Hot Wheels Infinite Rush Review – Bigger Isn’t Always Better

I absolutely loved the Hot Wheels games that have been published by Milestone over the past few years with Unleashed from 2021 being an absolute triumph for these tiny little cars. Since then we have seen Unleashed 2 expand on the formula with some new mechanics and car classes but it did falter a bit with some of the new changes it brought in but overall it was a solid game. That was why I was excited for Hot Wheels Infinite Rush as its still made by Milestone but the premise of an open world and even more cars had me intrigued but also very skeptical. After now putting in just shy of 20 hours into the game, I have a ton of thoughts and yeah its a mixed bag for sure.

The biggest change when delving into Infinite Rush is that you are no longer treated to any sort of story mode like we say in Unleashed 2 and this time you’re tasked with taking on a variety of races, time trials and challenges across 4 semi-open world Maps.

After taking on a few racers and becoming the victor, you will reach little milestones and these then let you take on mini boss races to unlock some cool cars. If you manage to finish these races and upon completing a total of 49 events on that said Island, you then unlock a final race against the Rush Master of that island and this is a sort of big final race where you take on a pretty wild course and try to claim that elusive car upon completion.

It’s a fun concept for sure and there is more content here than any of the two previous games combined but is that really a good thing?

Where Infinite Rush succeeds with bringing you some nice open environments to explore, I feel it loses the charm which was apparent in the original 2 games. As I mentioned, this time you are introduced to a lovely semi-open world arena on 4 unique islands with their own sort of flair and obstacles to face but it loses that sense of scale that was always apparent in the previous 2 outings.

This time it feels a bit forced and takes away from that feeling of being a miniature car in favour of trying to go bold and sort of be a Forza Horizon in terms of scale. Not to say it’s all bad as the worlds are quite cool and the added benefit is the crazy track editor which I will get onto shortly but yeah, I couldn’t shake that feeling of it being a little bland and somewhat lifeless in the process of trying to chase a trend that nobody really wanted.

As I mentioned, alongside the 50 races per island you do get additional races, collectibles and side content. These can range from Photo Ops to Rival Races where you can unlock unique cars thanks to beating them or getting all gold medals within certain activities. There is a ton of content packaged into this game and it will take you hours to collect and find absolutely everything and I would say completionists are looking at the 30-40 hour mark which is decent for a game priced the way that it is. It is good to get this amount of stuff but again, it’s not really that great either as a vast majority of it can become tiresome and repetitive.

I will say, a lot of the races you will take on will be on the same tracks over and over again. Considering this is meant to be an open world game, you would expect a ton of variety but I think I’ve played the same race 10 times on the same track and thats just 1 part of 1 particular island. Times that by 10 and yeah, its pretty dire.

The actual races themselves can also get quite boring and repetitive as there is a lack of variety and very little special elements happening on track like the original unleashed games. Where in Unleashed you would get these on track obstacles popping up quite frequently, this time Infinite Rush kind of ignores them.

This time you are either racing on the actual map itself, circling the same dirt track roads or city streets 50 times in a row or they may add in some environmental hazards but even that’s rare in itself. I was really surprised there were less of the environmental obstacles like Spider Webs, Acid Spit and other dangers faced in Unleashed and instead Milestone went down the rather basic and lacklustre path and I’m confused as to why they have done this.

Most likely, you will play a race on one track thinking it’s okay and rather simplistic but then you will do all the other 6 types of activities on the same track over and over again. The repetition is so egregious and frankly made me want to drop the game and play something else.

When you add in the lack of short cut options like the previous games, it’s just mind numbing. You will be following the one route without going off course once and there are no options to cut down time in a time trial or get ahead of an opponent. Like I said, it lost the charm of the originals and it’s all to cater to that semi-open world design and probably to a younger demographic which is a shame as they have already got a passionate fanbase that expects a certain race quality.

Alongside this, I’m aware the game is going to cater towards a younger audience but I have a feeling the AI is going to be a big point of contention. It is really easy and I mean really really easy. I was playing on Medium and wiping the floor with the AI in a matter of seconds with most races consisting of me being ahead of the pack by the first turn. I upped to Hard and it was still quite easy but there were times I did have to try so I recommend Hard or Very Hard if you are a seasoned Hot Wheels fan.

I will say for time trials, there is little to no challenge anymore. You can crash into walls, reset yourself and even go in the wrong direction and still be 20 or 30 seconds ahead of the gold medal time. It’s wild how the time trials in the original Hot Wheels unleashed required all your finesse and short cut knowledge to beat a track by a second or two but now you don’t need to do anything.

Car handling is also very different to unleashed and feels very floaty without almost no weight to any of the vehicles. It definitely takes some getting used to but it’s much easier to drift but I’m still mixed as to how I feel about it. It will feel very strange at first and some of you won’t enjoy it and if there is any point of contention about this game, this will be it. The same is said for the car classes as usually you would think the buses and vans would feel heavier than the sports cars but it’s not the case They all roughly feel the same and there is a significant lack of distinction between each of the classes.

