Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush Review

There was something alluring about Hot Wheels as a kid. Between it and Matchbox cars, Hot Wheels dominated the idea of speed for many a child’s mind, so much so that many adults continue to collect these tiny metal beasts, once referred to as the “fastest metal cars in the world”. Of course, they eventually entered the world of gaming, with Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush being the latest toy car title to explode onto the scene. Like any good driver knows, though, what matters is what’s under the hood, and here, it’s a bit iffy.

It’s not that Hot Wheels: Infinite rush is bad, because as far as racing games go, it’s definitely well made – and so aggressively playful. Every inch of the world is soaked in Hot Wheels-style cartoonishness. Every one of the world’s bustling metropolises, despite there being no humans to speak of, feels chaotic and random. Perhaps you’ll be sitting still and a car will drive through a bus stop. Anything can happen!

Fortunately, the various islands you visit are dense in terms of scenery. One of the first things to do on any island is to find all the Tourist events, which are simple and usually require having a specific type of car, and taking a photo of it with a landmark. This is fantastic, as it highlights the way the game is at least trying to do some different things. Visually, it looks fantastic and really feels like a toy mat come to life. Cars look distinct enough to have their own personalities, and cities are largely well differentiated, at least thematically.

How is the driving, though? Really solid. Controlling cars feels very good, and if there are any issues, there are assists to help with steering and braking. There are two concerns, however. Firstly, drifting never really feels quite right, instead always being a bit too hard to pull off like the game wants. The other issue is the fact that races use checkpoint systems. In and of itself it’s fine, but if you miss one, that’s kind of the end of that race for you. It takes so long to respawn, you’ll be comfortably lapped before you know it. Still, it’s a fantastically responsive control scheme, and it never feels like failure is anyone’s fault but the player’s. For the purposes of this review, Infinite Rush was played on both Medium and Easy, and both felt appropriately difficult. The aforementioned assists are also a nice touch, though again, drifting isn’t helped much by them.

In order to progress, you complete races to slowly work your way up to an islander challenger, or Rushers, who are functionally boss fights. There are issues with this, though, as not every type of race allows you to move up the meter and get closer to a Rusher. In fact, very few of them do, with the remaining providing in-game currency to buy things like other cars or boost effects. It wouldn’t be so annoying, but since most of the events don’t contribute to your ability to tackle a Rusher, and therefore continue the game, it can get frustrating when that’s most of what you find.

It’s even more annoying because there isn’t a ton of content to begin with, at least not at first. Gatekeeping content behind races makes sense, but coupled with the lack of a meaningful driving (teehee) force to keep the game going, it can often feel like there’s not enough content to justify the various islands’ existences. It is a shame, because the final island in particular is a personal favorite, even if it ultimately seems to suffer from poor pacing as well. It may have been nicer to have all the intersections have something to do, à la Burnout Paradise, than essentially having drivable menus.

Switching cars usually just requires going into the garage, which you can do anywhere, and switching car types to find a vehicle that fits the type of event you’re interested in. The menu is a bit cumbersome to search through, given you have four types of cars and that’s about as organised as it gets. Still, being able to do this from anywhere is a nice touch, even if it can be a bit overwhelming to find the car you want.

From a technical standpoint, Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush runs fine, though loading can be a bit on the long side. On maybe one occasion there were some texture popping issues, but again, the game runs smoothly, both in handheld and docked. It’s impressive given they basically built four separate cities for the player to explore that it runs as smoothly as it does.

Cubed3 Rating

Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush is a really solid driving game with some frustrating choices made here and there. The biggest issue really comes down to how unlocking things is structured, which, for all intents and purposes, would be fine if it felt like you were making real progress while playing. Still, it manages to justify itself by being a fun and welcoming title that sits comfortably behind the wheel.

About this Score
Add a Comment