Hot Rod Mayhem brings bright, over-the-top kart racing to Xbox Series X/S with a big dose of Saturday-morning-cartoon energy. The game features up to 10 tiny race drivers who fight it out across its wildly imaginative tracks—from neon-lit cities to dinosaur-filled theme parks and spooky highways—every course bursts with colour and quirky personality. Talking of "personality", Mr Chatty the overenthusiastic, over-caffeinated announcer can thankfully be reduced to voice only or turned off altogether. (Trust me, you will want to do this as he pops up at the side of the screen while you're racing!) Thankfully, all of the other visuals and sound are much less irritating, including some great tunes to race along to.
The usual variations like mirrored, reversed, and warped layouts keep repeat runs feeling fresh-ish. The fact that you are tiny means that everything looks huge–humans, various animals (annoying moles, scary dinosaurs and a terrifying dog) and even traffic when you stray onto highways or farm tracks. Gameplay is approachable and easy to pick up, making it a great choice for family nights or casual get-togethers. The controls are pretty logical and standard, with Brake/Accelerate on the triggers, Drift on "X" and fire/drop/use on "B". "Y" is both change view and rear view if held for some reason and I'd question why there's no jump button given the nature of some of the obstacles.
For solo players wanting a serious challenge a new difficulty mode, "Crazy", was added, which unlocks gold, silver and bronze cars, but "Hard" is just that, on "Medium" the game is pretty easy to a point, but ramps up, and "Easy" is really easy, so Hotrod Mayhem is perfectly suitable for "Elite" or average players (like me), young gamers or older gamers who are terrible at racing games.
Two core modes–Race and Championship–provide straightforward fun, series of cup races of 3 laps. A local split-screen for up to four players means you can also share the chaos with friends right on your couch. Drifting to charge boost feels satisfying, even if the overall impression of speed isn’t as blistering as some other kart racers. Random pop-up obstacles and hindrances like moles and drain covers add some unexpected surprises–usually annoying ones. Some of the tracks' design leaves a lot to be desired too, and sometimes it's difficult to see where to go–learning each track isn't too much of a chore though.
Customisation adds extra charm, letting you unlock colourful outfits and different karts as you progress, but not having your name or gamertag displayed on results screens is a bizarre omission. Weapons and power-ups are familiar but still bring that playful “anything can happen” vibe to each race, especially on the harder settings.
A mild irritation was that we found the dart missiles fired by opponents almost impossible to avoid unless we were holding a "shield" power up–then we realised that they only home in on the leader of the race, so if you don't have a shield ready to go, slamming the brakes on and conceding the lead is a good idea!
As with just about every kart game since the original Mario Kart, the AI opponents always seem to be able to piss you off, and I lost count of the number of races I was leading with one or two corners to go, only to get “missiled” and finish 4th, 5th or 6th. Having said that, I've won a few races by boosting past the leader or blasting them just before the finish line too–so maybe it balances out. Playing on Easy cures this issue, but it's not really enough of a challenge.
The developers (Casual Brothers) have packed a lot into Hot Rod Mayhem, and included nice ideas like your driver celebrating with a "Whoohoo!" when you successfully mess up another racer with a missile or mine, and being able to stack up to 2 power-ups is neat too.
While it won’t dethrone the biggest names in the genre, Hot Rod Mayhem has a lighthearted spirit and nostalgic simplicity that’s hard not to smile at. For under £20, it’s a fun, affordable pick for anyone looking to trade serious competition for silly, cheerful hijinks that can amuse and infuriate in 3 laps or less.
Many thanks to Casual Brothers and PressEngine for the review code.