The Infinite Rush?
We went years without a decent Hot Wheels game, with brand fans being left with various DLC and expansion packs as the best way to get involved in the universe.
But over more recent times, that Hot Wheels name has become more and more prominent in the arcade racing scene; Hot Wheels Unleashed, the Unleashed 2 sequel, a Monster Trucks variant and then Hot Wheels Let’s Race: Ultimate Speed filling out the roster.
Frankly, none of those were ever seen as the finest of racers, and we’d still have recommended any of the Forza Horizon expansions over those mainline games.
Yet now with HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush? The brand finally has a standalone game that ticks all the boxes. It’s probably the finest way to get the Hot Wheels fix you need.
There is one ultimate goal in HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush – to become the Rush Master. But to get there, you’ll need to prove your worth across a variety of events, over a number of disciplines, and through thorough exploration of a wonderfully rich open world, spread across four sizeable islands.
Yep, HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush is absolutely full with content, capable of delivering some seriously fun arcade racing. If you’re done with Forza Horizon 6, or are looking for an even more arcadey option to race alongside it, you should be getting behind the wheel of this one pronto.
A Hot Wheels World To Explore
In HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush you are dropped slapbang into the middle of an open, well populated Hot Wheels world. Split across four unlockable islands, it’s up to you to head to a variety of set race events, jumping in and proving to the miniature world that you are the finest driver to have ever hit the streets.
And these aren’t simply four islands that have been given different colours and called it a day. Wheelswood brings the skyscrapers and bustling city streets, Tentacle Bay takes things into a more natural setting, Gearville is all about industrial machinery and desert landscapes, whilst Drifty Temples mixes neon-lit streets with cherry trees and ancient temples.
Those worlds are full of various Hot Wheels memorabilia too, with the miniature aesthetic running throughout. You’re never really in any doubt that you’re playing a Hot Wheels game, whether you’re blasting through city streets, throwing yourself off ramps or simply cruising around looking for something else to discover.
And it all looks great too. Quite obviously ‘Hot Wheels’, this is a vibrant world full of colour, capable of handling the speeds you would associate with the brand. It’s great to zoom around the streets, nitro-ing from this place to that, taking in jumps, hitting loops, making the most of multiple pieces of iconic Hot Wheels track as you go.
But it’s also a world that lets you slow down on occasion, as you hunt collectible gears, stickers and Hot Wheels logos. Heading to the highest point of any of the four islands is a joy, taking to a cliff edge and observing the world around you. There’s a lovely sense of freedom to it all, and never will you feel pushed from one race to another, with the world around you becoming a playground in its own right.
Race, Drift, Smash And Repeat
Racing remains the biggest part of HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush, and thankfully there’s plenty of variety here too.
The main campaign events are your route towards becoming the ultimate Rush Master, with events tied to specific vehicle classes and campaign progression. Complete them, increase your points and you’ll gradually unlock more activities, filling out the map and eventually getting the opportunity to take on each island’s Rush Master.
There are plenty of different event types to get involved with too – Drift Master, Waypoints, Quick Race, Time Attack and Elimination. Events are split across Power Tiers, which helps ensure that things gradually ramp up as your skills improve. That said, for the most part, we’ve found the majority of events reasonably simple to complete, only really needing to go back in once or twice in hunt of secondary objectives and bettering of times.
Some events are about pure speed. Others have you drifting your way through courses, surviving elimination rounds or simply trying to put together the cleanest, quickest run possible. More still are full of Hot Wheels obstacles and foes, with a spider throwing out on-track webs, a highlight.
Then there are the various challenges dotted around the open world. Daredevil events see you hunting down fast cars among the traffic, challenging them to a race. Tourist activities (the easiest of all events if you ask us) focus on finding iconic locations and snapping photos, whilst Stuntman challenges ask you to smash as many destructible objects as possible within a set area. We’ll admit we are less a fan of those.
There are further activities too, from finding specific points in the world to boost, drift and speed challenges, alongside delivery missions in which you need to get a vehicle to its destination with as little damage as possible. Of course, keeping damage to a minimum in a Hot Wheels game is not for the faint of heart.
It’s this combination of differing events that keeps HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush moving along with barely a hitch. You’ll jump into a race, finish it, spot something interesting in the distance, head over to investigate, stumble across another challenge and then find yourself wondering where the last few hours have gone. It’s a feeling that the Forza Horizon series has honed, and it’s something that the team at Milestone have managed to inject into Infinite Rush. It’s pretty much what we want from an open-world arcade racer.
