We’ve played Hot Wheels: Unleashed and it does its name justice. Their races are completely unleashed, full of loops, impossible jumps, full speed drifts, turbos and lots and lots of fun. We tell you more in our impressions.

In drawers, in the dining room, in the bathtub and even under the pillow! I live surrounded by Hot Wheels; It is what it is like to have a little five year old at home playing all day with these wonderful toy cars . Sometimes I stay absorbed, looking at him and thinking about what will go through his head as he runs from one place to another sliding them through any piece of furniture in the house.

Now I get an idea, I guess. Really if he has them, it is because his mother and I particularly bought them for him. The truth is that I love those little works of art that are each of the cars in the infinite collection that the Mattel toymaker treasures. Each one of them is unique, rich in details and with designs that make the imagination of young and old alike fly.

That is precisely the first thing we detect when we start the game in Hot Wheels: Unleashed . The huge range and variety of vehicles available to drive. Replicated in great detail, each with its own speed, braking, acceleration, handling and turbo stats. Not all of them work the same, and that is something that is noticeable when walking through its incredible tracks that emulate the real models that can be found in toy stores. Hot Wheels: Unleashed takes the term arcade driving to its finest. With Forza Horizon 5 around the corner, it’s a good time to talk about the genre; because, although it might seem that Hot Wheels: Unleashed is nothing more than another Mario Kartin which the games have a certain randomness and external components that affect beyond the driving itself, the title developed by Milestone emulates more the formula of ship titles such as F-Zero or WipEout , betting on top speed in each of its careers.

In Hot Wheels Unleashed you only have one goal: to win

Anything goes in Hot Wheels races: Unleashed, without destroying the chassis in between, on the track it doesn’t matter if you hit your rivals or not, the important thing is to place yourself first by all means. From the start, in which you can count on an acceleration plus depending on pulling the trigger at the right moment or filling in a turbo bar prior to the end of the countdown depending on the vehicle you have chosen, the goal is to reach maximum speed and maintain it for as long as possible.

The game system is simple, but very effectiveNot everything is pressing the accelerator without control, there are curves in which just braking can give us a spectacular drift that in turn fills our turbo meter . Using it wisely is another of the bases to reach the top positions, since, on many occasions, the “plastic” tracks lose their continuity and incredible jumps are produced in which you have to control the fall. Each vehicle here responds to its own physics based on its aerodynamics and, although a long, sporty vehicle is very attractive when it comes to being selected, perhaps a truck with a huge hamburger on top may not get so out of control in the air.

The environments in Hot Wheels: Unleashed leave some great prints.

[cita01] During the tour we find various acceleration points that catapult us to the top positions, segments that accelerate our turbo gain or fast tracks. The question is to be able to take advantage of all of them, reaching them with skill and not letting one of them escape. There are certain traps in its routes, such as a spider that throws its webs , which is better to avoid if we do not want to be caught in them being overtaken by the rest of the competitors in their races where up to twelve vehicles meet at the same time.

The game system is simple, but very effective. In addition, each of the thematic circuits has its own level of difficulty that will vary depending on the more or less frequent existence of guardrails that save us from falling, forks or shortcuts that will have to be known by repeating each one of the tracks in races that do not exceed five minutes in duration in any case. Fans or dinosaurs who shut their mouths at the most inopportune moment are other obstacles that you will find during the circuits to achieve victory.

Hot Wheels Unleashed is best enjoyed in company

Controlling the fall is essential to avoid losing positions or being forced to reappear.

The title has an online multiplayer mode that I have not been able to test in this version of the game, but if you want to enjoy at home in the company of friends or family, Hot Wheels: Unleashed has a very entertaining split-screen mode . For the moment I have had to settle for fast races, just the surface of everything that the title has in store, but a good sample of what to expect from a driving game in which speed and fun are its strengths. .

Each vehicle is recreated in detail and has its statistics.

Four different environments have been seen, all of them with their own personality and quite different. A skate park, a university campus, a garage and, above all, the skyscraper, which leaves some spectacular images , especially when we jump into the void above a sea of ​​clouds bathed in the mid-afternoon sun.

I am looking forward to seeing something that is fundamental within Hot Wheels; Because, if as I told you at the beginning I have a house full of these little four-wheeled wonders, we must remember the enormous number of tracks and sections that exist in the market and that have the advantage of being able to be interconnected, being able to create your own circuits to your liking . Hot Wheels: Unleashed will have a track editor that will be the reflection of this in the game and the truth is that it is a point where our imaginations fly.

To finish, a simple comment, do not be fooled by its childish and carefree appearance, the title has a difficulty selector that makes it accessible to all audiences, but in normal mode, there will be races in which it will not be so easy to win. We will have to be attentive to everything that the game has to offer at the time of its launch because, seen what has been seen, it promises much more adrenaline and entertainment.