Hot Rod Mayhem Xbox Series X Review 6.5/10 "Smooth Racing and Vibrant Visuals" 🚘🚔@CasualBrothers #IndieGame #GameDev

Kart racing is a genre that has certainly had its ups and down over the years, it feels like there have been an incredible amount – of varying quality – that have been released in the last few years alone on the Switch and Xbox, where there will always be a niche due to the focus on local multiplayer, after all – bashing around with friends is always fun!

To this end, Hot Rod Mayhem makes a great first impression, with energetic music, and a colourful customisable cast of characters as well as several vehicles to choose from, each with their own stats. 

As I sat down with my family to play, we were keen to get out on the tracks and spend the next couple of hours working our way through the many cups and races on offer, with me naturally taking first place on all of them, without fail – leaving my son and fiancée in the dust*. 

The first couple of races you take part in cover a lot of ground in terms of visual themes, with each race being packed with objects for your mini racers to weave through, from beach balls and cars being washed through to temples, Ferris wheels and the like. 

The races are never overly long, and the weapon system is pretty standard, but still fun to use….except ‘the dart’…which is the ‘blue shell’ of this game and homes in on the person in first – always me*, natch – to mercilessly tale them out, unless they are lucky enough to have a shield pickup in reserve.

The racing is smooth and responsive, but drifting – which nets you a boost – doesn’t feel fun to use, and if anything come across as quite an unwieldy way to skid around corners, and doesn’t quite give that satisfaction that it should. I also found it strange that the jumps – of which there are many – don’t add to your boost, which seemed a bit odd as the speed of the karts is relatively tame, and any sort of collision on the track really takes the wind out of your sails, often bringing you to a stop, losing the flow of the race.

Whilst the music keeps the energy levels up, and the wacky announcer and busy tracks give off a family-friendly, breezy vibe, the lack of any sort of unlockables or upgrades does mute the sense of progression, as you don’t get anything from completing the tournaments on offer. 

This, combined with the handful of tracks (although you can play them in mirrored, reversed, and standard modes) means that beyond ticking off the cups completed, there’s not much of a sense of reward, and it’s this that makes the experience feel a little flat, along with the relatively gentle pace of the game. Great for kids just diving into the genre, but less fun for those who have played karting games for a while.

SUMMARY
It's a strong entry in terms of visuals and design, but the lack of any depth really does drag this racer down a little. 

Casual Brothers clearly have the technical wizardry to create a very cool karting game, but there’s not quite enough on the bone here to make it a must-play recommendation. 

That said, the 60fps gameplay, and familiarity of design does mean that this does absolutely have its pluses for perhaps a younger group of players.

*this may or may not be true.

6.5/10

💧MELTING💧