Gaming Target - Game Boy: Hot Wheels: Velocity X

Written by Tim McGrew on December 17, 2002

Review: Oh how I long for a GBA version of RC Pro AmЕ

Hot Wheels games have never been the definitive mark in the racing genre. In fact, a lot of the original ideas behind the Hot Wheels franchise have always failed to be implemented. The selection of cars has always been shallow and the concepts of amazing tracks that defy gravity and speed boosts that hurl your car across the track and into a pit of dirty laundry has always been flat. Hot Wheels Velocity X is the first attempt by the developer, Saffire, to develop these ideas and tweaks into a rather mediocre racing experience.

The story revolves around a character named Gear Head who is selected by the Hot Wheels team to recover a bunch of stolen prototype parts from the Hot Wheels garage from this gang of street thugs. As such, you'll have to complete a number of different tasks in order to collect each piece stolen. As you progress, new cars will become available as well as new extras that enhance your car and increase the game's fun factor. In fact, this is the first hot wheels game to really make use of the original designs present in the Hot Wheels universe. The story does come up rather short in the long run, but the advent of being able to use 30 different cars is very appealing despite having to traverse through so many bland levels to do it.

Off the bat, players will liken the driving style to that of RC Pro Am for the NES, released oh so many years ago. An isometric view of the action and strange yet fitting controls were staples of the series just as they are here. Although the meat of this game is in this particular racing mode, it is by no means the only thing to do in the title. There are several other tasks that one must complete in order to acquire the parts to complete the game. A couple of these are car combat games where players pick up weapons and try to wipe out the competition and the other is a game of tag where players must take packages to a destination without running into any enemies along the way. The heaps of different game play aspects combined with the number of cars actually make this game feel quite diverting.

However, with each good thing that can be said, there is a bad and with every bad comes an annoyance. For starters, although the number of cars is quite high, the design of the cars and their on screen counterparts are horrid and are animated quite poorly. The isometric view does work in most cases, but the default controls are horrible for it and the wonky computer AI really detracts from the overall experience. The collision detection and level design are also very poor and make some rather interesting levels turn into games of complete mediocrity and frustration.

Still, with all of its interesting modes, it's a wonder why the game doesn't have any multiplayer to speak of. The car combat sections would warrant it, but it's understandable since the main staple of the game, the racing, probably wouldn't handle too well with multiple players taking out the computer AI and smashing them in with their weapons.

The graphics and sound come out like the rest of the game as just being mediocre, but plenty of the technical issues already mentioned hugely detract from the final game. It's sad to have to say that, but I'm sure the next version of the game will come out quite good so long as Saffire is at the helm.