For the last 35 years, Mattel's Hot Wheels brand has personified cars and trucks for boys and men alike. Small enough to wedge several into a pocket, yet strong enough to handle flying through the air and crashing to the concrete over and over again, Hot Wheels was into portable gaming fun long before Game Boys hit the streets. But Mattel has tried to keep up with the times, releasing waves of new cars and trucks every year, fostering a huge collectors community, and creating fun racetracks that seem to get wilder every year.

Hot Wheels World Race attempts to take you inside that world of incredible racetracks, putting you at the wheel of a hyperspeed racer, performing stunts and loop the loops through various circuits, multi-level tracks etc. The feature that jumps out at you, literally, is the emphasis on not only performing extreme stunts, but the need to perform them well in order to earn extra go juice, called Nitrox, that will be needed to launch yourself onto shortcuts, pass difficult opponents, and increase your hang time on the next jump.

The gameplay is your basic hyperspeed racing game. There is no semblance of simulation here, more of an all-out tire-burner type race. After 2 or 3 races where you finish in the top position, you quickly discover that you can basically goof off the first two laps or so and then focus hard and catch the pack on the last lap, because they won't get too far ahead of you.

The stunts are the signature feature of the game, but quickly become old hat and boring. All you can do is roll on one of 2 axes and try to stick the landing. Not especially challenging, though the game will penalize you for performing the same stunt twice in a row. If you land a stunt well, you will earn boost fuel or Nitrox, with which you can jump further and drive faster than normal.

The graphics of the tracks are pretty good, but they are very repetitive. You will find yourself racing the same basic track layout over and over again. Special effects such as crashes and leaps are pretty good, and the graphics engine is lag free and smooth.

As you progress through the rookie league on up, you will unlock various cars. All of the cars basically drive the same way, with very little difference, so there isn't much to really unlock.

All in all, World Race is a decent effort, but not a game that leaves you excited about competing in your next race. Splitscreen multiplayer action for racing your friends might keep it on your play list, but overall there are better options out there.