Games You Might Have Missed: Hot Wheels Velocity X

Gamers jumped into the driver's seat of their favorite Hot Wheels car in this futuristic sci-fi title, Hot Wheels Velocity X. Is it worth picking up for a few hours?

Welcome to Games You Might Have Missed. A look at games that didn’t necessarily sell a lot of copies but may be worth a few bucks and a few hours. In this edition, we look at the sci-fi racer based on one of the most popular toys in America, Hot Wheels Velocity X.

Did You Miss Out on Hot Wheels Velocity X?

In this edition of Games You Might Have Missed we travel to Monument City, the hometown of Maxwell “Max” Justice, and step into the driver seat of some of our favorite Hot Wheels vehicles. The game was released during the holiday shopping window of 2002 for PlayStation 2, Gamecube, Gameboy Advanced, and Windows. The game was developed by Beyond Games and published by THQ.

Gameplay

The game features multiple modes for gamers to choose from. The main game mode is the “Adventure” mode, which has gamers play through the main story of the game. As the story progresses, gamers unlock more cars and weapons to fend off enemies. In the story mode, gamers need to beat timed challenges, defeat enemies in combat, and complete other challenges to clear all 15 missions.

Other modes include the joyride mode where gamers are free to explore the different maps of the game without a time limit or enemies pursuing them (Monument City, Turbine Sands, Crankshaft Bay, Burnout Glacier, and Underworld) while collecting gears and a hidden key to unlock more vehicles.

There is also a challenge mode where gamers must complete timed challenges that include goals such as collecting all of a certain item, gaining enough trick points, getting from point A to B in a certain time frame, etc. which also unlocks vehicles upon completion.

A drag race and battle mode were also added to the game, which is its only multiplayer mode. In battle mode, gamers face off against a horde of enemies and try to defeat them in combat with unlocked weapons. Drag racing mode allows gamers to compete in drag races against a second player or CPU controlled racers.

Plot

The plot puts gamers into the driver’s seat of the car of Maxwell “Max” Justice. Max is a member of the Hot Wheels Street Racing team. He receives a distress signal from his home in Monument City, one of the core locations of the game. While he investigates his home which has been torn apart, an alarm goes off at the Hot Wheels engineering plant. His mechanical sidekick Gearhead, which was built by his father, Dr. Peter Justice, tries to stop him from going to the plant but Max ignores his pleas. While Max is en-route to the plant, the building is demolished by a time bomb, as this is happening another time bomb is planted at the Hot Wheels Tire Factory. Max grabs the bomb and takes it to an abandoned building to dispose of it.

Max learns that the bombs were a diversion for a gang to steal Max’s father’s experimental HW Prototype 12 and disks containing research on his Velocity X project. Gang member Nitro claims to have the disks and uses them as bait to challenge Max to a race. After Max defeats Nitro, Nitro admits that this was another diversion, and he handed off the discs to someone in the Turbine Sands region. Max gets back into contact with his father who explains that the disks have the formula for a special feel that allows cars to double their speed and that the prototype car can turn invisible for a short time due to running on uranium.

This leads Max to stopping a hijacked train from the gang full of uranium in Turbine Sands. Max meets another member of the gang “Backwoods” who tells Max that Max’s girlfriend “Sparky“ was caught investigating gang territory in the Crankshaft Bay region and is being held there by the gang. Max gets in contact with Sparky who tells him that she recovered map fragments with Max’s father’s name as well as the name Otto von Diesel on them. Max heads to Crankshift Bay to rescue Sparky from the gang and recover the map fragments. They return the map to Gearhead while Max heads back to Crankshaft Bay to retrieve backup files for the Velocity X project. Unfortunately for them, their communications are intercepted by the gang’s robotic assistant, Metacog.

Max is able to recover the backup files but is intercepted by gang member Fast Lane Frascatti who challenges Max to a race where she wagers information about Otto in exchange for Max wagering uranium. Max wins and learns that Otto was once part of his father’s team but was fired for not following safety protocols and now has a grudge against him. Gearhead finishes reconstructing the map and learns of Otto’s plan to collect volcanic gas from Burnout Glacier. The gas is a key ingredient in the fuel formula for Velocity X and Otto plans to harvest it by launching a rocket into the Glacier to cause a volcanic eruption.

Max rushes to the volcano and destroys the rockets before they can be fired. He also attempts to retrieve the gas canister placed by his father that is used to collect volcanic gas. The canister is intercepted by gang member “Slick” who challenges Max to a race with the winner taking the canister.

After Max wins, Gearhead finishes analyzing the backup file data on the Velocity X project. The team learns that the original plan for Velocity X was to allow a car to time travel, but Max’s father canceled the project due to his fear of altering timelines. Otto’s plan was to steal the research and use it to go back and time and erase the Justice family from existence. Max is approached by Otto’s right-hand man Ruppert Jacoby who challenges Max to a race with the final Velocity X material on the line. The race is intercepted by the gang members who take off with the final component. Max chases them to Monument City’s underworld where a final confrontation takes place with Nitro, Belcher, Fast Lane, Slick, and Rupert. Max defeats them all before taking down Otto once and for all. Otto flees before the police can apprehend him but with his father’s research taken out of the hands of the enemy gang, he returns to his street racing concluding the adventure mode.

Marketing

With 33 drivable Hot Wheels in the game, there was no shortage of opportunities to market the game.

The game was heavily featured at THQ’s booth during the 2003 Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3). To coincide with the release of the game, Mattel released re-skinned versions of the Hot Wheels 40 Somethin' model car which is a playable car in the game. The re-skin that featured the game logos was exclusively available at Toys R Us and was bundled with the PC version of the game.

Critical Response

The console version received mixed reviews with the bulk of the criticism being aimed at the low frame rate which hurt the graphics and detracted from the futuristic feeling of the setting. In addition, the controls, specifically the handling of the cars, were criticized. The overall concept, setting, and story drew praise from multiple critics.

Should You Play It?

If you are a fan of all things street racing games and/or want some childhood nostalgia of driving the Hot Wheels cars you played with as a child, it may be worth a few bucks and a few hours. The game offers a variety of play modes and plenty of vehicles to unlock to keep you coming back for more.

Plan on giving Hot Wheels Velocity X a try? Have a hidden gem of a game you love? Leave a comment below!

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