Hot Wheels Velocity X (2013 video game)

Hot Wheels Velocity X is a racing video game developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by Sega. The game is based on the Hot Wheels toy automobiles. It was released worldwide on 15 February 2013 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game was later released on the Wii U and PlayStation Vita on March 12 & 14. It is a reboot of the 2002 video game of the same name, developed by Beyond Games and published by THQ.

The game follows the story of the characters from; SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, and Metal Gear as they face off against an alien planet bent on world domination. The game features 11 different gadgets and 7 different worlds. Pre-production of the game began in 2009. Heavy Iron Studios became an independent company, and approached Sega as the publisher of the game. The development team hoped the game would appeal to both newcomers and players of the original game.

After a delayed release from late 2012 to February 2013, Velocity X received much anticipation and hype. Upon release, the game was well received. Critics praised the gameplay, style, graphics, art direction, artificial intelligence, and the co-operative mode, although the addition of the multiplayer mode was not well received. Hot Wheels Velocity X was commercial success and sold 8.5 million copies worldwide. The game's budget was smaller than typical AAA games.

Gameplay
Velocity X is a racing game that allows players to pick up gadgets to disable enemy vehicles. The game has 4 stats that are measured:
 * Speed: how fast the vehicle can go.
 * Armor: how resistant the vehicle is to damage.
 * Grip: how capable the vehicle is of making sharp turns.
 * Stunt: the car's stunting capability.

Cooperative gameplay
The game has an online four-player drop-in/drop-out cooperative mode for the campaign.

Multiplayer
Alongside the single-player mode is an online multiplayer mode, which allows players to compete in several maps. In each multiplayer match, there are two enemy teams: Velcro-cities vs. Scrappers, and there are four types of race games for multiplayer to compete in, played in five different maps: Sprint Race, Circuit Race, Drag Race, and Rescue.

Drivers

 * Notes

Cars

 * Notes

Story
The game starts on the olkus, home to an alien race called the Yolkians. King Goobot V (Patrick Stewart) and his assistant, Ooblar (Martin Short). Gobot assembles a meeting of various villains from other television and video game franchises. They form a plan together in hopes of defeating each others foes.

In Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob SquarePants sees Plankton has taken over entire town as Goddard exists a portal, showing a message from Jimmy Neutron. He brings along his friends; Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward Tentacles. There they meet up with Timmy Turner, Dudley Puppy, Tak, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ash Ketchum, Lara Croft, Fox McCould, and Solid Snake.

Development
A sequel to the 2002 video game Hot Wheels: Velocity X was announced in January 2009 by THQ. In May 2010, Heavy Iron Studios was appointed as the game's lead developer. Most of the staff members had a hard time learning to develop racing games.

Heavy Iron Studios became an independent company in May 2009 as part of a cost-cutting move. The rights to the game were sold as well. In September 2009, Heavy Iron Studios contacted Sega as the new publisher. Plans for the sequel were scrapped and both Sega and Heavy Iron decided to reboot the 2002 game instead.

Following pre-announcement media hype while the game's title was under embargo, in November 2010, Sega filed for trademark of the slogan for the new Hot Wheels game; "Drivers of Velocity".

Animated models
The cars' models was animated using compiled "model capture", a technique never heard of before. The game was built on Crystal Dynamics' in-house game engine called "Foundation". This engine would later be used in Square Enix's Tomb Raider reboot.

Voice cast
Many voice actors from the TV series and video game franchises, reprised their roles, respectively.

Release
Hot Wheels Velocity X was released as scheduled on 15 February 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. However, it was released early in Australia, being available on 11 February 2013.

Retail editions
Exclusive for Europe is the Maximum Edition. The Maximum Edition comes with a mini art book, double sided map of the in-game island, CD soundtrack, and an exclusive weapons pack.

Critical response
Hot Wheels Velocity X was positively acclaimed. In a 'world exclusive' review, GamesMaster magazine gave the game a score of 92%, as well as the "GamesMaster Gold award" (awarded to games that manage a score of 92% or above). The editor regarded the quality of the visuals, the length and depth of the gameplay, and the "spectacular" last third of the game as the highlights.

GameRankings and Metacritic gave it 93.22% and 87 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version; 92.12% and 86 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version; 91.08% and 86 out of 100 for the PC version; 89.67% and 81 out of 100 for the PlayStation Vita version; and 75.42% and 72 out of 100 for the Wii U version.

IGN's Keza MacDonald spoke extremely positively, stating that they felt the game was "exciting" and "beautifully presented", included "great characterization" and "more depth than you would expect".

Game Informer's Matt Miller noted that the game offered the player several options for progressing through its combat situations, and that the player could avoid open conflict entirely if they chose to do so. GameTrailers' Justin Speer pointing out that while the story attempted to characterise Lara Croft as beautiful sex symbol with Kids cartoon characters, it felt a bit too overly downsized for the game. While on the subject of character development, GamesRadar's Ryan Taljonick expressed that the supporting characters were underdeveloped relative to Solid Snake, describing them as "pretty generic characters who, while rarely annoying, just aren't memorable".

Ryan Taljonick of GamesRadar lauded the locations, setting and environment, and expressed that "not one area ever feels like a rehash of another". Taljonick also felt that the game had great pacing, and that it is "unrivaled by any other game in the genre". Furthermore, the reviewer considered the car's character development as "an integral part" of the whole game's experience, and concluded that Velocity X "is a fantastic game and an excellent story for one of gaming's fast toy cars". Australian TV show Good Game praised the game: it was rated 10/10 by both hosts, becoming the eighth game in the show's seven-year run to do so. Giant Bomb gave the game four stars out of five, stating that "Hot Wheels Velocity X 's tone is somewhat at odds with its action, but the reborn of the 2002 classic seems primed for a successful new adventuring career".

While many reviews applauded the single-player and co-op campaign, the multiplayer mode bore the brunt of the game's criticism, with MacDonald, Speer and Miller all finding fault with it, describing it as lackluster and stating that the difference between the developer's vision for the game mode and the finished product made it difficult to enjoy.

Sales
The game had sold more than 1 million copies in less than fifty-two hours of its release. In the United Kingdom, Hot Wheels Velocity X debuted at number one on the charts, and became the biggest UK title launch in 2013, surpassing the sales of Aliens: Colonial Marines, before being overtaken by Grand Theft Auto V. Velocity X set a new record for the Hot Wheels franchise. Furthermore, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Velocity set new week one records as the fastest-selling individual formats of any Hot Wheels title so far. In the United States, Hot Wheels Velocity X was the second best-selling title of February, excluding download sales, only behind Dead Space 3. In Japan, Hot Wheels Velocity X debuted at number four with 35,250 units sold. On 26 February 2013, Sega announced that the game sold 4.5 million copies worldwide at retail. Sega defended Velocity X 's sales, stating the reboot had the "most successful launch" of any game this year in addition to setting a new record for highest sales in the franchise's history. On 26 March 2013, Heavy Iron Studios announced that the game sold 8.5 million copies by March, making it the fastest selling game of the Hot Wheels franchise.