I knew this was gonna be rough as soon as I tried to steer.
One slight nudge of the control stick, and that was it.
I started a string of collisions from which I would never recover.
And neither would the game.
It's Hot Wheels: World's Best Driver.
Kinda depends what world you're on, and how many drivers there are.
So this is a licensed, multi-platform, budget-priced racing game.
If you're already cringing, just wait 'til we get to the controls.
The game includes 24 different Hot Wheels vehicles, as well as four different teams.
Those teams are sort of the whole point of the game.
Each one has its own missions, as well as its own...skills, I guess?
I mean, if outrageous is a skill.
Anyway, so the green team—super fast—has missions based on speed.
You're generally trying to beat times or catch a ghost, things like that.
And so each team's missions are designed around their driving style.
Which is actually a cool idea.
It's just...unfortunately, they all have the same controls.
Super clunky.
Seriously, I had a hard time just keeping the car straight in this game.
So much as nudge the control stick, and your car over responds.
Not in a good way—it's not like, "Wow, these are really sensitive controls.
That's kinda cool."
It's more like, "Oh, I'm crashing again.
Wow, these are really crappy controls.
This kinda sucks."
Oh, and red team?
Take those controls and try to do this.
Shouldn't be a problem.
You guys are outrageous.
So the controls are a real struggle.
And it's a shame, because there's actually some interesting stuff here.
As opposed to actual races, the game's 70 events are basically just driving challenges.
Tough ones too, given those controls.
It's a neat idea, but the drawback is that...it kind of just feels like a bunch of disconnected
minigames.
The experience never feels very cohesive.
Or polished, for that matter.
But then again...budget game, budget execution.
Still, another nice touch is that you have a leaderboard at the end of every mission,
which shows you how you stack up.
That is, when it works.
Honestly, the game wouldn't be that bad if the controls were better.
It's, like...you know how, in a racing game, if you move to the left, your car kind of
autocorrects back to straight afterward?
Like it wants to go straight, and the steering is built from that?
This game...seriously, it's like it wants to do anything but go straight.
For a game like this, that's aimed at little kids?
There's no reason for the controls to be that sensitive.
Frankly, I can't imagine anyone to recommend this to.
Hot Wheels fans, maybe?
Even then, just save your money and buy more Hot Wheels.
It'll save you the disappointment.
I guess little kids might like it, but...the gameplay is so clunky, I could see them getting
frustrated pretty quickly.
It's actually a good reminder of what matters in games, though...no matter how much cool
stuff they have?
If it plays like poop, it's probably poop.