A lowkey good racing game gets a lowkey good sequel | Review - Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged

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✨Overview

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, the sequel to the 2021 original, comes charging onto the scene with high-octane racing and the beloved charm of Hot Wheels. Although the game's popularity pales in comparison to giants like Forza or Gran Turismo, The original game — Hot Wheels Unleashed — was a lowkey good racing game and had a moderate amount of success, and this game offers a similar but enhanced experience compared to its predecessor. While it doesn't introduce groundbreaking changes, it refines and expands upon the elements that made the first game enjoyable. 🟩Pros

+Decent vehicle handling and controls +Introduction of new vehicle types and classes +Immersive graphics that resemble real Hot Wheels toys instead of actual cars +Expansive Track Builder to create custom tracks +New challenging ways to race, on and off track 🟥Cons

-Story is forgettable -Progression system is not that rewarding ⭐️Score: 8/10

📖Story and Premise

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 adds a touch of narrative to the series, setting the stage with a story about massive monsters invading the city. This time, the heroes combat these creatures by racing Hot Wheels cars, and the story is delivered through short cutscenes every now and then in between races. The main heroes and the storyline are presented with a comic book or cartoon style of tone, with over the top dialogues and humor that goes along with the cartoonish theme. Honestly, the story is forgettable, literally. After a very short cutscene, you get to play multiple races, these races along are pretty much disconnected with how the story plays out. No dialogue during races, or something to glue the narrative together. It feels like I’m watching a separate unrelated cartoon and then taking a break to play a different game altogether. If you only care for the races, then you aren’t really losing much in terms of the narrative. 🎨Graphics and Art Style

The game continues to impress with its graphics and attention to detail. The Hot Wheels cars are incredibly faithful to their real-world counterparts. The graphics genuinely resemble toy cars with all their imperfections and die-cast aesthetics, and they are clearly not intended to mimic or look like real-life or full-sized vehicles. Rotating them in the menus or in the photo mode reveals intricate details that make them look like real toys. The game features various life-sized environments where everyday objects like stools and skateboards are blown up to gigantic proportions. The lighting and reflections, particularly in locations like the Arcade and Gas Station, are decent looking and can pass as current gen visuals. 🎮Gameplay

The heart of Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 lies in its high-speed, arcade-style racing, with little toys around a huge track set in a normal sized place, like a backyard, or a museum. This game improves upon the second by introduction of different vehicle classes. Each class, such as Rocket, Balanced, Swift, Drifter, Off-Road, and Heavy Duty, has its own unique characteristics, offering variety in terms of control and handling. Drifters excel in drifting, while Off-Road excels in going off course, It’s pretty much self explanatory. You can select any class for each race, so it’s still a good ‘ol free for all. The game also now features ATV’s and Motorcycles, which are welcome additions to the overall vehicle roster. Although, much like the toys they are, it's always a bit disorienting to see these small riderless ATVs and bikes racing around the track. There are also new abilities like jumping and side dashes for bumping into enemies. These abilities require boost and are essential for successfully navigating the tracks because there are now gaps and obstacles to jump over or evade. You can't simply abuse the boost meter to constantly propel yourself anymore. You'll need to pay close attention. If you run out of boost before a significant gap, you'll fall and have to reset. Fortunately, resetting replenishes you with the necessary amount of boost to make it through. Obstacles in the game have been improved as well and come in various forms. Some can be knocked away, some can be totally avoided, some need to be jumped on. Additionally, there are track hazards, such as a spider spitting webs over the track to stop vehicles or a shark closing its mouth over the track, which adds a bit of flavor to races. The racing environment features five distinct locations, including the Gas Station, Mini-Golf, Museum, Arcade, and Backyard. These environments are not just visually different but also offer unique obstacles that become part of the race track. It's especially noticeable in the Waypoints races, where players navigate through the environment rather than on a traditional track, which felt similar to one of my favorite toy racing games growing up: Re-Volt. ⏫Progression

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 offers a wider variety of Hot Wheels cars to collect and race with. With the introduction of vehicle classes, each type of Hot Wheels vehicle feels distinct, providing excitement when unlocking new ones. The vehicles can be upgraded, increasing their overall level and providing a boost to stats. Additionally, there are perks that can be unlocked and equipped, although they often come with trade-offs, allowing players to customize their vehicles to suit their playstyle. However, the progression system overall is a bit of a downgrade compared to the original. Challenges, which are meant to offer rewards, often provide profile customization options (which are almost entirely useless) instead the actual titular Hot Wheels cars. 🛣Track Builder

One of the best features of the Hot Wheels Unleashed series is its track builder, which truly emphasizes the toy-like nature of the game. With this tool, players can create custom tracks using a user-friendly editor, and it's back and better than ever. It no longer requires players to unlock track parts, granting them the freedom to create tracks without unnecessary restrictions. The track builder includes all the track pieces used in the campaign races, making it versatile and unrestricted. Building and racing on community tracks can be a highly enjoyable experience. Finding community tracks is made easy with recommended tabs, filters for tags, environments, and track names. The sharing system is straightforward and offers enough filtering options to quickly discover the desired type of track. 📊Technical Performance

The game ran smoothly on a lock 120fps 1080p on my 8700k RTX 3080 PC, and I had no problems in running the game. It fully supports split-screen coop, controllers and rumble, and features both DLSS and FSR, although I found it weird not being able to use DLSS on a fullscreen windowed mode, and I had to use FSR on my NVIDIA GPU. ⚖️Conclusion

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged builds upon the success of its predecessor with enhanced gameplay, diverse vehicle classes, and an expanded track builder. While the story is forgettable and feels disjointed from the actual gameplay, it’s small part in the game doesn't detract from the overall racing experience. It may not reinvent the wheel and can feel like the same game at times, but it certainly gives it a turbocharged spin worthy of being called a sequel, delivering a great arcade Hot Wheels racing experience.

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