Hot Wheels: Velocity X

GameCube Cover, depicting MS-T Suzuka and HW Prototype 12.

Hot Wheels Velocity X

Hot Wheels Velocity X (subtitled Maximum Justice on the PlayStation 2) is a Hot Wheels game published by THQ and developed by the now-defunct Beyond Games for GameCube, PlayStation 2, PC, and Game Boy Advance. Release year was 2002. All versions have virtually the same gameplay, excluding the GBA version which followed a different story and had different cars. This page mostly covers the non-GBA versions.

Gameplay

The game is a fairly standard racing and vehicle combat game. Every mission is timed (excluding Joyrides, and Battles if specified) and gameplay is split across five worlds - Monument City, Turbine Sands, Crankshaft Bay, Burnout Glacier, and Underworld.

The player's car is capable of stunts and turbo boosts, as well as the ability to collect and fire gadgets. Ammunition and turbo boost charge is usually acquired through stunt points and bonus point pickups.

Vehicles

Velocity X features a large roster of Hot Wheels cars, all from between 1998 and 2002. Most of them are playable, while some appear as background props or on signs. There is nearly 50 cars across all versions.

Each vehicle was measured with a specific statistic, with one possessing a mastery of each stat.

• 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.

Starters

• MS-T Suzuka
• Sooo Fast
• Super Tuned
• Overbored 454*
• At-a-Tude*
• Twin Mill II*

*If playing on the GameCube, must be unlocked by pairing the Game Boy Advance version.

Unlocked by Adventure

• Muscle Tone
• Hammered Coupe
• Jaded
• Hyper Mite
• Power Pistons
• Evil Twin
• Hyperliner
• Maelstrom
• Splittin' Image 2
• Greased Lightnin'
• Vulture
• Arachnorod
• Sol-Aire CX4
• HW Prototype 12

Unlocked by Challenge

• Sho-Stopper/Seared Tuner
• Surf Crate
• Krazy 8s

Unlocked by Gears in Joyride

• Flashfire
• Deora II
• Rigor Motor
• Shadow Jet
• Jet Threat 3.0

Unlocked by Hidden Key

• Mega-Duty
• Way 2 Fast
• Lakester
• Surfin' School Bus
• Power Rocket

Unplayable & Removed Cars

• Cabbin' Fever (Seen around the Game World)
• Semi-Fast (Seen around the Game World)
• Letter Getter/S.W.A.T. Van (Seen around the Game World
• Speed Blaster (Seen on a billboard for 'Bert's Tuning and Performance')
• Fandango (Seen on the same billboard)
• Sling Shot (Seen in pre-release screenshot with a design not seen on any real Sling Shot)
• Sweet 16 II (Seen on the website of one of the game's creators)

Exclusive to Game Boy Advance

• Hooligan
• MX48 Turbo
• Phaeton
• Phantastique
• Purple Passion
• Roll Cage
• Screamin' Hauler
• Shredster
• The Demon
• Vulture Roadster
• XS-IVE (used as fire trucks in later missions)
• XT-3

Gadgets

• Ripper Wheels: Deploys spikes from the player's car rims and damages nearby opponents. However, this also lowers grip and can cause you to slow down when caught on something.
• Armor Repair: Resets the vehicle's health to 100 and removes all visible damage.
• Oil Drum: Throws a barrel of crude oil at opponents, spinning them out.
• Laser Cannon: An extremely lethal, and accurate, blue sniper shot. Requires careful aiming.
• Sonic Boom: A loud sound blast that sends out purple shockwaves. Deals minor damage and causes enemies to lose control.
• Atom Blaster: Twin machine guns that fire yellow particles.
• Freon Bomb: Explosive Freon is catapulted out of the vehicle and bounces around before exploding.
• Energy Shield: Makes the user immune to all damage - for a short while.
• Jet Boosters: Gives the player an uncontrollable boost in speed; also damages nearby cars.
• Super Zapper: Fires a lightning bolt that electrocutes its target.
• Magnet Mine: Fires a magnetic bomb that gravitates towards the nearest enemy vehicle.
• Doom Disks: Fires three pink-trailed disks that deal out massive damage.
• Quantum Annihilator*: The ultimate, and final weapon, a red-and-gold recolor of the Laser Cannon. Slowest to charge and costs the most ammo to shoot, but unleashes the most destructive force in the form of a slow moving, orange fireball that explodes on contact with walls and does AOE damage.
• Only used in Mission 14, but replaces Laser Cannon with the Laser Upgrade cheat.

Adventure

The Game's 14-mission Adventure is split across all five levels of the game. It's main purpose is to tell the story of the game's world, as well as unlock cars and joyride maps.

In the PC and Console versions of the game, the story reveals the usually faceless, voiced player's driver as Max Justice, a 17 year old and son of Peter Justice, a brilliant inventor. Max's father's lab is robbed and bombed, leading Max to travel the various outlying areas of Monument City in order to hunt down a criminal gang, revealing a long and bitter past between his father and a mysterious man in the process.

Trivia

1. The game came bundled with a special edition version of the First Editions 40 Somethin', bearing THQ and Velocity X tampos and RL5SP tires.