- Publisher: Milestone S.r.l
- Release Date: Sep 27, 2021
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
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- Critic score
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- Unscored
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Sep 27, 2021Hot wheels Unleashed is, in some respects, a brilliant arcade driving video game. Simple, immediate, fun and just enough adrenaline, supported by an excellent technical department and which offers one of the best circuit editors that have been seen in recent years. However, it is not explained how such a well-made title can be inserted in such a cumbersome and counterintuitive menu system, in addition to the fact that in the face of an excellent interpretation of the Hot Wheels brand on an aesthetic level, it contradicts itself so evidently with the its management of the lootboxes, the underlying mechanics of the title that has influenced its internal balance in a way that is at least questionable.
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Power UnlimitedSep 30, 2021If you're a fan of arcade racers, Hot Wheel Unleashed is a fun game for a rainy weekend. However, the game has little to do with the basics of Hot Wheels. Collecting the coolest cars is also hell because of the available Blind Boxes.
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Oct 16, 2021For a first draft from Milestone on this license, this Hot Wheels Unleashed is doing with a positive result. This is mainly due to a well-studied drive and rather well-designed circuits that respect the spirit of small friction cars. Once the driving is mastered, it is fun to go from boost to boost, studying the best way to use nitro and optimize trajectories. We can hope that this constitutes an encouraging basis to make it a real must-have on a future version. There are unfortunately too many flaws that reveal an imperfect finish.
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Sep 29, 2021All-in-all, Hot Wheels Unleashed is an incredibly fun racer which will get its hooks in you and have you behind the die-cast wheel for hours on end. It includes a comprehensive track builder which you can use to let your imagination run wild and an extensive car collection which will keep your eyes firmly on the plastic orange track. It's the ultimate virtual Hot Wheels experience, whether you want to create your most fantastical Hot Wheels tracks, or just race long into the night playing split screen or multiplayer with a friend. There really is something for everyone here, and Hot Wheels Unleashed is a welcome addition to Mattel's long-running Hot Wheels video game franchise.
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Sep 28, 2021Honestly, I really didn’t expect much out of Hot Wheels Unleashed. I was expecting a throw-away licensed racing game. Perhaps, more cynically, a cash-grab targeting nostalgic aging gamers. What I ended up getting, though, was a surprisingly solid arcade racer by a team that obviously cares about the license they’re working with. It’s not without its quirks, unfortunately. The shocking aggressive AI racers created many moments of frustration, and I’m not a fan of the “gacha but not really” system going on here for obtaining new cars. But for fans of arcade racers, whether the Hot Wheels name strikes a chord or not, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a game worth a look.
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Sep 27, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed tries to bring back the memories of childhood with a fast and colored game. Unfortunately it does not succeed completely, resulting too simple and repetitive.
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Sep 27, 2021It remains an effective game, quite enjoyable and is without doubt the one that most faithfully respects the spirit of the famous brand, with that same nostalgic and passionate vision that we could have had ourselves, a few years earlier.
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Sep 27, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed is a rock solid arcade racing game that gets a lot of things right, but doesn't quite measure up in some areas. The drift-heavy handling and physics-based mayhem create super fun action on the track, and the cars themselves are as good to look at as they are to drive. While the tracks tend to feel a bit samey and the random nature of unlocks may lead to some frustration, the end result is a robust racing game that'll appeal to fans young and old.
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Oct 1, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed is an okay racing game at best. If you want a much more enjoyable arcade-style racer with your favourite childhood toys then check out Beach Buggy Racing 2: Island Adventure which has its very own Hot Wheels Booster Pack DLC.
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Jan 20, 2022Despite the phenomenal graphics and details, sim-specialized authors from Milestone stumbled a little bit while trying to make their trip to the arcade genre fun enough.
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Sep 27, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed is really nice to look at and sometimes fun to play, but I’m not sure who it’s for. The in-game currency model is unnecessarily convoluted and annoying most of the time. The difficulty is unbalanced to the point where I was forced to play on easy and swallow my gamer pride. The online multiplayer is where the most enjoyment is, but expect to invest hours trying to pull a car that can compete with some of the rarer racers. If Unleashed were a contender in a race, it would place 12th, like I did many times.
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Sep 27, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed delivers on what it promises, high octane toy car thrills, drifting and boosting around gravity defying tracks set in high definition great looking environments. It just lets itself down when it comes to the structure of the solo campaign and there aren’t enough unique hazards or variation in the tracks to keep you coming back for more. It would have been nice if they went a step further and thought outside of the box with the designs of the tracks themselves, but at least it delivers a boost of nostalgia for the kid inside all of us.
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Oct 4, 2021Even with an outstanding Hot Wheels license to work with, Hot Wheels Unleashed’s generic and uninspired execution coupled with lower presentation qualities makes it a below average racing title.
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Sep 28, 2021Hot Wheels Unleashed is initially a pretty fun arcade racer, with decent controls, as well as a nice connection between soundtrack and gameplay. After a while, the game starts to get tedious, though. Uninspired tracks, annoying enemy AI and a large amount of filler content ultimately prove Hot Wheels Unleashed's downfall.
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PLAYOct 17, 2021While everything is perfectly playable, for a game that absolutely nails the toy’s aesthetic it’s almost remarkable how removed the gameplay feels from the fiery, fast-paced action that has come to embody the brand. Never mind hot, these little wheels are lukewarm at best. [Issue#7, p.90]
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Sep 28, 2021Outside of its stunning visuals, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a toothless kart racer, relying too heavily on nostalgia goggles and the Hot Wheels brand to carry it instead of the solid ideas that end up hardly being implemented. What players get with Hot Wheels Unleashed is the same experience I had with many of my Hot Wheels as a child; I was entertained for a few hours, then grew bored and tossed it in a box. That’s not to say that I didn’t have fun with the game. Those few hours were full of spectacle, because it’s simply impossible to not get caught up in the game’s sights and sounds. Eventually, though, it’s going to take more than racing a hot dog car down a strip of vinyl track to keep me interested.
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| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
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Sep 30, 2021Hot Wheels: Unleashed is a good arcade racer, sometimes captivating for its good use of drifting, and sometimes too crazy for its chaotic random physics.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 48 out of 74
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Mixed: 12 out of 74
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Negative: 14 out of 74
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Aug 5, 2022
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Oct 2, 2021
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Sep 30, 2021