Parents' Guide to Hot Wheels Infinite Loop

Kids everywhere have been racing and wrecking Hot Wheel toy cars for more than fifty years. Now those cars are rolling out of the toy box and speeding to mobile devices in Hot Wheels Infinite Loop. There are certain things that have to be in any game sporting the Hot Wheels name, and Infinite Loop checks most, if not all, of those boxes. There are plenty of uniquely designed vehicles, from speedy streamlined hot rods to bulky bruiser trucks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. There are screaming fast tracks with high jumps, hard turns, big crashes, and crazy loops true to the Hot Wheels playsets kids love.

Hot Wheels Infinite Loop looks sharp and runs smooth, rivaling even some console games. But as much horsepower as the game brings to the mobile racing genre, there are a couple of spots, particularly the online PvP (player vs player), where it hits a couple of speed bumps. The game throws players right into teaming with and taking on other online competitors, which can make or break some races. It's frustrating, especially early on, to find yourself in a match with someone determined not to race, but to give other players as much grief as possible. Matchmaking with friends takes a lot of coordination to make sure everyone is playing, but even then, it's a roll of the dice just to get a race started together. And with online racing such a big part of an otherwise fantastic game, it's more glaring than usual when things sputter out.