Infinite Rush Review – Open-World Unleashed – WGB

Sizzling Wheels Infinite Rush is kind of simple to clarify: it’s Sizzling Wheels Unleashed changed into an open-world racer. That ought to be a simple win, particularly for the reason that earlier video games already nailed the necessary little bit of sending tiny plastic automobiles round ridiculous tracks at silly speeds. And Infinite Rush continues to be quick, vibrant and enjoyable. However the transition to hub worlds hasn’t gone as easily as I hoped.

REVIEW AT A GLANCE

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Developer Milestone S.r.l.

Writer Milestone S.r.l.

Reviewed On PS5

Obtainable On PS5, Xbox Sequence X|S, Nintendo Change 2, PC

Launch Date 10 September, 2026

Worth (UK) £44.99

Style Racing

Overview Code Supplied by PLAION

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Fast Take:

Sizzling Wheels Infinite Rush takes the superb arcade racing of Unleashed into 4 open-world islands. The driving stays quick and enjoyable, however uninteresting environments, repetitive tracks and a slim, grindy development system cease this toybox experiment from matching the targeted thrills of Unleashed 2.

I don’t need to promote the builders quick right here, however that is just about Sizzling Wheels Unleashed 1 and a pair of transplanted into an open world. Effectively, 4 small open worlds, at any charge. The dealing with mannequin feels rattling close to equivalent; a lot of the automobiles are the identical and most of the big Sizzling Wheels playsets strewn concerning the place seem to reuse fashions from Unleashed and Unleashed 2, alongside just a few new ones. I can’t knock it, actually – it’s an excellent use of the finances. And what’s the purpose of rebuilding one thing that’s speculated to look precisely just like the precise toy anyway? You’d nonetheless simply find yourself with issues that look the identical.

This does make the evaluation a tad simpler, as a result of should you already like these video games and wished they’d open-world maps, Infinite Rush is for you. Good arcade racing, vibrant motion, a little bit of room to discover and gather a bazillion collectables.

The precise act of driving your plastic portfolio nonetheless feels terrific. You hit the drift button to launch into managed slides, construct enhance to achieve silly speeds and navigate the occasional impediment, like one thing dropping boulders onto the observe, enhance zones frozen in ice or magnetic sections. The physics could be a little too enthusiastic while you clip one thing, however in any other case the motion feels glorious. There’s an excellent sense of pace and drifting is enjoyable, though the dealing with can grow to be stiff and awkward everytime you’re transferring slowly and attempting to be exact.

Automobiles have been break up into 4 courses in a bid to make them really feel totally different and distinctive. They do precisely what you’d suppose: Drifters slide round corners like loopy and recharge enhance within the course of; the Pace class is all about top-end tempo, whereas Versatile doesn’t do any single factor brilliantly however builds enhance by doing absolutely anything. After which there’s the Titan class, the heavyweights that smash via surroundings with ease…besides all the opposite automobiles try this already. Significantly, you may ram via visitors, bushes, pretty giant stones, fences and an excellent chunk of the surroundings with out even slowing down, so the Titan’s essential position is to be massive, sluggish and dangerous at dealing with. Its enhance does consistently recharge, however should you empty the bar the automotive splutters to a near-stop for just a few seconds. Titan looks like the reply to a query Infinite Rush by no means asks.

You possibly can toss on just a few modifications as properly, slotting upgrades into 4 areas to change dealing with, add extra pace or enhance enhance technology. Nothing too thrilling, however it’s good to have. There’s additionally a livery editor, though you continue to can’t customise rides by swapping bodily components or something, which I maintain hoping for. I need a customized Sizzling Wheels, man.

Not less than the automobiles themselves proceed to look excellent, with supplies and textures that genuinely promote them as bits of plastic and steel being thrashed round. Personally, I might do with fewer licensed Skylines and comparable real-world automobiles, as a result of the weirder fantasy designs are way more attention-grabbing, however it’s nonetheless an outstanding assortment that will make my little nephew jealous.

Infinite Rush doesn’t even faux to have a narrative, which is type of good. Positive, I respect that Forza Horizon 6 makes an attempt a story with a degree of optimism normally reserved for all-you-can-eat buffets, however it’s…properly, fairly shit. As an alternative, Infinite Rush drops you into the world, factors you very vaguely in the direction of races that fill a gauge to unlock the principle Rusher occasions after which refuses to elaborate additional. The one narrative thread is the one you inform your self after crashing right into a bloody wall for the fifth time that evening.

The Rushers are primarily one-on-one boss races, with 5 to beat on every island. Early on, the sport guides you across the 4 areas and has you defeat the primary Rusher in every, then it loosens the reins and allows you to deal with the remaining nonetheless you need. The catch is that solely races marked with a gold crown contribute in the direction of unlocking the subsequent one, and the quantity required will increase significantly every time. By the point I used to be working in the direction of the fourth Rusher on a single island, I used to be already beginning to really feel completed with the entire thing. If you wish to beat the profession, be ready to spend some time doing it.