The aerial boost system has kind of been changed too as you can no longer boost and make yourself fly off in different directions and now you kind of stay in the same places when doing big jumps and it makes it less fun. Like the entire review so far, it’s been so nullified in so many ways and it’s just so different from unleashed. You can side swipe still like Turbocharged 2 but jump has now been removed and I have no idea why and you would think in an open world that a jump button would be pretty cool. Again its another step back and something I didn’t think I would miss upon delving into this new entry.

Customisation on the other hand in this game is fantastic. You can customise each of the cars with more liveries and you can now go really indepth and share each online with a ton of customisation and I suspect there will be some wild creations. The editor actually allows you to add so much livery wise and if you ignore my absolute disaster of an Xbox logo, you can see it gives you more tools than ever before. I commend this Milestone for this and there is a lot more personality given to players which I never would have thought of.

There is a change to the perk system though which is far simpler for each of the cars but I don’t mind it too much. You can add up to 4 perk tiers to your cars, these being C – S Tiers and each of these can provide you with simple handling improvements or giving you a full boost meter if you land your car correctly. It’s a nice change without limiting it too much but again, I feel Unleashed 2 had a good system that didn’t need to be changed much. As with everything I’ve said so far, this package has gone for the simple and younger audience friendly route and I’m so conflicted with why milestones have done this. All of the races I did forget to even use my perks because the AI was so simple, so yeah it’s pretty nullified yet again.

In terms of collecting all of those diecast cars, there is no rotating store anymore. Instead you will find most of the cars within the world or by visiting one of the merchant shops on each of the Islands. There is a great inclusion of daredevil races which pits you and that challenging car against each other in a race. These are simple and if you win you get the car and they unlock some of the more unique Hot Wheels creations.

As I mentioned, you then have a market store on each map which is unique to that location. These have cars available to buy with your rush coins and they never change, It’s fixed in terms of their offering and I appreciate that the pricing is lower than what was presented in the Unleashed Games. There is no more worry about timed cars and I appreciate this as I missed out on quite a few cars in unleashed 2 thanks to this revolving door.

You can also unlock additional cars by doing side activities which are more exclusive and really do reward those of you who want to complete everything. This can also be said about the secret shops which will be available throughout each map. They are harder to find and have exclusive rewards which include rarer cars, better color ways, nicer boost styles etc.

In terms of the variety of cars, it is worth mentioning that the car classes have been reduced to 4 this time around instead of the 6 we faced in Unleashed 2. These are Versatile, Drifter, Speeder and Titan. There are no bikes or monster trucks included this time around and I do miss them quite a lot. I know many fans have also asked for more retro and classic Hot Wheels cars but again, these haven’t been added so don’t expect much of an expansion from the first two games. The designs of the cars and detail is still absolutely incredible and unmatched by any other game out there but yeah, just a bit of a missed opportunity.

I have to say, for me personally, the track builder is the real highlight of the entire experience and due to it being on semi-open world islands, you can build massive and insane tracks. The height ceiling is a bit short but it’s crazy what you can build. Tons of variety with objects and could see some great tracks. Lots of longevity and no slow downs or frame hitches on Xbox bare in mind how large some of these environments can be.You can build tracks around towering cities, through some big snake mouths or even down to the rough sea level to create some pretty wild handling physics. Its a real highlight and the best thing here to be honest. I can see some massive replayability for this aspect alone and although there isnt a ton of new stuff added object wise, the island possibilities open this up more than the unleashed games.

You do have online and splitscreen modes within the package too like the previous games and although I wasn’t able to test this due to the low reviewer numbers online at the same time, it doesn’t look any different to the unleashed experience. You have the classic normal modes and ranked mode and these will be played on official and custom made tracks which I have no doubt will be a ton of fun.

In terms of Performance on Xbox, it is solid and it runs at a solid 60fps on both consoles. If you want to check out all the resolution details and more then head over to the Xbox Nation Testing Channel for more indepth analysis but really good and never encountered any bugs, glitches or crashes. It’s the most solid I have seen a hot wheels game so far and really well optimised so fair play to Milestone for being great in this aspect yet again.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is a frustrating sequel because there is a genuinely enjoyable game buried beneath its repetitive open-world structure. The track builder is easily the highlight, customisation is better than ever and the removal of the rotating store makes collecting cars far less tedious. It is also remarkably polished on Xbox, delivering a consistent 60fps without any notable bugs, crashes or performance issues.

Unfortunately, the pursuit of a larger experience has come at the expense of what made Hot Wheels Unleashed so memorable. Tracks are reused far too frequently, hazards and shortcuts have been heavily reduced and the forgiving AI removes much of the satisfaction from mastering its events. Combined with the floaty handling and limited distinction between vehicle classes, the campaign quickly becomes monotonous despite offering an enormous amount of content.

Infinite Rush is not a bad game, and younger players or dedicated track builders could still get dozens of hours from it. However, as a follow-up to two distinctive arcade racers, it feels like Milestone has prioritised scale and accessibility over challenge, variety and personality.

Our score

6/10

Decent

Xbox Nation Verdict