''Hot Wheels Unleashed'' is a 2021

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed and published by

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

based on

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

's ''

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

'' toyline. The game was released on September 30, 2021 for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...

. Versions for

Amazon Luna Amazon Luna is a cloud gaming platform developed and operated by Amazon. Luna was announced on September 24, 2020, with early access available to subscribers by invitation beginning on October 20, 2020. In its early access state, Amazon Luna ...

and

Stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadi ...

were made available in July and September 2022, respectively.

Gameplay

''Hot Wheels Unleashed'' is a

played from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

. In the game, the player assumes control of vehicles from the ''

'' franchise, and races against other opponents in miniature tracks set in various everyday locations and environments, such as a garage, kitchen, and bedroom. The vehicles featured in the game can be extensively customized. 66 different cars were available at launch. The game also features a career mode, a time trial, and a track editor. The game supports up to 12 players in an online session, though players can also compete with another player in a local

split-screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * Split Screen (TV series), ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split-Scree ...

multiplayer mode.

Development

The game was developed by Italian developer

, the company behind the ''

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

'' games and the ''

Ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a 1998 comedy by Millicent ...

'' series, and marks the first console game based around the property since 2013 Milestone pitched the idea to Mattel in 2018 although they did not expect them to take up the offer. Milestone desired to create such a game after realizing that although they specialized in sim racers that was a "niche of the niche" and the racing genre itself was quite crowded with lead game designer, Federico Cardini telling Polygon "could we make a game to the level of, I don't know, '' Gran Turismo''? Technically speaking, yes. Should we go head to head with ''Gran Turismo''? That does not sound like a great idea." The game uses a physics system similar from Milestone's other games, heavily modified so that the cars would be able to perform stunts the series is known for. The team wanted to base the gameplay on physics because they felt that many other Arcade racers felt "scripted" with the cars not reacting to the player's action. According to Cardini, the development team desired to accurately replicate Hot Wheels vehicles to a "1:1 ratio" in the game. Using this method, the team added in many subtle details to the cars and

maps A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

. Cardini described the in-game garage as the "inspiration to the entire game", noting its many characteristics.

Marketing and release

The game was officially announced on February 25, 2021. The game released on September 30, 2021 for

, and

Xbox Series X and Series S The Xbox Series X/S are home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. They were both released on November 10, 2020, as the fourth generation Xbox, succeeding the Xbox One. Along with Sony's PlayStation 5, also released in November 2020, t ...

. Milestone also had plans to support the game extensively with

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

upon launch. A version for

was made available on July 21, 2022. On September 29, 2022, a ''Game of the Year'' edition containing all of the downloadable content was released for all available platforms alongside

Reception

According to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the PC and PlayStation 5 versions received "generally favorable" reviews, while the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X versions received "mixed or average" reviews.

Awards and accolades

''Hot Wheels Unleashed'' was nominated for Best Sports/Racing Game at

The Game Awards 2021 The Game Awards 2021 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2021. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on De ...

Sales

''Hot Wheels Unleashed'' was the fourth best selling title in United Kingdom behind ''

FIFA 22 ''FIFA 22'' is a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the 29th installment in the ''FIFA series'', and was released worldwide on 1 October 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xb ...

'', ''

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a 2014 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It features the ''Mario Kart'' series' game mechanics, in which players drive go-karts using ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise characters in various kart racing ...

'' and '' Sonic Colors: Ultimate''. On December 20, 2021, Milestone announced that the game has sold 1 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling title ever for the publisher. As of April 11, 2023, the game has sold over 2 million copies and has amassed 8 million players across all platforms.

References

External links

* {{Hot Wheels 2021 video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Nintendo Switch games Unreal Engine games Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games Hot Wheels video games Racing video games Video games developed in Italy Milestone srl games Video games based on toys