So here's a tie-in with the incredibly popular kids' Netflix series featuring Coop, Spark, Axle, Mac, Brights & the repulsive brat Cruise, and her father Professor Rearview, the kids' inventive nemesis... What could possibly go wrong?
Hot Wheels Let's Race – Ultimate Speed is an arcade racer packed with iconic cars and twisting loopy tracks with massive jumps.
From the off I found the view to be too high (so you can't see enough of the track ahead when you approach a rise or loop), and the drifting mechanic to be extremely umm... janky as it's not very controllable or satisfying–nobody likes hitting the sides of the tracks in racing games (even a Hot Wheels game) and it's impossible to not do so on some turns.
One of the game's better aspects are the 2-4 player split screen modes, which play smoothly enough and are reasonably playable on a big enough TV, but suffer from the same basic handling issues as the solo game.
I found that I could get around most tracks relatively clean and win races on the hardest "Ultra" (speed) and "Expert" (AI difficulty) settings. While the "Slow" and “Easy” settings make the game very easy, I'd rather have had more controllable cars and a stiffer challenge. Gauging by the reaction of my grandson to the game, even younger gamers are unlikely to find the racing fun–one thing's for sure, many of the achievements will be totally out of their skill/patience range.
Here's a "for instance", the Track Builder. A welcome feature of several previous Hot Wheels games, the Track Builder has an excellent tutorial and is pleasantly simple to use, allowing you to design some complex tracks, but with annoying, seemingly pointless limitations. Starting with a fairly basic set of track elements, you can unlock additional track parts (and decals–whoo!) as you complete the linked challenges. However the Drift Master Challenge had me promising slow, torturous death to the designer as the restrictions on the track build and the challenge itself are so stupidly hard. I never rage quit, but I do give up disappointedly on tasks that seem impossible even after 20 attempts and watching videos on YouTube. The stupidest thing of all is that without completing ALL of the challenges, you can't use the 'Free Build' part of the Track Builder and actually save & race your tracks!
A Hot Wheels fan since I was a kid (which is many, many, many years ago) my ears pick-up every time I hear that there is a new game coming out. I think it's fair to say that there have been some goodies (2024's Monster Trucks Mayhem for instance) https://www.gamecell.co.uk/reviews/hot-wheels-monster-trucks-stunt-mayhem, and some very baddies.
I really, really wanted to like this game having played several other Hot Wheels games. The best example was without doubt the Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels DLC. The mixture of swooping tracks and gorgeous visuals made for a fabulous experience. The basic problems with Hot Wheels Let's Race Ultimate Speed are that a) The handling isn't responsive enough, b) The drifting feels like an afterthought and c) "Ultimate Speed?" Where's the impression of speed? Several Hot Wheels games have provided a giddying sensation of speed, but not this one.
Given the young target audience I'm prepared to accept that maybe this didn't need to be a top-notch racer, but it's lacking in so many departments that I think any self-respecting Hot Wheels kid would rather play Hot Wheels on Forza Horizon 5, despite Let's Race tie-in – I know Dad would.
Thanks to BamTang Games, GameMill Entertainment and PressEngine