Hot Wheels Infinite Rush review – Hot Wheels meets Forza Horizon

Milestone’s Hot Wheels Unleashed games are fun whether you’re four years of age or 40, offering intense arcade racing action. Now the developer is back with a new Hot Wheels game, this time inspired by open world racers such as Forza Horizon and Burnout Paradise. Needless to say, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is the biggest Hot Wheels game yet, and quite possibly the best.

Jump into Hot Wheels Infinite Rush and you’ll initially find yourself let loose in Wheelswood, the first of the game’s four sizeable open world maps. From there, it’s up to you how you’d like to proceed. You can explore if you want, taking part in any activities you find along the way, which include photo opportunities, speed challenges, destruction challenges and more. But if you want to unlock additional maps, you’ll take part in actual events.

There are straight-up races here, as well as drifting challenges, elimination races, time attack events and more. Complete enough of them and you’ll then be able to take part in what is essentially a boss race, with you facing off against a fierce competitor in a duel. Win that and you’ll unlock access to the next open world where you’ll do things all over again. But with new tracks, obstacles and scenery on offer, it never feels like a chore.

Ultimately, once you’ve gone through all four open worlds, inspired by locations such as Japan and the Grand Canyon, you’ll unlock yet more events across all of them, allowing you to jump between them at will to further your Hot Wheels racing career. And chances are you’ll want to, because the arcade racing action on offer here is rather infectious.

If you’ve played either of the Hot Wheels Unleashed games you’ll have some idea of what to expect. The vehicles handle pretty much the same, with there being a large emphasis on drifting around corners at speed and boosting at every opportunity. The only real difference is that this time, you’re rarely confined to a narrow track, which gives you a little more freedom while also presenting new challenges.

With a large number of events to complete as well as masses of activities to engage in and collectibles to find, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is the type of game which is hard to turn off. You’ll find yourself thinking “I’ll just do one more race”, or “I’ll just find one more collectible”. It’s hard to resist the lure of a Daredevil event when the opportunity presents, too. These find you chasing a car speeding through the open world and challenging them to an impromptu race. Win, and you get to add the vehicle you’re up against to your collection.

As you’d expect, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush features a huge number of vehicles for you to collect, ranging from die cast models of real world favourites such as the Mitsubishi Lancer, to outlandish things like a vehicle in the shape of a Lucky Cat. These are all split into four categories, indicating where their strengths lie, and you can select one from each to instantly switch between as you explore. As you make your way through the game, you’ll even be able to modify your vehicles, boosting their stats in various ways.

There are some small issues that might irritate you about Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, though. If you mess up during one of those Daredevil events, for example, you can’t restart them, forcing you to wait until you get another opportunity to gain a new vehicle for free. During some events, you may also find you’re not always pointed in the right direction as effectively as you’d like. But there’s nothing here that will frustrate or annoy you too much.

Ultimately, how you feel about Hot Wheels Infinite Rush will mainly depend on your fondness for the open world format. If you don’t like having to drive to events and have no interest in hunting down collectibles or completing random activities, then you’ll probably not like this as much as the Hot Wheels Unleashed games. If you appreciate being able to speed around an open world, however, then there’s a good chance you’ll lose hours to Hot Wheels Infinite Rush.