By Chris Skeldon 
One of the greatest symbols of childhood, hot wheels You will receive another game this week. Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It is a sequel that promises to improve on what the previous version did, by injecting nitro into its content, offering more crazy tracks and a reworked campaign mode.
Did the sequel manage to improve on what was already good or is bigger not always better? Find out in our review below.
Revamped campaign mode
Unlike its predecessor, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It has a more detailed campaign mode, with two heroes, who have a mission to capture some monsters. With very simple dialogue aimed at children, this mode isn’t for everyone, but it does what it sets out to do.
To illustrate the campaign, we have very colorful cartoon scenes that match the settings of the entire franchise. To continue the story we have to win races across the map, in which the player advances like in a board game, until reaching the monster, where the dispute takes place until we reach the finish line.
Turn on the turbo
For those who don’t know the gameplay of the franchise Unleashedwe have an arcade race, in which the player, unlike traditional racing games, uses toy cars, and races on tracks in huge places, which takes us back to the childhood of those who enjoyed this type of games.
First of all, physics doesn’t get much respect here, simply because we’re shrinking people racing in toy cars. After that we have more crazy tracks, full of loops and sharp curves.
If you thought the first game was crazy, in this sequel the developers have gone above and beyond. In addition to creating layouts that prioritized speed, they increased the number of obstacles, bringing more variables to the races. In the first game there weren’t a lot of backgrounds, which now gives the tracks a lively feel. I can immediately point to the arcades as my favorite, as we simply have those neon sounds and the traditional sounds of this theme.
The races are divided into Circles, race against time, elimination, drift And also the path on which we have to activate checkpoints. You Circles It’s very basic, with three courses. It is the one that gives the player the opportunity to reach the podium until the last minutes. in Race against timeIt’s that kind of race to push your limits and grace every curve. already exists the point We have to choose the most suitable car for the race and get the necessary points. already exists Activate checkpoints It changes the dynamics a bit, offers a different point of view, leaves the path and goes to the map as a whole, providing a lot of difficulty for the player in the final events.
Difficulty became more balanced at launch, something that did not happen in the previous game. The level increases as we progress through the campaign mode, with the final races being the most difficult. The precision of the controls has also improved a lot, giving a feeling of security when pressing the turbo hard and sliding into near-insane curves.
Turbo content
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It contains more content than its predecessor, as it contains more diversity of tracks, in addition to many vehicles that contain several classes and a new feature, which is motorcycles, which adds more diversity to some tracks, in addition to brutal monster cars. .
Vehicles are divided into categories, which highlight their attributes, which are often essential to winning more easily. Furthermore, they have ratings, which improve as we upgrade them, with a number of passive skills that must be equipped.
Just like in the first game which had a shop, here we have the same thing, but with many more vehicles, giving you the desire to collect. To purchase vehicles, we use in-game currency, which is obtained by winning races and leveling up. In the store, we have a tournament to choose cars to buy and also a tournament to win a random prize, which can be more skill points or unique vehicles.
The game also has an online mode, which I didn’t test, as I played it well before launch. Additionally, it has an offline mode with split screen. There is also a path creation mode, which was already extensive in the first game, but now we have many map style options and path pieces, as well as objects to enhance our creativity. I suggest you complete the campaign mode to unlock new parts.
The game map is huge, with a large number of campaign races, and even when we finish, new, more challenging events appear.
Sound and graphics
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It has more beautiful graphics, which shows that it is a game with a new generation look. In addition to having perfect lighting, there is a full range of lights on the cars, which highlights the painting as a whole.
The game does have a photography mode, as well as a quality and performance mode, which performed well in my tests, except for some crashes at high speeds and with multiple cars on the track, which happened in isolated moments.
The sound plays its role through the most closely matched path high techThere is a good variety of tracks. The game also features dubbing and localization in Brazilian Portuguese.
opinion
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It’s a great choice for those who like more uncompromising racing games. In addition to having fast cars, we have crazy tracks full of obstacles, which are as fun as they are challenging.
The game has a very simple campaign mode, nothing that attracts attention, it just exists to fulfill the schedule. On the other hand, it shines with its impressive collection of tracks and modes, something that will increase with the help of the track editor. he It also stands out for its technical aspects, with beautiful graphics and good sound.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged It is one of the best options in the arcade racing genre this year, if you are looking for something that does not compromise on reality and want to have a lot of fun.
Platforms: Xbox One and Xbox Series
Published by: turn
Developed by: turn
Release Date: 10/19/2023
Purchase options: Microsoft Store
*The game was provided by PLAION for this analysis.