LGR - Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver 2 Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHot Wheels Stunt Track Driver was one of thosegames that I played an awful lot in 1998when I was 12 years oldyears old. For one thing, it was a racing gamewith Hot Wheels cars,and when you're twelve, that's all that matters!The second big reason I liked it was the relateabletrack configurations you could drive around in –like kitchens, bedrooms, pool-halls – it alljust captured my imagination!So when Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver 2: Get'n Dirtycame out two years later, I wasn't that interestedmainly because the title and box art impliedslow, outdoor dirt track racing with trucks!Meh!But several years ago, I found this boxed copyand figured, 'hey, why not see what I was missing!'Then I got and restored this Hot Wheels PC,which was released around the same time as this gameand even included it as a pack-in item.But that was just a CD in a sleeve,and you absolutely GOTTA get the full retail box!Following in the footsteps of the original,it comes with its own exclusive edition Hot Wheels car;this time being the blue-painted Roll Cage!Beyond this, you also get the game itself ona colorful CD-ROM,a jewel case manual letting you know the new featuresand how to progress in the game,and an America Online 5.0 Platinum Premier disc,with 500 free hours of dial-up Internet!Aw man, if it were still possible, I'd totally bemore excited about using AOL 5.0 again,but alas.Still, I've got the Hot Wheels PC,which makes anything exciting, no matter what,so let's Get Dirty!Hot Wheels STD2 begins with somecontractually obligated logo displays,and an animated intro sequence,showing you sequences of intro animations!After this, you get the main menu,which is only a slight face-lift from theoriginal game.You can race a single track,play through the Championship to unlockmost of the content,or create your own custom courses.There are six pre-made tracks in total,along with twelve main vehicles to choose from –once everything's unlocked, at least.Pick whichever one seems the most SUPER COOL,and you'll be dropped by a disembodied handinto the world, ready to race....Aaannd it's Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driverall over again.You've still got 3D rendered cars overlaidon a Full Motion Video backdrop,and the faster you go, the faster the video plays.Performing stunts not only helps youearn high scores and new cars,but it keeps your speed up, which is vitalsince you're racing against the clock.Other than some new environments and cars,the other changes here are pretty minimal.For one thing, the camera is zoomed out just a bit more,which makes navigating some of thefast-moving sections much easier.You also have these coin power-ups to grab,which gives you an extra little incentiveto hit certain areas of the track,since they give you more time andmax your speed for a little while.Speaking of track sections,you also have the option to take alternate routesand shortcuts here and there,which is kinda impressive when you rememberthis is a Full Motion Video game.The most obvious difference thoughis that each of the enviorments are less\"middle class suburban household\",and more \"middle class suburban backyardsand vacation spots\".Then there's this one where you're racing arounddinosaur bones and lava,but let's ignore that,and go with my sweeping generilizations regardingincome level and Western societal class structure.Anyway, those tracks... they're good for\"get'n dirty\", that's for sure.There's an awful lot of dirt......and water......and dirt water,which is also known as \"mud\".And strangely enough, this doesn't seem to slow downyour Hot Wheels that much at all,which detracts from my immersion level a bit.I mean, don't get me wrong –– we're talking about fantastical Hot Wheels physicsand boyhood wish fulfillment here, but...this one takes it to another level when I'm flying throughmuddy ruts and a vegetable garden,without so much as a stuck wheel.It also can be difficult to know which wayto turn on some tracks,because their theme and layout is all over the place,much more experimental than the first one.And you'll want to learn the crap out of these tracks,because again, like the first game,if you run out of time during the Championship,you're sent ALL the way back to the beginning!No saving, no checkpoints, no forgiveness.Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driving isSERIOUS.Also, don't even think about playing thiswith the official Hot Wheels steering wheel!The controls are sluggish and imprecise this way,and it makes pulling off stunts almost impossible!Otherwise, Stunt Track Driver 2 is just as funas the original game, if you ask me.I may not enjoy the track locations as much;and in fact, some of them are downright ugly to look at!I mean, when I think of Hot Wheels,I think bright colors and a bedroom, or something;not dirt and rocks in an ugly underground tunnel!But other than my cravings for tracks located in placesthat I'd actually expect Hot Wheels tracks to be,Stunt Track Driver 2 is a sequelthat's thoroughly enjoyable,even if it doesn't explore any new territory....Or DOES it?Because I haven't talked about the track editor yet,annd, uhh......well, you see,while it works more or less the same asthe first game's editor,here, you're not placing blocks that lay downa bunch of Full Motion Video clips.Nope, these......are fully rendered, 3D tracks,with a totally open enviorment to explore!Which begs the question – WHY didn't theyuse this for the main game?!Look at this engine, this is pretty sweet!You can drive anywhere, the physics areWAY more forgiving,you can drive ANYWHERE......and did I mention you can drive anywhere?It reminds me of the star-collecting Stunt Arenain the game Re-Volt,an area that I spent hours messing within that game!And maybe this isn't as pretty as that was,but it doesn't look too awful either!So I dunno why they didn't use this 3D engine instead ofthe old-school FMV for the rest of the game!Maybe it was for performance reasons,and I could see that,seeing as kids games typically trend lowerin terms of system specs.But still, this really makes me cravea Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driverwith an open world to explore!Ah well; Get'n Dirty is still a pretty fun little gamefor a few minutes.Oh yeah, you can beat it in a few minutesif you know what you're doing,since each track is about one minute long.But it's a fun time while it lasts,and then playing around with custom tracksadds even more!Now sadly, it doesn't run on any of mymore modern systems,but if you've got a Windows 98 PC lying around,and run across a copy of the gameat a thrift store or something,then definitely give this, and the originalStunt Track Driver, a shot!why not support LGRs patreon and first class baby Yoshi's! and subscribe to LGR For More Videos And Sub To Me Thanks For More Than 500 Views!And if you enjoyed this videoon Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver 2: Get'n Dirty,check out my review of Hot Wheels STD1,which is linked to right here,as well as a video about the Hot Wheels PC itself,which I think it's just the coolest thing, man!I remember seeing ads for it as a kid;'Oh my god, it looks neat! Look at how neat it is!'Turns out it's actually kinda a piece of crap,but whatever!And if you'd like to see other videos, then subscribeor come back every Monday and Friday......there's some videos every Monday and Friday!And as always, thank you for watching LGR!\n"