Pick Your Hot Wheels
This is a game that is rammed with cars and vehicles too; the roster complete with a wide range of options, each suiting your own unique driving style, likes and needs.
HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush gives you four different vehicle classes to get to grips with, and that means there are numerous ways of approaching events. Versatiles are your all-rounders, balancing speed, handling and power, whilst the Titans sacrifice some top speed for brute force. On the flip, Speeders are built around, well, speed, and the Drifters are all about maintaining that pace through corners, charging their boost through controlled drifting.
You can be sure that a Titan feels very different to a Speeder, and learning which car in each class best suits a particular challenge becomes part of the fun. During free roam you can switch between classes on the fly, whilst races assign a specific vehicle type for each particular event. It means that Infinite Rush never really lets you focus on just one vehicle type too much.
With more than 150 of the most famous of vehicles to discover, unlock and add to your garage, there’s enough here to keep collectors busy for quite some time. You’re constantly encouraged to tick off the next box, to uncover your next vehicle, whether that be through racing, exploration or the various activities scattered around each island.
And if you’re interested in it, you can make those vehicles your own, with customisation options allowing you to tweak the look of your rides, and mods helping boost the vital stats.
Multiplayer Is Where Things Get Interesting
There is multiplayer too, and HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush supports local play for up to four players, while online racing allows up to 12 players to compete, with private lobbies available if you want to race against friends rather than randoms.
As you would expect, ranked play is available, as are other playlist options for those wanting a little more competition. We suspect this is going to be one of those games that becomes even better when you’ve got a few friends around.
And further, HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush also comes with a Track Builder, allowing you to create your own tracks using the world around you. You can attach modules to the environment, build around structures and even send tracks soaring above the city. We’re not going to pretend that this is of particular interest to us, and it’s by far the side of HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush that we’ve spent the least time with, but there’s no denying that the tools work well. For those who love creating their own challenges, there’s plenty of scope to get imaginative here.
Two Little Problems With Infinite Rush
This isn’t the most perfect of racers though.
We can forgive the occasionally weird physics, mostly as this is a straight-up arcade racer, and any oddities rarely affect the gameplay. But we would like a slightly quicker way to move between the four islands. Heading to an airstrip Launch pad to be shovelled off to a new island found the other side of a loading screen just breaks up the events a little too much.
And whilst there are 1200 gears to find, and many of them are simple enough to gather up, we’ve found a little frustration and annoyance in uncovering the last few hundred. We fully understand the draw of secrets and collectibles – there’s something satisfying about spotting a gear cog tucked away in a corner – but when you’re down to the last hundred or so, the hunt starts to become a little less enjoyable. Some kind of map, hint, tip or tease pointing towards the remaining collectibles would be appreciated – much like in Forza Horizon 6 and the chance to purchase a treasure map. At present, it feels like you’re left to drive around hoping you’ll stumble across whatever you’ve missed.
It’s hardly a game-breaking issue, especially when there’s so much else to enjoy, but completionists may well find themselves getting a little fed up by the time they’ve reached the final stretch.
The Best Hot Wheels Game Yet
Overall though, we’ve had great fun taking down the HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush world, slamming dozens of hours into the events on offer. The islands provide a proper world to explore, the vehicle roster is massive, the events deliver numerous reasons to keep playing and the multiplayer options should give the game some serious longevity. We can take or leave the Track Builder, but it would be a surprise if a Hot Wheels game didn’t allow its players to get creative.
After years of Hot Wheels games, HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush finally gets it right. This is the Hot Wheels game we’ve been waiting for.
Important Links
HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush Races Onto Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Nintendo Switch – https://www.thexboxhub.com/hot-wheels-infinite-rush-races-onto-xbox-playstation-pc-and-nintendo-switch/
Hot Wheels Infinite Rush Revealed – Open-World Racing Hits Console And PC This September – https://www.thexboxhub.com/hot-wheels-infinite-rush-revealed-open-world-racing-hits-console-and-pc-this-september/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/hot-wheels-infinite-rush/9plrvb4h0p4n
There’s a Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/hot-wheels-infinite-rush-deluxe-edition/9n8pw8bjd748
And an Ultimate Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/hot-wheels-infinite-rush-ultimate-edition/9pbsgldnqss0
