Hot Wheels Unleashed turns the toy aisle into a racing game. Milestone developed and published it, and it came out on September 30, 2021, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Versions for Amazon Luna and Stadia followed in July and September 2022.
The pitch is simple. You collect the best cars in the Hot Wheels universe, build tracks, and race. The cars are the draw, and Milestone knows it.
Trailer, via Milestone Team.
A Garage, a Kitchen, a Bedroom
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a racing game played from a third-person perspective. You take control of vehicles from the Hot Wheels franchise and race them on miniature tracks set in everyday locations — a garage, a kitchen, a bedroom. Sixty-six different cars were available at launch.
The scale is the whole idea. A kitchen floor becomes a circuit. A bedroom becomes a course. Every object in these environments can become part of the track, which is a smarter use of a license than another game that just drops branded cars onto asphalt.
The cars themselves can be extensively customized. That matters more than it sounds, because the Hot Wheels line is a collector’s line. Players who own the die-cast versions will want their in-game cars to match. Milestone built for that instinct.
The Orange Piece Is the Best Part
The track editor is where Hot Wheels Unleashed earns its keep. You build by taking advantage of what surrounds you, creating layouts inside and outside the race course. You can bend and stretch the iconic orange piece. You can add loops, special boosters, obstacles and other elements.
This is the correct thing to build a Hot Wheels game around. The toy is a construction toy before it is anything else. A game that only let you race licensed cars on fixed tracks would have missed the point. Milestone did not miss it.
There is also a personal room to furnish with elements you collect during your adventure, and you can host races inside it. It is a small feature. It is also the kind of thing that keeps a builder coming back.
Up to 12 Online, Two on the Couch
Racing supports up to 12 players in an online session. Local split-screen multiplayer handles two players. There is a career mode and a time trial as well.
The split-screen option is worth naming plainly, because it is getting rarer. Two players on one couch is not a headline feature in 2021. It is still the way a lot of people actually play a racing game with a friend in the room.
The career mode gives the structure, the time trial gives the grinders something to chase, and the online sessions give the track editor an audience. The modes fit together better than the sum of their parts suggests.
Players also had the chance to submit car designs in the “Hot Wheels Unleashed Design Battle.” The winning design was used to create a Hot Wheels toy available for purchase in December 2022. That is a real bridge between the game and the shelf, and it is the kind of move a licensed game should make.
Where the Fun Runs Out of Track
Here is the problem. Hot Wheels Unleashed is a good idea executed at a competent level, and competent is the ceiling. The racing itself does not carry the weight the track editor does.
Drift, charge the booster, launch into a loop. If you are too slow, gravity does its job. That is the loop, and it is fine. It is not the reason to stay. The reason to stay is the building, and once you have built the track you wanted, the racing on it has to hold up. It mostly does. It rarely surprises.
The environments are the strongest argument for the game. The garage, the kitchen, the bedroom — these are the tracks that stick, because the scale joke keeps paying off. A car the size of a thumbnail tearing across a countertop is a better idea than any single race Milestone designed around it.
The online support for 12 players is generous. Twelve is a lot of tiny cars on a miniature track, and the chaos is part of the appeal. It is also the mode most likely to expose how thin the racing is when the track is not yours.
Hot Wheels Unleashed does the hard part right. It understands that the toy is a construction set, and it hands the construction set to the player. That is why the sequel, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, arrived in October 2023. The foundation was worth building on.
What holds this one back is the gap between the editor and the racing. One is a toy box. The other is a racing game that gets the job done. The toy box is the reason to play. The racing is the reason to stop.
Buy it for the track editor. Stay for the kitchen. Do not expect the driving to be the part you remember.
KEY FACTS
– Release date: September 30, 2021
– Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
– Later platforms: Amazon Luna (July 2022), Stadia (September 2022)
– Developer and publisher: Milestone
– Cars at launch: 66
– Online players: up to 12
– Local split-screen: 2 players
– Sequel: Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, October 2023
– Score: 6.8/10
Verdict: 6.8 of 10.
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