Hot Import Nights (Xbox Series X)

While Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo wasn’t the first kart racing game in history, it still popularised the genre as we know it today. Nowadays, we have many other racing games that allow players to sabotage the competition in many different and unique ways. 

My favourite kart racing game of all time is CTR: Crash Team Racing, although we’re not talking about that game today. Instead, we’re reviewing a new racing game that doesn’t include karts, but shares the same premise. Today, we are reviewing Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights on the Xbox Series X platform. 

From the outside looking in, Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights looks like a mix of many different racing games. It has the neon lights of Need for Speed: Underground, the futuristic winding roads of Wipeout, and the competitive nature of a Mario Kart game all rolled into one. 

Visually, the game is fast and furious, featuring futuristic-looking cities and heart-pounding winding roads. It’s not the best-looking racing game on the Xbox Series X, but the cars look cool, and everything is shiny and bright. 

As for the game itself, it is bare bones at the start, mainly because it forces players to progress in order to unlock more cars and tracks by winning different championships. At the start of the game, only three cars are available, but this number increases when you win more championships under your belt. 

Even though the cars in this game look realistic, none of them are licensed, much like a Burnout title. Instead, you can customise the look of any cars in your garage like a Need for Speed: Underground game. 

You can alter the hood, fender, panel, thrusters, spoilers, wheels, and even its colour. Every car in this game is customisable, and there are 20 of them to choose from. That being said, only players who bought the “Overdrive Edition” of the game have access to two other exclusive cars. 

Each car handles differently and is classed into ‘Light’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Heavy’. All cars have access to two default weapons from the start, and this could include a machine gun or missiles. When you are in a race, the weapons use a cooldown system, so this stops you from spamming them all of the time. 

Every car has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it pays to experiment to see which one suits your playing style. A car that is both tough and fast is the best way to go because you want to come out in first, but also have strong shields that can withstand all of the enemy attacks during a tough race.

If you are feeling too slow during a race, you can thankfully drift at any time to use the car’s boosters. The longer that you can hold a drift, the faster you can go. Again, this is a game mechanic that was popularised by Mario Kart, and it’s great to see drifting and boosting still being a huge part in other racing games. 

Players can also pick up other skills and abilities during a race, too. This can include the likes of better shields or more effective weapons. Each track is also littered with many boost pads, and it pays to use them whenever you can to get an advantage in races. 

In terms of game modes, most players will dive into the single-player offering first. There’s a Tutorial, two Grand Circuit Championships, and a standard Quick Race. It’s best to play through the championships first to unlock more cars and tracks to race through. 

There is also online multiplayer to experience, featuring both ‘Ranked Race’ and ‘Private Race’ options. The game also has online leaderboards to keep track of the best players of all time. 

While Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights can be fun in short bursts, it’s sadly not as fun as other racing games I have played in the past. For one thing, the game only has seven tracks overall, which is kind of a small number. The game cheats by just reversing the tracks to make it seem like you’re in a different race. 

I also found the overall gameplay to be average and not very satisfying. Usually, in other combat racing games, the weapons are super effective. However, in this game, sometimes the weapons aren’t strong enough or accurate enough to affect other racers. 

Another thing that bothers me is that the game punishes you every time you are coming in first. In Mario Kart World, you may encounter a blue shell that targets the racer in first, maybe once or twice during a race. Here in this game, the blue laser will target the person coming in first, maybe five or more times! I kept getting zapped whenever I was in pole position. 

Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights also lacks a simple ‘restart race’ option in the pause menu. Usually, I want to restart a race if I crash, but in this game, I needed to quit and start over. 

The no restart race option is even more annoying when you are in the middle of a championship that consists of three different races. I was in the third race of a championship, but my car froze in the middle of the track. Instead of restarting that one race, I had to quit and start the championship all the way from the first race again!

Overall, Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights borrows some neat ideas from other games, but the execution is bad. The gameplay isn’t all that enjoyable, and the small number of tracks means you won’t be playing the game for very long either. 

Verdict: 6.0/10