Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver is a video game by Mattel Media

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

 and Semi Logic, based on the Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco.-Models:...

franchise. It was released on October 15, 1999.

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of racing different Hot Wheels ^TM cars over six different tracks, each track evidently located in or around the same house. The player initially has tracks laid out in a living room, bedroom, attic, and kitchen. Completing certain challenges unlocks a further two; a greenhouse, and a game room. Twelve unique cars are available, with a number of them available only after completing challenges. The different cars have varying abilities with regard to speed, traction, and maneuverability, the last affecting the car's ability to perform stunts.

Control of the car on the track and stunts are performed with a few simple keyboard commands. On the track, you can steer your car left or right. The car will also jump through the air between sections of track, during which you can perform stunts. Stunts are an integral part of the game, as much as racing against the clock. As a car jumps between sections of track, you can make the car spin around any axis: barrel rolls, end-over-end, or 360's, in either direction and in combination as well. Successful stunts give the car a speed and traction boost as it lands, which helps improve the player's time, signalled with a vivid graphic of lightning bolt-like effects on the wheels. Failure to land correctly after a stunt results in a crash, which does not end the race, but it costs time.

Crashes may be caused by loss of control, particularly on curves and inaccurate landings after a jump (even when no stunts are attempted, cars tend to twist out of control while aloft.) Crashes may also result from different objects found on the tracks, including other cars; in two sequences, hazards are encountered off the track as the car passes through the walls between two mouse-holes, and across a billiard table. All crashes cost time, while the car is replaced on the track.

There are three distinct modes of play: Practice, where you can race through any available track to achieve best time; Championship, where you must complete each track in sequence within a certain time limit; and Custom, where you can construct your own track layouts. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded for best times on the supplied tracks.

^* After these tracks are unlocked, there is also a "secret" track which can be accessed by right clicking on either "T" in the Mattel^TMlogo before selecting the car. The secret track seems to bear some features not found on the regular tracks, and the background map is a bare wire-frame topographical landscape.(OpEd follows.) This level appears to be not so much a "secret" level as much as an "unfinished" level. It is possible that this was meant to be the "Last" level, but business constraints demanded the game be released before it was finished.

Cars

All twelve cars available are actual Hot Wheels ^TM models:

• Tow Jam - 6-wheeled fantasy wrecker ¹
• Hot Wheels 500 - Indy 500-type car ²
• Way 2 Fast - Model A - type chopped dragster with two engines ³
• Radio Flyer Wagon - child's classic red wagon with an engine ⁴
• Slideout - open buggy with airfoils ⁵
• Speed Blaster - resembles a Lamborghini Countache ⁶
• Power Rocket - fantasy car with rocket engines ⁷
• Supermodified - resembles authentic drag racer ⁸
• Salt Flat Racer - classically styled racer ⁹
• Sol Air CX-4 - "loosely based on Aston Martin and Nimrod's "NRA/C2" Group C GT " ¹⁰
• Shadow Jet - Indy 500/Formula One - type car ¹¹
• Twinmill - Resembles a Corvette Stingray ¹²

1 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Tow_Jam
2 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Hot_Wheels_500
http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Way_2_Fast
3 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Radio_Flyer_Wagon
4 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Slideout
5 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Speed_Blaster
6 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Rocket
7 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Modified
8 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Saltflat_Racer
9 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Sol-Aire_CX-4
10 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Jet
11 http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Twin_Mill_II

Sequels

This game was followed by a sequel, Stunt Track Driver 2: Gettin' Dirty, which is placed outside and reflects 4x4 off-road racing, and Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge.