It feels like a substantial amount of work has been directed towards making vehicle handling more responsive in Unleashed 2, which was one of my big grievances with the first game. The developers told me they’ve also spent some time tuning how the in-game store works to help address complaints from the first game – you can now refresh the shop’s selection of cars if you’re hoping to build up your collection more quickly. While the game will have paid DLC down the road, fortunately (just like last time) there will be zero microtransactions in the game – while some cars are still obtained through luck-based systems, all in-game currency can only be obtained via playing the game. I was told that some vehicles that were DLC in the first game – monster trucks, as an example – are being included out of the gate this time around, too. Not only will there be more than 130 vehicles available at launch, but new classes to play with as well, including motorcycles and ATVs. One aspect the developers have definitely improved upon this time around is vehicle selection and variety.
The environments I didn’t get to check out – an arcade, a retro gas station/diner, and a prehistoric museum – all have a lot of potential. But I’m hoping that the bigger and denser nature of the locations this time around will help make up for the loss. I was hoping that there would be a few more environments included in the base game, as I felt that they got repetitive to race through relatively quickly in the first Hot Wheels Unleashed at the very least, it would have been nice to have some of the last game’s environments return.
There are different terrain types to race on too, like grass and sand, that should affect how racing feels when off-the-track. Both environments were beautiful, and felt quite large while exploring, with plenty of verticality for aspiring track builders to weave their crazy track designs through.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 leaves behind the maps of the original game in favor of five all-new ones in my demo, I raced through a backyard-themed environment that also stretches inside a nearby suburban home, as well as through a desert-themed landscape that hosts a mini-golf course. While some of my critiques of the first game – like environmental variety – look like they may not be resolved at launch, I enjoyed some of the new mechanics and modes the team is adding this time around. Now, two years later, developer Milestone is gearing up for the release of Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged on October 19, and I had an opportunity to check out an early build of the game at Summer Game Fest. 2021’s Hot Wheels Unleashed was a huge surprise for fans of arcade racers and the die-cast toys alike I had a great time with it when I reviewed it, even if I felt the game could have benefitted from tweaked vehicle handling and more variety overall.
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