount physically 👍
"This sequel to 2021's Hot Wheels Unleashed features five all-new environments..."
Does this mean there are only five environments in total?
@Qwiff
Man, my friends would break into my dorm room back in the day to play soul calibur 2 when I wasn't there.
I often came back to my room to find gamer gatherings for that game.
Link was definitely an epic edition.
I enjoyed Hot Wheels Unleashed from a few years ago. Definitely the best Hot Wheels game in almost two decades and possibly ever. It wasn't perfect, but I didn't really expect it to be. I'm excited to give this one a go as well.
I played the first game and liked it. Like already said: it is like racing toy cars. Once I got the feel, it was good happy fun. Right now I am finishing Wreckfest, which is hilarious. Then, I bought on sale WRC 2, graphics not so good, but the game feel is so good. I will probably buy this on sale. I am glad the review is good.
So nice I bought it twice. First on the Switch, and then for the improved graphics on the Series X. The graphics were actually fairly close between the two, but the Series X provided 60fps. I wound up buying all the DLC too long before the game wound up on Game Pass.
I am so looking forward to this game but going to save it as a Christmas present to myself. Wish a Switch 2 was out to play on, but until then will probably wind up getting it on the Series X again.
That is okay, most of all the games I am playing are on my Switch and I have a backlog that will last me many years.
Cost of the game on the eshop made the score an instant 0 for me
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