Hot Wheels Unleashed but make it open world by way of Burnout Paradise or Forza Horizon – surely that reads unanimously as a winning formula. It’s a logical next step from the pair of Hot Wheels racers that developer Milestone earned decent enough critical and player acclaim for, and so it’s exactly where we’ve landed now, with one caveat. In moving to a series of freely-drivable between events, the focus has shifted from replicating plastic Hot Wheels tracks built into life-scale environments like living rooms, backyards and petrol stations. Instead, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush imagines the world that these little die-cast cards inhabit at their scale, as though you’re driving across a child’s playset amplified by their own imagination.
It’s a solid concept, and for the most part it works. Powering across four distinct islands with their own aesthetic, each unlocked over time as you complete core racing events, there’s a separate but still enjoyable thrill to be had with this setup. And while I would have loved to see Milestone use the open world idea as a twist on the Unleashed games, where the “world” is quite literally a house, or street or something, my biggest issue with this change in direction is that it comes with zero fanfare. Infinite Rush’s world looks great, but it has no actual personality – you’re dropped into the campaign without even a throwaway attempt at context. The game simply says, “Here you are. Drive!”
I get why that might seem like an odd complaint in a driving game, but the thing is that Infinite Rush is genuinely pretty good, it’s just missing that extra something to push it to greatness. For those who’ve been around the track with the Unleashed duology, you’ll be pleased to know that the 150+ cars on offer here are just as gorgeous as ever. The very same attention to detail that made every bit of metal alloy and plastic look more convincing than any single game had ever captured virtual toys, that’s still perfectly present, and the selection this time has some bangers. There are quite a few returning vehicles, of course, but also a fair catalogue of newer models and some deep cuts I was very pleased to see, like the Dino Riders T-Rextroyer.
One massive advantage this one has over its predecessor is significantly more forgiving driving. Where Unleashed and Unleashed 2 were notorious for their challenge, it seems Milestone has finally come around to meeting younger or more casual players at their level. There’s still plenty to test your skills against, but getting through the base events and finishing the full tour of all four islands feels infinitely more achievable this time around. Part of that is no doubt the wider and more malleable track design, with all races taking place in the open world among fairly loose boundaries and forgiving checkpoints. There’s still plenty of the iconic, orange track to tear across, but you’ll also fang it over no shortage of flat plains that afford enough time to centre yourself and tear ahead.
Proper races make up most of the core content you’ll work through to “complete” Infinite Rush’s campaign, running the gamut from standard 12-car races to exciting elimination events, but there’s unsurprisingly plenty of extracurricular fun to be had. Each map becomes increasingly dotted with open world activities to check off, whether it’s taking photos of specific landmarks or beating roaming high-value opponents to claim their unique vehicles. Collectibles abound, too, with gears, Hot Wheels icons and stickers to find as you explore each (approachably-sized) island. I quite like that “collecting” stickers requires snapping photos of them in the game’s Photo Mode, and would often find myself mindlessly cruising around and hoovering up collectibles as a bit of a chill-out exercise.
I think that’s the best way to consume this particular Hot Wheels racer – take the no-frills world and progression as an excuse to simply drop in every now and then to zip around and enjoy the scenery. As someone who’s never been super into driving games but continues to be drawn in by the worlds of games like Forza Horizon, Infinite Rush makes for an especially handy parallel. Kids will no doubt find a similar pleasure in the lack of fluff, with a toy-adjacent video game that they can just exist and mess around in.
It helps, of course, that there’s a good amount of multiplayer support on offer here. Split-screen races support up to four players, and work well enough that it makes for a suitable party game, especially for anyone that maybe doesn’t own a Nintendo machine. I didn’t spend a whole heap of time with the online modes, cross-play is supported on everything but the Switch 2 and it all seems to work great, though I’m always wary of the longevity of an online player base for titles like this. Definitely one to throw around with the younger or drunker folks in your life, but not something that’s likely to unseat a certain Italian racer’s billion-dollar empire.
Reviewed on PS5 | Review copy supplied by publisher
Great
- Four visually distinct open maps to explore at a new scale
- Far more approachable than the Unleashed games' punishing races
- Another 150+ incredibly-detailed Hot Wheels cars
- A good amount of content and solid multiplayer options
Not great
- The life-scale setting of the Unleashed games had more charm
- Track designs are also less interesting as a result
- Cars no longer show cosmetic wear
- Noticeable lack of licensed cars
Born into the world of video games through SEGA, and in particular Sonic the Hedgehog, Kieron’s gaming tastes now consist of the latest, shiny AAA thing, an indie darling or two, and an embarrassing number of hours of Balatro.