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Playstation > PlayStation Game Cheats > PlayStation Reviews > Staff Review | |
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the Scene: I remember hearing rumblings years ago about a possible 'Hot Wheels' title making it to a console system. Being a fan when I was younger I tracked the progress of this title with more than a little passing interest. While it was a great idea in princpal, I wondered how the hell they would possibly be able to re-capture all of those fun filled and imaginative hours spent with these toys by kids all over the world. Well here we are a year later and as unbelievable as it may seem I am holding a Hot Wheels game in my hands getting ready to pop it into my Playstation. I figured if this game was done right it could have the makings for an awesome experience but if done wrong this sucker would crash and burn quicker than a plane flown by JF…nah, I won't go there. For those of you that are completely in the dark, Hot Wheels are a bunch of die cast metal cars created by a company named Mattel. It seems that 7 Hot Wheels cars are sold every second of every day worldwide. Now that's a lot of freakin' metal cars. The cars come in all shapes and makes from souped up trucks and vans to outrageously customized cars that would make the Batmobile green with envy. The cars, while not motorized, would travel on plastic orange tracks via gravity or propulsion houses that could be installed at crucial spots to keep the cars moving. Track layouts could consist of anything from a simple oval to complex designs featuring loops, crossovers, jumps, zigzags and pretty much anything that your twisted little mind could come up with. The tracks themselves had little walls on each side that would hold your car on the track as long as they didn't hit a tight turn at any considerable speed. For the high speed turns you could install banked "Monza" tracks that would have 45-degree angles built into them that would tilt and hold your car in place. There were tons of accessories that you could buy and eventually even additional track colors were offered like blue and red. The original cars are now worth a small fortune as are some of the earlier accessories. I look back fondly on some of the classic match-ups that I had between Don Prudhomme's Snake and Tom McEwen's Mongoose. The Red Baron against just about everybody…and my favorite car of all The Nomad. Don't ask me why I liked that car so much…it was not very flashy, just a solid gold color…but it was rock steady on the tracks and would consistently eat the competition for lunch. So as I inserted the disc into my Playstation I really looked forward to reliving all of those classic races with the cars that I loved so much. I just hope that the Nomad is in there somewhere…. Sound and Vision: Whoa!! Hot Wheels Turbo Racing has some balls to wall metal tunes! The opening FMV totally kicks ass with Metallica's Fuel tune screaming through the speakers. The cars and tracks are outrageously detailed and presented. Great start to the game… Jumping into the actual screens I was somewhat disappointed with the overall presentation though. The backgrounds and tracks mostly consist of flat shaded polygons drawn in rather gaudy colors. The tracks were bright yellow, navy blue, black, burnt red…basically a mish mash of color schemes inappropriately blending together. Don't get me wrong, the overall presentation was not overly offensive, it was just not what I expected or believe it could have been.  The
cars on the other hand are very well modeled and accurately reflect
their die cast metal counterparts. There was no mistaking one car from
another and they certainly stood out nicely on the tracks. The frame rate seemed a bit sluggish at first, but after driving around a bit I came to realize that the programmers have obviously tried to mimic how the cars would react in the REAL world. There are also some graphical glitches that I feel have become almost too commonplace on Playstation racers; pop-up, polygon seaming and texture breakup when you get close to walls. Errrr. Special effects consisted mostly of laser gates (to speed the cars along) and explosions. The music in Hot Wheels TR is great if you like progressive rock (which I do). With bands like the Dirt Brothers & Primus, Metallica and Kelp, the music is wonderfully energetic and adds to the excitement of each and every race. You also have the option of selecting a specific song for your race and letting the program choose one randomly. The sound effects are also pretty darn good. There are some great "swooshing" noises for your car as it slides along the "plastic" tracks and great effects are heard when your car shoots through a tube curl. Playability: Entering into the game you are presented with some menu choices. From here you can select your car, choose the track to race on (in exhibition and practice modes), choose from the races you want to participate in (Hot Wheels Cup, exhibition, Airtime Challenge, practice -normal or airtime-, and configuration options).  The
Cup game plays out like a typical challenge mode. You have to complete
six races and are awarded points for each race depending on what
position you finished in. Rack up the highest total point count and you
win the cup. This will open up another challenge…the Secret Cup
Race, which consists of two races. Win that and you get to enter the
brutal Twinmills Cup. This is a one race "winner take all"
scenario where you basically get to drive and challenge the fastest car
in the game - The Twinmill. In order to win at this cup you basically
have to run a flawless race…no crashes, no hits, no wall scrapes,
take every damn secret path you find and then cheat a bit on top of
that. Winning each cup race unlocks a bunch of cars and a few tracks as well. The game features a total of over 40 cars to race so you will have no shortage of vehicles to select from. You will also discover secret cars hidden on the tracks themselves. When you are lucky enough to see one, simply drive into it and it becomes yours at the end of that race.  A
neat feature in HWTR is the stunts that your car can pull off. As you
would expect in a Hot Wheels game, there are a lot of jumps and
opportunities for your car to catch some serious air. While airborne you
can manipulate your car to perform a series of aerial maneuvers such as
spins, barrel rolls, flips and summersaults. In the Cup Mode each time
you successfully pull off a stunt you get a turbo notch added to your
turbo meter. Pull off a really hard stunt and you will get a few
notches. In the Airtime Challenge you get awarded points. The track designs in HWTR are pretty much what you would expect from a typical Hot Wheel setup…extreme drops and jumps, crazy loops and curves, and a ton of opportunities to smash into other cars. In addition you will also discover a slew of secret shortcuts to take that will throw you out into the lead if you manage to negotiate the track properly. Some areas can only be opened with 4 x 4 vehicles but once opened, can be driven by any other car. I found the tracks to be a very nice representation of the Hot Wheels theme and the physics accurately reflected what you would expect to happen in the real thing.  The
real stars of the game of course are the cars, and with over 40 to
ultimately choose from you won't soon be begging for more. Each car has
its own specific characteristics. Some are extremely fast (the Twinmill
being the fastest that I have seen) while others excel at
performing stunts. Driving the bigger cars and trucks will enable you to
crash into and explode other vehicles, but these tanks pull off stunts
like shit. It really all comes down to what you are looking for in a
particular race and you can always choose what you believe to be the
best car for each track. Handling your cars for the most part is rather easy since most of the track you are one has small walls (just like the real tracks) that prevent you from veering off into the scenery. Luckily there are enough open areas and forks in the road that you can take to keep you feeling like you are really in the game and not just a spectator. It is also beneficial to try to keep your car from scraping into the little walls, as this will reduce your speed. Add to that, the stunts that you are totally in control of, the secret paths to discover and you end up with a nice blend of action that should please most fans of the racing genre.  Overall
I was not disappointed in Hot Wheels Turbo Racing. I believe that it was
a wonderful idea to bring this legendary track racer to a videogame.
Yes, there were a couple of things that could have been done better but
you have to start somewhere. I just hope there's a sequel in the works
that address some of the graphical shortcomings and overall sense of
speed. A game like this would totally rock on the next gen Playstation. Oh, I almost forgot…I still haven't found my Nomad car yet, but I believe that I have not unlocked all of the cars either, so I am still hopeful!!! Also, I enjoyed pitting the Snake against the Mongoose…ah, the classic rivalry is back. Game Options: This is a single disk game for 1 -2 Players. It is compatible with the dual shock (analog) joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1 block per save). |
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