Customer Reviews

Hot Wheels World Race

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We don't know why, but THQ doesn't include this tip on installation issues in there little manual. If you are having trouble installing/running the game piece, close it down and then right-click on the game icon. Click on properties and then click on the compatibility tab on top. Choose run in compatibility mode ... we have XP and chose 98 compatibility mode and it worked fine. Also, using THQ's website for technical support was excellent, they responded within 24 hours via email with the correct answers to our problems. http://www.thq.com/support/

After we got the game up and running, our 5yr old was off and going with the game ... he loves it. We changed our keyboard controls to be all with the numbers pad on our keyboard. Much easier for little fingers!!

Enjoy.

I just purchased this game for my sons who LOVE Hot Wheels, especially the Highway 35 series. They are crazy about this game. It's easy enough for kids to play, but with tracks that will challenge adults as well.

The previous reviewer was correct about how to solve a problem with this game. I'm running a high end machine with Windows XP, and could not initially get the game to work. However, if you are having trouble installing/running the game piece, close it down and then right-click on the game icon. Click on properties and then click on the compatibility tab on top. Choose run in compatibility mode.

I have XP and chose 98 compatibility mode and it worked fine.

Stunt Track Driver 1 and 2 I disliked. Velocity X I thought was awesome for what it was. All of my Hot Wheels playset come to life with the hottest cars.

Line-up: The first thing that you notice is that several of the teams have had line-up changes. Some of them, like switching out '55 Nomad for Nomadder What, make sense and fits the looks of 'The Fastest Cars In The World' unlike some of the original offerings. The rest are good substitutes which, when you look at the subs, realize that its the TM'ed cars that are gone. Chrysler, Pontiac, Nomad, Toyota... Considering how slack HW has been with getting the cars and movies out its doubtful we'll ever see this line-up get a physical representation. Oddly enough, Taro's Road Runner is replaced with 454 Overbored instead of Muscle Tone which seems to have been the alternate car for him. Muscle Tone is still in the line-up however.

Tracks: The tracks are all great and extend from the amazingly easy to the mildly difficult. There all kinds of inversions and loops. A nice assortment and they are all beautiful. Some of them, Tezla's cube for instance, are very dark. Either the cars have amazingly sticky tires or there is some special property of the tracks because while gravity affects mobile terrain when inverted the cars never loose traction. (Remember Banjee in Ep:1). Unlike in Velocity X, there is no slow down or stuttering because of board size. This game is all about racing on finite tracks. The background also looks good with each track belonging to one particular team with that teams theme music for level music. All of the tracks are 3-lap circuit. There are no linear tracks and no portal to signify the end of a leg of the World Race.

Graphics: The cars all look very good decked out in their Highway 35 livery. They are a step up from Velocity X but not able to compete with TD2002, MC II or NFS6. The special effects are also awesome too. A aura bleeding energy trails appears at the front of your car when you begin stunting and jumping also leaves flaming tire marks like turbos do at any time in V_X. Nitrox2 boosting has no visual effect other than a quick jaunt to 200 mph which only lasts a few seconds depending on a vehicles boost rating. The game does suffer from the occassional texture flicker as sometimes my car will flicker between its shape and skin to that of another car present on the track.

Controls: The one thing that I wrote into THQ about V_X is that there was no wheel support. In W_R there is...kind of. Steering/barrel rolling can only be mapped to the X or Y axis. Flipping forward/back can only be mapped to the X or Y axis. Accelerate and Brake must be mapped to 2 separate buttons. This makes this more of a joystick/gamepad game than wheel. I used my wheel just in spite of my disappointment but now I am using a stick to much better results. A way of feathering the throttle would be nice though.

Stunt system: While the dial-a-stunt is different, visually and mechanically the stunt system is a step back from that in V_X. In V_X once airborne you could rotate around both axes simultaneously if you chose. In W_R once you pick an axis on a jump you are stuck with it. V_X has W_R beat hands down in this respect.

Ways To Play: Haven't tried multiplayer yet. Single player gives you the options of Challenge, Quick Race, Time Trail, and League. Quick Race is good for practicing on unlocked tracks with unlocked cars and even unlocking additional cars and snapshots. League is where you'll probably spend the second greatest amount of time. You must compete in 3 levels - Rookie (6 races), Veteran (10 races), and Elite (15 races). This is the only way to unlock tracks. Challenge I did on a whim after unlocking everything I could on Tezla's cube. Its brain dead easy. Time trail is you versus a ghost car, though I always get Ghost Ballistik)

Versus toon: Nope, no special abilities car team whatsoever. Each car is rated in 4 cats: Top Speed, Grip, Accel, and Boost with 16 points to distribute. Each cat has a max of 7. Each car seems to do at least 170 (Krazy 8 can do this) before Speed rating takes over with a 7 taking you to about 190. Even with Nitrox2 or the boost pad scattered around NO car will break 200 mph short of Nitrox2 boosting on a jump ramp which only takes you to 240+. Likewise there are no hazards beyond barrier force fields which the Flaming Tires unlock. The yo-yo system from TD2002 seems to be in full effect here though considering all of the jockying for position that we see take place on the screen it is exciting.

In the end this a good fun racing game that I enjoy a lot. Especially with the fiction behind it. There is a thrill to the racing and after beating the Elite League I may not be ready to take on Vert and Taro but I feel a whole lot closer! You even get a different verse of Smash Mouth's "Hot" after Tezla talks at the beginning of the game. Considering what we see on the screen there could have been so much more but what we have is fairly Hot as it is. Hopefully the next HW game that THQ produces will be V_X with a better control scheme.

pros:
1) Fantastic looking tracks and cars in awesome settings.
2) Good sound and music; intro video music worth playing just for itself.

cons:
1) It supports steering wheel, but I found steering wheel control to be more difficult than keyboard control. Perhaps it is the steering wheel that I have, but then again there is no way during setup to fine tune steering wheel control.

2) All tracks should be available without qualification. I will likely never get access to half the tracks which remain locked. If steering wheel control was better than keyboard control then I could win more races and unlock the additional tracks.

I have 3 computers at home, this game will not run on any of them. I have a high end Dell laptop, desktop, and an older dell desktop. Program crashes on all three. Buyer beware!

My son and I got hours of fun out of this game on an older "home-built" PC based on an Athlon of some sort...

The gameplay physics are a little weak, mainly that the cars feel too light, so they get up off the track too easily. Then again, they are only Hot Wheels cars, which weigh what, a couple of ounces?

With an upgrade to a top-of-the-line IBM laptop, we lost the ability to play it -- it complains that the processor is "unknown" and does not meet its minimum requirements.

This is a little surprising -- other THQ games that we have are quite good.

Avoid it, cant play it, cant find FAQ's, can't get refund, its like disappointing a child and throwing away 10.00 all at the same time. Activision is listed on the manual but go to activision and it does not list it.

Activision must have wanted to unload this before they had to support it.

4 PC's doesn't work, activision should be ASHAMED of this product and issue a recall instead of just trying to hide it!

i see on the cover teams:roadbeasts,roadbeasts,wave rippers. the cars are called : twin mill,power rocket,deora ll