With a total focus on fun, amazing visuals, and lots of welcome additions and improvements over its predecessor, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is one of the surprise packages of 2023. While the story mode lacks in some areas, and younger gamers are definitely the target audience, there’s still a lot to appreciate and enjoy regardless of your age.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged takes the very solid core of its predecessor and adds a plethora of smaller changes, making it feel fresh. The updates make racing even more challenging, strategic, and thrilling, with the track editor standing out as one of the best in the genre. It's a shame about the imbalanced difficulty, the element of chance in obtaining new vehicles, and the lack of truly groundbreaking innovations. Nevertheless, it remains a highly entertaining racing arcade, a rarity in the genre.
Hotwheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is exactly what was needed in terms of building upon the success of the 2021 starting point. With fast-paced gameplay, creative and fun customization, as well as addictive progression systems, players will be pleased to know that the Hot Wheels gaming experience is back and better than ever.
And damn near every race did that; the close calls with difficult AI, the times I skimmed through each trap by the skin of my teeth, that extra-long drift into a straight where I thumped the boost. Every race made me feel excited or like I’d achieved a glimmer of brilliance. Because every race created ‘moments’.
There’s a game in here that is easy to wholeheartedly recommend, but it’s caked in so much garbage that you really have to ask a lot of questions about what you want from it, about what you’re willing to put in.
With new vehicle types, environments and driving mechanics, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is the ideal arcade racer for the young and the nostalgic veteran alike.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged does make improvements over the original, but it is still largely the same game. The added depth to the racing itself is where it shines the most and the new vehicle classes provide a nice complexity and incentive to use a wider variety of Hot Wheels. The challenges and rewards are disappointing and the story doesn't add much to the campaign, but most of your time will be spent burning plastic on orange tracks, which is still fun.
Very similar to the original with some meaningful quality of life improvements. Happy to see treasure boxes go away in favor of a more transparent and user-driven car unlock mechanic. Fun new traversal powers and some truly epic challenges in the endgame. Track editor is much improved as well. Cutscenes in story mode are low-budget, cheesy, but thankfully also skipable. If you liked the original, this is a no-brainer! If you haven't tried this series, get ready for really fun and surprisingly deep racing gameplay that will challenge you and keep you coming back. Gotta beat thatl ap time!!
When I first watched the trailer for this game, I thought this was going to be a $50 DLC. However, there is just enough work done by these developers and new features to justify a full new release. There are new game modes that increase the fun factor of this game. Elimination race is intense and there is even a non-racing game mode like the Clash Derby. The new environments are superior to its predecessor, and there are game modes that allow you to drive outside the tracks. There are more cars to choose from with a better vehicle variety. The career mode is great, although the cringey lazily designed cutscenes are unnecessary. I know Hot Wheels is for kids, but that doesn't mean they have to add this PBS Kids Paw Patrol nonsense. Luckily you can skip it, unlike the arty farty GOW games. Speaking of GOW, there is a new jump ability that adds to the racing experience. The visuals are superb. The arcade driving mechanics are excellent. ● The online multiplayer is very fun, and the new game modes bring more fun to the multiplayer experience. There is also local split-screen multiplayer, which appears be rare nowadays for some reason. While the customization remains biblical, you still can't change the freaking wheels. I would have also liked new track colors and patterns to help differentiate this game from the last. Nonetheless, this is a fun sequel that's rich in content with high replay value. I'm surprised the developers didn't increase the price. There are so many greedy and lazy developers increasing the price of games, yet they refuse to work much harder to justify the price increase. I'm looking at you Insomniac and TOTK devs, so it's good to see these devs have the decency to keep the price the same. It is $50 and I do recommend this game at that price.
Good-
Improved career mode, better track layouts, gorgeous visuals.
Bad-
Bikes feel wobbly, certain progression elements are not fun.
Thoughts-
In conclusion, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is a sequel that’s bigger and better than the original in almost every regard. Right from the vehicle selection to track layouts and race types, each new improvement the sequel does helps in making this arcade racer a more polished and complete experience this time around. Some design decisions like the risk-reward-based progression don’t hit the mark, but looking at the broader picture – Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 is a sequel that’s unmissable for fans of the franchise, or at least worth trying out if you are interested in the prospect of racing around at high speeds in such faithfully recreated cars.
Summary The world’s raddest cars are back and taking the fun to the next level! Race over 130 vehicles with crazy new mechanics and even more vehicle types. Plus, build your tracks with stunning new environments and different game modes to have fun off and online!