Developer: Firebrand Games
Publisher: WB Interactive Entertainment
Platform: PC, 360, PS3, DS, 3DS, Wii U
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver – Review
Hot Wheels, toys that seem to be getting more and more old fashioned in our digital world, have a go at their own video game. For those who used to pull off some massive (imaginary) stunts with these toy cars, be prepared to take a mediocre trip down memory lane.
Story
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver is a game that revolves around you becoming, you’ve guessed it right, the world’s best driver. Sadly the game gives you only that information and does no effort of giving you an introduction, cutscenes, a storyline or even something that resembles one of the above.
The only thing that gives you the slightest impression of having a story is the fact you’re able to choose between 4 teams that each have their own set of special properties, missions and narrator that tells you what to do during the loading screen.
Of course a game like this doesn’t need that much backbone when it comes to a storyline but having something is still better than nothing. In this case it’s more the latter.
Graphics
This multi-platform game looks not only like a blast from the past when it comes to the memories of having your own Hot Wheels toy cars but the graphics look heavily dated as well. The environment in the test facility looks empty with a giant lack of details and pretty much no appeal.
Whilst the cars are existing Hot Wheels models that have come to life, they kind of look more suited for a game that was released at the start of this generation instead of at the end of it.
That being said, a few levels look decently done and are actually pleasing to watch. Sadly these are the equivalent of having one edible cookie in an entire cookie factory.
Sound
Music wise the game isn’t actually all too bad. The tunes will get you going and will even motivate you to try and reach your goal. Sadly, only a slight plus for the horrors still to come.
Sound effects are pretty much standard, however in the ‘yellow’ campaign it seems the explosion noises are bugged or just implemented in a wrong way. Speakers will not be able to handle them very well, be warned.
Each team has its own narrator and whilst the voice acting is quite decently done, they tend to repeat themselves over and over again. Also the game may have treaded in to the abyss of unintended stereotypes, seeing the narrator for the yellow team seems to be an excessive Asian stereotype.
Gameplay
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver does not deem it necessary to deliver a lot of useless menu’s and decided to let you pick a team the moment you start up the game. You’ll be able to choose between four teams, namely: Yellow, Red, Green and Blue.
The different teams all have different properties and different goals. Whilst the Green team stands for speedy challenges, the Yellow teams drops you in the midst of chaos to wreak havoc upon… barrels and other not so impressive objects.
After you’ve picked the team you want to play with, for the time being, you’ll be able to choose any of the vehicles of the corresponding team. At least when you’ve unlocked all of the rides. When having selected the vehicle you love, you’ll be dropped off at the test facility in which you can drive around with your vehicle. Driving around in the test facility is pretty much the equivalent of selecting the correct option in a menu. This means your selection of a vehicle has no point whatsoever. You’ll only be able to drive around aimlessly or just drive up to the building you desire.
When driving up to the building to select the event in which you want to compete you’ll instantly feel your earlier selection of a vehicle was even more pointless than you’d have expected. Each event assigns you a vehicle, leaving out the one of your choice.
As stated earlier, each of the teams has their own set of events. Most of the teams will have around four different kind of events in their league. These events might have been fun concepts but kind of lack the finishing touches. Most of them only last around a minute or two, which is about the same as the loading time. To earn progress you’ll have to earn medals, by beating your own records to earn more and more medals. When earning medals you’ll unlock the next batch of levels and so on. Earning medals is easy to do, getting top scores for everything isn’t all that easy. If you happen to be a medal hunter, you’ll be able to unlock the last level for each team and complete a duel to unlock the last vehicle for the team you’re playing at that time.
Controls and physics are something Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver lacks as well. You’ll nearly never feel in control of your own vehicle and maneuvering it past obstacles or in ‘precision’ based events just feel atrocious. In most events this will simply cause frustration and a lack of motivation to earn those hard to get top medals.
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver has the option to play the game in its own pseudo-multiplayer way. You’ll be able to take turns in finishing an event, which is called the Hot Seat mode. In this mode each of the player will be able to do an attempt at a level until all players have had their turn. In a way it’s amusing to see your friends suffer through the same hardships as you did earlier but it’s also horribly implemented. You’ll have to pass the controller around instead of each having their own controller or at least having the option of choosing between both options.
Making progress in multiplayer is also one of those things the game does not support. You’ll be able to finish levels and beat your original score or have a friend that beats your records. Sadly, the game will not take notice of this and will just act as if it never happened. In the end, pressing retry at the end of the level is actually faster than the actual multiplayer mode. So if you want to make progress simply play the game on single player, instead of getting the cold shoulder from the multiplayer mode.
Of course not all is bad in Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver but not that much is good either. The variety in the events proves to be fun, because some are actually quite fun to do. Even when you might not want to admit it at first, you’ll surely find your pick from the litter and you’ll even try to earn some of those shiny medals.
There’s also one last thing that should be said about the game. When the name Hot Wheels comes to mind you’d think everything would go lightning fast but sadly this is also a disappointment that Hot Wheels tends to deliver. For some reason driving backwards tends to be a lot faster than actually driving forward.
Conclusion
Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver could have been one of those pleasant trips down memory lanes but proved to be an uncontrollable nightmare with a few flashbacks of better times. The game lacks the key features of reviving a great name and also seems to be either unfinished or simply directed at those who would simply buy the game out of nostalgia. The plus is, not all is bad. You’ll be able to have fun with a few friends, by sharing the same hardships when plowing through events.
Hot Wheels World's Best Driver - Review,
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I bet the minigames are a bunch of fun!
Especially the wall climbing ones…
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