Hot Wheels: Rift Rally Makes A Race Track Of Your House And A Competitor Of Your Pets

gamespot.com:

Hot Wheels has been one of the most dominant toy brands for more than 50 years, meaning generations of kids grew up with them, and in many cases became generations of adult collectors and/or parents of new fans. In that span, the brand has expanded beyond physical cars and tracks to offer mobile apps, RC cars, console games, and more. By now, Hot Wheels has been reinvented in nearly every way it could be. But teaming with Velan Studios, creators of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, has emblazoned the iconic flame logo on a new landscape: mixed reality. Hot Wheels: Rift Rally carries on from what Velan did with its Nintendo collaboration to give Hot Wheels fans of all ages a novel way to burn rubber.

Being an augmented, or «mixed,» reality experience, Hot Wheels: Rift Rally is both a traditional video game in that you download software to play it, and a physical toy that you unbox from its package. Out of that box, you'll get one camera-equipped car, dubbed the Chameleon, and pieces of plastic and cardboard that are easily assembled in about three minutes, allowing you to make a forever-customizable track.

Rift Rally's Chameleon hides a sync button on its unique exterior that you use in combination with a QR code presented on their screen, be that your TV if playing on PS4/PS5, or via iOS on a range of iPads and iPhones that go back several years. As a result, most players will already have the device they need, which makes for a nice step up on the team's Mario Kart game, which is confined to just the Switch. Setup is quick and can be done via Wi-Fi on either platform or by connecting directly to the PS5. The Wi-Fi option is preferred according to in-game text, and I'd agree after spending time with both, though in smaller