Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem review – GameSpew (2024)

We’ve had a Hot Wheels racing game — and a good one at that — with Hot Wheels Unleashed. Its sequel even brought monster trucks into the equation, allowing you to race them around a variety of well-crafted plasticky Hot Wheels tracks, weaving and twisting around home garages, gardens, shopping malls and more. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem, out today on PC and consoles, gives us another chance to get behind the wheel of one of those little die-cast cars — but there’s no racing to be found this time.

No; instead, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem is all about performing stunts and causing damage in an arena setting. There are no races to be found, then, but there are three different types of arena events to take part in: freestyle, destruction and boss attack.

If you hop into Stunt Mayhem’s career mode — which is where you’ll likely be drawn when you first start playing, you’ll make your way across a map, performing events across seven different arenas. Most of the events, however, are pretty similar. Freestyle events are all about performing tricks and racking up score, and Destruction events are about destroying items (while also performing tricks and tacking up score). In practice, there’s no real different in completing them.

You’ll be thrown a few random objectives to keep things fresh, however. Sometimes you might have to find balloons around an arena, for example. Other times you might need to perform a specific trick, or destroy a particular type of object.

It’s rather fun, throwing a monster truck around an arena. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem’s seven arenas get a little trickier as you progress, with more space to move around and more ramps to perform tricks from. You’ll accelerate with the right trigger, then use your right stick to perform spins and backflips while in the air. You’ll also rack up points for driving over cars, knocking over barrels and generally causing carnage.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem review – GameSpew (1)

Chaining tricks together means increasing your multiplier, and that’s the way to get the highest scores. Our only real problem is that there’s no way to right your vehicle if you fluff up a landing following a trick. It’s a shame, because other monster truck games have allowed us to do so. Thanks to the trucks’ giant tyres, you get the feeling that it should be easy to jump back up, with a turn of your wheels. But no: fail to land and you’ll lose your combo. Thankfully you won’t lose the points accrued prior to landing badly, though, which is a saving grace.

There’s the third event type that I haven’t mentioned yet: boss attack. They’re not really boss fights, not in the traditional sense of the word anyway. But they are fun, and do offer a specific goal to work towards. Each boss attack will have you first seek out and knock over three cardboard cutouts — the boss’s ‘minions’. When they’re downed, you can face the boss itself — which means performing a stunt on the arena’s signature obstacle.

This is Hot Wheels after all, so you’ll find each arena has a focal point: either something as simple as a loop-de-loop, or something more over-the-top like a serpent-shaped ramp or a giant gorilla. They’re fun showpieces and can be used in freestyle and destruction events too — you’ll just need to first find the keys hidden in the arena to unlock them.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem review – GameSpew (2)

Outside of career, which will likely take you six to eight hours to make your way through, longer if you complete all the additional events, and you’ll find a multiplayer mode and a single event option.

Single event is what it sounds like: you can choose a specific event type to complete on a specific arena. You’ll need to have first unlocked the arena in the career mode, though. As for multiplayer, there’s only local play on offer here, with two players able to share the same screen.

There’s also a garage where you can go see all the vehicles you’ve unlocked. You’ll earn more as you play through the career mode, including trucks you’ll likely recognise, like the Bone Crusher. Vehicles don’t have individual stats, meaning they all handle the same, but each one does have a unique signature skill which can be activated during an event.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem is a rather simple game: drive a monster truck, perform tricks, rinse and repeat. But I have to admit there’s plenty of fun to be had here. There’s at least a sense of progression in the career mode, as you unlock new vehicles and arenas as you move forward. And with arenas and their challenges getting a little tougher as you move through the career, you’ll need to hone your skills with practice.

But for kids and adults alike, chucking a big-wheeled vehicular beast in the air and doing flips and somersaults is entertaining enough to keep you occupied for the duration. I challenge you to pull off the perfect stunt and nail the landing without a stupid grin on your face. Bet you can’t.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem Review

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem isn't a racing game: it's all about performing stunts across a number of different arenas. It's rather simple in what it offers, then, but throwing a monster truck through the air and performing somersaults and flips is plenty entertaining. Kids and adults alike will get a kick out of this budget-priced affair.

7

out of 10

We like…

  • Performing stunts feels great
  • Arenas are nicely designed with plenty of obstacles
  • Good sense of progression through career mode

We don’t like…

  • Limited event types
  • Can get repetitive fast

This review of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem is based on the PS5 version of the game, with a code provided by the publisher. It’s available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem review – GameSpew (2024)

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