Classic genres have seen a resurgence over the last several years. Brawlers, point-and-click adventures, and arcade racers, to name a few. Each has had its own degree of success, but I’d argue that even though they’re fun to play, they haven’t brought anything drastically new to the table.
I’ve played and really enjoyed the two previous Hot Wheels games on Switch. With the newest Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush, the developers have expanded their vision with a more open-world approach.
An Infinite Rush of Possibilities
I haven’t explored every inch and unlocked every car, but it’s clear that there is a whole lot to do in this game. Depending on the type of racer you’re looking for, this sequel could be exactly what you want, or like me, it could feel like a little too much.
I’ve said in the past that open world games are not my thing anymore. Sure, there are some exceptions, and I was hoping Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush would be one of them. For the most part,t the game did work for me. It’s a fast, fun arcade racer with a lot to collect and unlock, and the open-world feel doesn’t feel too overpopulated or massive.
To start, the game will let you choose from a few different archetypes or classes of cars. One will be an all-arounder with speed, jumps, and drifts giving you a boost advantage; the other is heavily reliant on drifting; and the third is speed: the faster you go, the better. I began with the Drifter and almost immediately regretted it (more on that in a minute).
You’ll be dropped into a world of toys, Hot Wheels, and elaborate layouts in a mix of plastic tracks and city streets. It looks slick, bright, and colourful. Overall, the game is a joy to look at, no matter what you’re doing.
A few minutes of tutorial show you the basics and give you a sense of what the game feels like. If you’ve played the previous games in the series, you’ll know what to expect. Once you’re free to roam Wheel Wood,d you can do pretty much anything you want. As you drive, the map will ping you with new events to discover. These range from basic races to Tourist quests to take photos of landmarks, and likely my favourite of the bunch are the boss-like races that pit you one-on-one with a new car that you can win.
As much fun as those latter races are, I felt pretty outmatched and unprepared in the opening hours of the game, and it took some time actually to win one and feel rewarded. These Daredevils pop up from time to time as they speed through the map and need to be tracked down to challenge them. It’s an interesting way to make the world feel a little more lived in.
Overall, the game controls very tightly and offers some slick moves for any driver. The triggers on a controller are gas and brake, the B button is your boost, and A and Y (on Switch) are dashes and fast moves to bump opponents.
Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush Excels at Variety and Creativity
Above, I mentioned the car classes and the fact that I began with a Drifter car. It felt fine and looked cool, but the game’s execution is where the issue lies for me. Every car you collect in the game has the same goal: go fast, accumulate boost, come in first place. Simple enough. But no matter which Hot Wheel you’re driving, that oh-so-important boost is added at a pretty quick rate. Then, why have classes of cars if it’s so easy to manage a resource that at times feels, well… infinite?
In later, more difficult showdowns and races, I felt like the Drifter was often at Driftervantage because of the way the drifting physics work in Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush. All the cars feel a little too heavy, and most aren’t well equipped to pull off this necessary move. Thankfully, the game gives you the chance to play around and experiment with a ton of different cars. And this is where the game really shines.
Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush excels in the choice and variety columns throughout and is at its best when those are the focus. You can have a few cars at your disposal at any given time, hot-swapping them on the fly in the middle of the street. It’s great that they’ve adopted this idea, as it won’t slow down the excitement and speed the game is trying to inject into your veins.
Open world elements are constantly being updated as you compete and unlock new events. The map felt a little sparse at first, but with a few wins under my belt and a couple of new cars in my garage, I was battling one-on-one with awesome vehicles and launching onto a new island to explore.
Each of the four islands has its own biome-like setting. It doesn’t drastically change the way you play the game, but because Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush always looks and sounds great, anything new to play with feels like a big bonus.
If you want to get creative, the game also lets you change any vehicle’s look with paint and stickers, and it includes a pretty extensive track builder. I love customizing cars in any racer, so even the slightly more basic choices here still worked nicely for me. In terms of the track builder, it’s easy to use and understand,d and I’m sure the more people create,t,e the more we’ll see some truly wild ideas.
I’m still in the place where I prefer to move from race to race instead of roaming the land to look for new events or collect various tokens and unlockable currencies, but I do see the appeal. Overall, Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush is a bigger and more ambitious title, and I applaud the developers for that work. There’s always something to do and almost always a new and cool route to discover with a rewarding conclusion.
Verdict
While the main structure of Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush may not be what I personally want from an arcade racer, any fan of the series so far and anyone who has enjoyed games like Burnout: Paradise will likely find something to enjoy here.
It’s a bigger game with more cars, more fun ideas, more space to expand, and more cool-looking Hot Wheels to collect and drive.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Switch 2
