Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem Xbox Review 7/10 "Stunt fun for the young ‘uns" 🔥🛻 @GameMillEnt @3DClouds #Indie #GameDev

As the father of a three year old, I’m very familiar with Hot Wheels, and, whilst the Hot Wheels Unleashed games are a permanent fixture on my Xbox, the promise of a game more suited to the monster truck side of things – and with a simpler, more child-centric focus – was definitely tickling my gherkins.

Moving away from the primarily race-driven previous Hot Wheels games,  Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem instead leans towards – as the title suggests – stunts in various arenas.

First things first, the music is infinitely better than the Unleashed series, in which the disconnect between the fun racing and mind-numbingly frenetic, headache-inducing soundtrack was staggering, and I’d often find myself frowning whilst playing, astonished at how the accompanying music to this toy car racing game seemed to think it was some sort of Wipeout* spin-off.

Moving on from the music, the setup of crashing cars, flipping, twisting, barrel-rolling and looping the loop in order to get a certain amount of points and unlock liveries, extra trucks and the like is all very solid, as is the frame rate - and colourful visuals.

The controls are also very forgiving, meaning that this isn’t a Tony Hawk-ish approach, whereby each ramp and stunt needs to be on point and executed perfectly. As the target demographic here is the younger generation, there’s a casual looseness that works in the games favour in that regard – but it can make it feel a touch ‘on rails’ for players expecting more of a challenge.

There’s a nice variety of arenas here, and unlocking a new monster truck is genuinely fun, as they have their own special moves that give character and rack up points - and will be familiar to viewers of the various Hot Wheels shows over the years.

The two player local multiplayer is a nice inclusion, but there is no online play, which may be a sticking point for some. That said, the very thing that gives the game its appeal – that simplicity and accessibility – also ends up feeling like a limitation.

SUMMARY

I had a fun time with Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem, but it was missing that special sauce to keep me coming back for more.

Definitely one I’d recommend for youngsters...so you can go next door and play Hot Wheels Unleashed...on mute.

*as in Wipeout from the 32-bit era, not the British game show hosted by Paul Daniels...and then Bob Monkhouse.