A serious a part of that grind comes from how slim the development is. Every circuit location acts as a racing hub, internet hosting customary races, eliminators and time trials on the identical underlying course, however solely particular topped occasions transfer the Rusher meter. The whole lot else, together with all of the occasions outdoors of these hubs, both exists purely for enjoyable or earns cash to spend on automobiles. It’s simple to finish a number of non-compulsory races earlier than noticing that the gauge hasn’t moved in any respect, whereas concentrating on the profession makes the repeated tracks apparent in a short time.

The islands are additionally lined with Vacationer Images, drift challenges, Stuntman occasions, Pace Stunts, collectibles and different distractions. Discover the Flame is likely one of the higher examples, asking you to find a pillar of fireplace someplace on the earth and attain it with out a lot steerage, whereas Pace Stunts hand over limitless enhance and ask you to blast via checkpoints. There’s a good number of light-weight issues to fiddle with, however once more, none of it contributes in the direction of defeating the Rushers. You possibly can spend an hour taking photographs, searching collectibles and finishing stunts with out transferring one millimetre nearer to ending the profession.

That most likely received’t be such an issue should you’re a pleasant, regular gamer. Infinite Rush clearly desires you to roam round, choose no matter appears to be like entertaining and deal with the entire thing like a toybox. It simply sucks at incentivising that. I wish to beat a recreation, so time spent away from the topped races felt like time wherein I had made no progress. Letting each exercise nudge the Rusher gauge ahead would have inspired me to benefit from the open world as a substitute of constructing its contents really feel like distractions from the precise profession. Or, as a compromise, solely let the side-events depend for half the development of topped races.

As an alternative of racing tiny automobiles via human-sized bedrooms, garages and skate parks as seen in Unleashed and Unleashed 2, Infinite Rush offers up that sense of scale for a world constructed fully as a toybox. Its 4 islands combine open roads and concrete areas with looping orange tracks that soar into the sky, whereas huge Sizzling Wheels playsets litter the panorama like anyone forgot to tidy up after a play session. The automobiles nonetheless look convincingly tiny and tactile, however one thing has been misplaced with out the distinction of racing beneath chairs, over counter tops and round strange objects.

Extra importantly, the open sections are fairly boring in contrast with the correct Sizzling Wheels bits, the place you may tear via a loop or race previous a dragon’s head spewing hearth throughout the observe. Infinite Rush may be weirdly reserved, typically settling for uninteresting layouts via generic surroundings when it has the licence to construct virtually something. The later Rusher races lastly produce a few of the spectacle I needed, however it took too lengthy to see the cooler playsets, branching routes and even deliberate shortcuts. Taking part in with Sizzling Wheels was about creativeness as a child, so it’s unusual that Milestone nonetheless appears so in-the-box when designing tracks.

I believe a part of the issue is splitting every little thing into small chunks. Every island feels compact and small, and doesn’t have sufficient visible selection, whereas stitching them into one map might have created a greater sense of scale as you travelled between distinct areas. One substantial world with extra attention-grabbing environments joined by ridiculous orange constructions sounds way more interesting than 4 playgrounds wherein the Sizzling Wheels items are doing a lot of the visible work as a result of every little thing else is fairly bland.

I additionally encountered just a few issues with observe readability. At one level, what gave the impression to be a alternative between left or proper despatched me hurtling the flawed method. The open checkpoint occasions undergo too: a gate can appear to be it desires you to proceed straight when there’s really a pointy proper flip instantly afterwards. Glancing on the minimap fixes it, however good observe design ought to information you with out forcing you to look away from the street at silly speeds.

The returning observe editor offers one other solution to spend time away from the profession and stays good enjoyable, simply because it was within the earlier video games. Multiplayer is current too, however earlier than the evaluation embargo there merely weren’t sufficient folks obtainable for me to check it correctly, so I can’t say something helpful about how properly it really works in observe. It appears stable, and the earlier video games labored nice, so I don’t forsee any points.

Infinite Rush is constructed on a very good arcade racer, and while you’re drifting round an enormous orange bend, boosting in the direction of one thing gloriously silly and watching a toy dragon breathe hearth on the observe, it’s exhausting to not have enjoyable. The issue is every little thing wrapped across the racing. Its islands aren’t attention-grabbing sufficient to make exploration thrilling, its greatest concepts are unfold too thinly and the development system discourages you from participating with a lot of the map.

Unleashed 2 continues to be the higher and extra targeted racer. Infinite Rush is the one to choose if you’d like extra freedom, plenty of icons to clear and a recreation you may dip into for just a few races or some aimless goofing round. There’s loads right here, however uninteresting environments, repeated tracks and the grindy Rusher construction maintain its open-world experiment from being the improve it ought to have been.