 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Hotwheels Racing Circuit
Common Sense Media says
Simple racing and collections game can get pricey.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Hotwheels Racing Circuit is an online multiplayer, browser-based game that allows kids to race against the computer or other players, but does not allow chat. Accounts are verified with an email and have to be activated, but no other information is gathered unless parents decide to buy a subscription account for their kids. Parents also need to know that software must be downloaded and installed for the game to work and that older machines may have compatibility issues.
What's it about?
In HOTWHEELS RACING CIRCUIT, an online, mulitplayer, bowser-based game, there are two tracks and several racing games that are free to play. Kids can also customize their own car for free. Other customization requires credits which are earned by racing. Each race requires 8 players and if there aren’t enough kids online at the time, the computer will fill up the rest of the slots. There are also 8 trophies for every race, so kids will always win something in each race they participate in.
Aside from customizing your car with paint and rims, kids can also soup up with batteries and weapons. There is no death or destruction, but like Mario Kart, the weapons slow your opponents down. You can launch rockets to blast opponents out of the way, oil patches to make them skid, or simply speed you up. Kids can also participate in a community by updating their profiles and garages (where their cars are kept), but no personal information is allowed. Instead, kids choose from canned phrases.
Is it any good?
Like many car games, Hotwheels Racing Circuit is about collecting cars and making your cars look cool. If kids are already Hotwheels fans, this may be a way to extend their hobby. The subscription commitment is for a year and costs $29.99, which is expensive when compared to the 99 cents cost of most physical hotwheel cars. However the graphics are really good, which helps to make these toy cars come alive. This game is best played on new, faster computers and kids with slow machines, may get frustrated. They may have to pop open a new window and the browser may have to be minimized in order to play the game.
Online interaction: Kids can look at each others profiles and garages but there is no actual interaction as there isn't any text chat.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about setting computer time limits. How many races do you want to play today?
Families can also talk about collecting as a hobby and the differences between collecting physical toys and virtual ones.
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