Hot Wheels Unleashed

I know I pretty much didn't post about this at all and not nearly as much as I wanted to, but I do recommend playing Hot Wheels Unleashed. My time with it is probably done today as I've collected and upgraded everything I can without paying.

It's surprising how much real-world driving skill it has / they didn't take out of it for arcade purposes, Especially needed if you're trying to win at the hardest difficulties. Cornering well and managing where you boost on a track is very important. [Again, at the hardest difficulties].

Also, almost every single car handles differently AND handles just as you expect it would. Though admittedly there's like no car that ACTUALLY has quite enough grip that their speed requires, so nearly all are a bit too slippery, but some (of usually the slower ones) can still oversteer, and slower ones get more boost cells, and sometimes charge boost faster. The highest speed vehicles aren't necessarily the best because a balance of more or faster charging boost cells can be better. But it's there's also almost no tracks with frequent / constant enough corners where the cars with the most boost cells are best. Acceleration is also a very good stat, though.

But, as I do, from the very start I started with the hardest difficulty (you can change at any time). And it's extremely difficult to win without cars being upgraded, but luckily it does give you a few cars that are already at their max. But if you play through like I do it's extremely grinding and difficult (you don't have to). You can make it a breeze.  [And Extreme Difficulty Isn't kidding, Even with Maxed Out Cars.]

I may recommend checking the Store for the Secret Treasure Hunt cars because I did complete my extended-difficulty (non-Expansion) run with 1 Secret Treasure Hunt car still not collected. I did spot it once I started looking in the rotating Store though and got it there. I still don't know if I would have gotten it randomly in a Blind Box like most of the others.

Online Multiplayer is a voted mix of the official tracks (including the Expansion Tracks which you can play online for free) and user-made tracks. Most of the user-made tracks are massive troll tracks or simply made by a kid (so, awful), but it's a mix-up from the official tracks, so I do hope to play them when I'm playing Multiplayer.

As for the DLC Tracks, It DEFINITELY seems like most of them were not made by whoever made the base game tracks. While some of the tracks are ok, Each Expansion has tracks that are their own level of Awful. The Monster Truck Expansion is particularly awful, but both the Batman and Looney Toons expansions have them too.

So I'm probably done with Hot Wheels Unleashed as I've gotten everything I can. It's fun though usually not nearly as hectic as what you may expect because there are no weapons At All in this game. Zero. It's also got more real-sim-like driving skill than you'd expect (though no front camera for some reason, even though you can do that in replays). Almost each car handles differently and how you think they would. It is its own style of fun and I do recommend it.