10 Video Games In 2021 Everyone Regretted Buying
4. Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hot Wheels Unleashed is a textbook example of a superficially neat game that's best enjoyed as a weekend rental.
Sure, it looks gorgeous and the vehicular handling feels great, but after a few hours it becomes painfully obvious this unambitious racer isn't worth a full retail pricetag.
The biggest problem is the lack of content, with the game's career mode being a relatively repetitive slog through recycled races and challenges, while progression and unlocks are a massive lootbox-driven grind.
Mercifully, at least, there are no pay-to-win options here.
Another issue is the massive over-reliance on rubber-banding, such that a single screw-up on the last corner of a track can see you go from first place to third or fourth.
It's absolutely maddening, and means this is often a game that doesn't really respect the player's time, forcing them to repeat races because of one mistake.
Finally there's multiplayer, which while potential-filled suffers from poor matchmaking, as it often takes way too long to get a race going due to idle players.
All in all this is a promising game that just doesn't quite offer up enough content for the asking price, and so most players will likely fall off it after a short time. It's worth considering once it goes on sale, but absolutely not before then.