Hot Wheels Infinite Rush review: solid racing held back by weak online and small worlds

Milestone is back with Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, a toy-themed arcade racer that leans heavily into the playroom aesthetic. The game takes players across themed open-world islands, each unlocked by defeating that island's Rush Master. It's a straightforward gameplay loop suited for both children and longtime Hot Wheels enthusiasts.

The islands are presented as interconnected toy worlds, complete with iconic orange track segments and large mascots that occasionally swat at your car. The design encourages makeshift races and activities like drifting challenges, and passing Daredevil racers can prompt spontaneous vehicle stake races. The presentation echoes the toy-box freedom of LEGO 2K Drive, inviting players to drive fast and cause destruction.

However, this shift away from Unleashed's real-world toy-car fantasy feels conceptually underbaked. There was something inventive about toy cars coming to life in the real world. Toys racing in toy worlds reads as incrementally less whimsical. The islands themselves feel small, exacerbated by vehicles that reach breakneck speeds, yet loading times between activities stretch noticeably long.

Milestone's core racing competency remains intact. The four vehicle types (Versatile, Drifter, Speeder, and Titan) each have distinct specialties, and races both against CPU opponents and in online multiplayer maintain genuine competition. The big orange track becomes a playground where Milestone experiments with toy-world objects like rolling skeeballs and basketball hoops that grant brief infinite boost.

Customization and progression are robust. Players earn upgrades and unlock over 150 vehicles, from practical racers to novelty cars like rubber duckies. A Track Builder mode offers numerous pieces and design options, theoretically a marquee feature.

The critical problems emerge in multiplayer. Split-screen local racing is supported, but friends cannot explore open-world islands together. Online multiplayer is severely compromised: matchmaking takes excessive time, races suffer from pervasive lag, and a single player dropping out destabilizes the entire race. Custom-built tracks should shine in online play but are effectively confined to local household use.

The islands themselves lack depth. Activities run thin enough that finding island-specific currency becomes easy within minutes. The size constraints, while suited to the arcade aesthetic, leave little to discover beyond the main track races.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is fundamentally a solid racing game undermined by its execution. Local multiplayer remains enjoyable, and the roster of collectable vehicles is genuinely enticing. The Track Builder shows robust ambition. But small open worlds, lack of cooperative exploration, and near-unplayable online multiplayer prevent the game from reaching its potential. For a series that historically excelled at making toy-based racing feel special, Infinite Rush plays it safer than expected.