Too many video games based on popular children’s properties boil down to nothing more than cynical cash-ins, seeking to rob kids of their enthusiasm for their favourite toys and parents of their hard-earned cash. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem is not that type of kid’s game. Instead, this is an impeccably crafted release, one that will bring immense joy to the thousands of Hot Wheels Monster Truck’s mini fans out there.
Imagine Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater but with Monster Trucks, and you’ve pretty much envisaged Stunt Mayhem. Your truck – or let’s be honest, your 8-year-old’s truck – races around an enclosed arena performing over-the-top stunts in pursuit of points. Gathering high enough scores will see you accumulate a vast fan-base, which will in turn unlock new stages, new challenges and, perhaps most excitingly of all, new Hot Wheels Monster Trucks to smash and crash with. Unlike the Monster Jam video game series, there’s no races to be had here, instead it’s all about nailing outlandish stunts within a strict time-limit.
Environments are small but brightly coloured, endearingly cartoony, and cram-packed with detail and depth. Each is based on various landscapes you’ll find within the extended Hot Wheels toy universe. Trust me, you won’t have heard of any of them, but your kid will squeal with delight when they discover they can zoom around Camp Crush. Every arena is littered with things to leap off and obstacles to drive through, ensuring that the three-minutes spent in them is filled with chaotic destruction and engaging activity.
The handling for the Trucks themselves is straight-forward and incredibly accessible. They are also unbelievably manoeuvrable, capable of performing limitless spins, barrel-rolls and front-flips, providing that ramp they just leapt off gives them enough air. In short, regardless of video game experience, any kid will be able to give Stunt Mayhem a go and perform some visually spectacular and fist-pumpingly thrilling Monster Truck manoeuvres.
But don’t let the welcome accessibility fool you; Stunt Mayhem can still offer a decent challenge, requiring the player to return several times to each stage to complete more optional extra missions and make progress through the game. These tasks are simple enough to grasp – objectives like destroy 65% of the obstacles or pop all of the balloons are commonplace – but they encourage and reward exploration and experimentation. There are lots of, “If I leap off that ramp, hit that walkway, and flip off that caravan, can I reach that platform covered in Crush Cars?” moments to be enjoyed here. Overall, the ramping up of the difficulty level is expertly configured for younger gamers, ensuring a gradual rising curve of a challenge is offered, rather than off-putting game-quitting difficulty spikes.
Most importantly for Hot Wheels fans, all the top Monster Trucks are included and can be rabidly unlocked. There’s Mega-Wrex and Big Foot available from the outset, but they’ll soon be joined by Gunkster, 5-Alarm, Race Ace, and the rest. New skins can be unlocked, including glow-in-the-dark chassis, which, I have been informed by my son, are very exciting indeed.
Considering the overall quality of the game on offer, it’s disappointing that the player can’t drive around the epic stunts on each course. These are basically the really expensive and really big Hot Wheels toy sets – think scorpions, gorillas, and volcanoes – each covered in loop-de-loops and twisty turny tracks. They look awesome and are undoubtedly the most exciting feature of each arena, but if you drive into one, you’re just stuck with watching a cut-scene, your controller hanging limply until you are allowed to play again. A missed opportunity perhaps. Boss fights are rather dull too, offering no excitement as they are little more than a treasure hunt with more of those cut-scene stunts to watch.
