My First Thoughts on American Pinball's Hot Wheels

Cary Hardy·video·11m 52s·analyzed·Mar 11, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Hardy cautiously interested in Hot Wheels but concerned about visuals, marketing, and whether theme alone justifies $6,300 price point.

Summary

Cary Hardy provides initial impressions of American Pinball's Hot Wheels game based on limited social media footage, expressing cautious interest despite concerns about visuals, art consistency, and the theme's marketability. He critiques American Pinball's failure to provide high-quality promotional materials and notes the game's importance as the company's third title after two poor-selling releases (Houdini, Oktoberfest). While the playfield layout appears interesting with decent shot variety, Hardy is troubled by weak on-screen display graphics and an always-spinning center mech he finds annoying.

Key Claims

Houdini had visually impressive art but tight shots kept it from being a strong seller
medium confidence · Speaker's personal assessment of American Pinball's first title based on Texas Pinball Festival viewing
Oktoberfest had inconsistent art across cabinet, playfield, mechs, and display that looked like an eyesore
high confidence · Direct observation and detailed description of art inconsistencies
Hot Wheels game uses a fan layout with at least seven shots
medium confidence · Hardy's analysis of available footage and images
Hot Wheels on-screen display visuals look very bad with poor lego-ish style animations and dinosaurs
high confidence · Direct visual assessment from available footage
American Pinball did not provide high-quality promotional videos or images for Hot Wheels reveal
high confidence · Hardy's explicit criticism of American Pinball's marketing approach compared to Deep Root
Hot Wheels game price point is $6,300
medium confidence · Stated as 'I want to say it's going for $6,300' indicating some uncertainty
Hot Wheels integrates orange loops less prominently than expected for the theme
high confidence · Detailed comparison of expected Hot Wheels iconic elements to what's shown

Notable Quotes

“Honestly, it looks funner than Stranger Things, but to each their own.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:47 — Establishes Hardy's willingness to evaluate Hot Wheels positively despite expectations
“American Pinball first two titles are considered to be poor sellers. They didn't do well in the market. So whenever we got word that their third title was in the making we all knew and felt, and I believe they should know as well, that it needs to be a good one.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:51 — Contextualizes the stakes for Hot Wheels as a make-or-break title for American Pinball
“American Pinball, you need to make some phone calls.”
Cary Hardy@ 5:21 — Direct criticism of on-screen display quality
“I don't understand companies sometimes. I mean, the objective of a reveal is to show off your product. Don't let the public do it for you because it's not going to all be good.”
Cary Hardy@ 6:07 — Critique of American Pinball's marketing strategy and lack of professional promotional materials
“I truly and honestly want to give this game a fair shot.”
Cary Hardy@ 9:44 — Demonstrates Hardy's balanced approach despite legitimate concerns
“Is it being fun enough to sell you on the fact that I want to say it's going for $6,300? With it being fun, would that be enough to sell you on a Hot Wheels theme?”
Cary Hardy@ 9:56 — Raises critical question about price-to-value ratio and theme marketability

Entities

Cary Hardyperson American Pinballcompany Hot Wheelsgame Houdinigame Oktoberfestgame Stranger Thingsgame Deep Root Pinball

Signals

?
business_signal: Hot Wheels positioned as critical third title for American Pinball after two poor-selling releases (Houdini, Oktoberfest); company facing existential market pressure
high · Hardy emphasizes: 'They can't have three in a row that don't do well. That's not going to be good for business'
~
sentiment_shift: Initial community reaction to Hot Wheels announcement was lukewarm to negative; Hardy notes 'the vast majority of us were kind of going, I hope not'
high · Hardy's account of community response: 'There might have been the select few, but the vast majority of us were kind of going, I hope not'
?
design_philosophy: Hot Wheels iconic orange loop mechanic underutilized; game integrates orange loops 'not as much as I feel that they should have'
high · Hardy expected more prominent orange loop integration: 'I think whenever you talk about Hot Wheels, you picture orange ramps with loops... definitely orange loops... they integrate that a little bit into this game, but not as much as I feel that they should have'
?
design_philosophy: Center playfield spinning mech concerns: always-spinning mechanism viewed as potentially annoying; lacks mechanical purpose or interactivity
medium · Hardy notes: 'I feel like that's going to be very annoying after a while seeing that thing go around and around and around and never stop'
?
design_philosophy: Hot Wheels on-screen display graphics criticized as very poor with lego-ish style animations and dinosaurs; inconsistent with Hot Wheels brand expectations

Topics

American Pinball company track record and business stakesprimaryHot Wheels game design, layout, and mechanics assessmentprimaryGame art direction and visual presentation qualityprimaryManufacturer marketing and promotional strategiessecondaryPrice-to-value ratio and theme marketabilitysecondaryOn-screen display graphics and animation qualityprimaryCenter playfield spinning mech design concernssecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Hardy is cautiously optimistic about Hot Wheels gameplay potential while expressing significant concerns about visuals, on-screen display quality, marketing strategy, and price-to-value proposition. He explicitly states he doesn't hate the game but is troubled by execution details. Critical of American Pinball's corporate decisions while maintaining openness to revising his opinion with better information.

Transcript

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what's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball so that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below I was really hoping to have a good amount of high quality footage for you guys when doing this video but sadly Sadly, I'm not. I merely only have what I was able to find via social media and or YouTube. Now, I know there are a chunk of you out there that think that I'm just going to rip this game to shreds. But am I? Now, I have my concerns, but I don't necessarily hate this game. Honestly, it looks funner than Stranger Things, but to each their own. But from what I've seen so far, that's what I'm going with. Now this is actually my first video that is solely going to be about American Pinball. So that basically means that I need to give you guys a little bit of information on my thoughts of their previous titles. First game, Houdini. When this game was revealed at Texas Pinball Festival, well I don't know if it was revealed, but I remember that's the first place I saw it at was Texas Pinball Festival. And I immediately thought, wow, an original theme could be good. And I remember looking at the game and visually it was very impressive. I really enjoyed the art. I love the chains that are attached to the pop-uppers. Just seeing those go at it was very visually stimulating. And the catapult ball up the playfield was also a nice treat. But I feel that the game was definitely a really good challenge with the tight shots. But I feel like that tight shot was what was keeping it from being such a very good seller. Second game, Oktoberfest. This game could have been so much better but they had inconsistent art. And not just the fact that it's being inconsistent but also inconsistent bad art. It was not visually stimulating at all. It was almost an eyesore. It wouldn't blend in or look good in a lot of places. Now, what do I mean when I say inconsistent art? I mean the art on the cabinet doesn't really match the art on the playfield, and the art on the playfield doesn't match the mechs that are on the game. And the art on the display doesn't match anything else either. But if you take away the art factor, this game had so much in it when it comes to wire forms and shots and the difficulty of shots. It was all there, but the art was a major turn off and the music got very annoying very quickly. The thing is American Pinball first two titles are considered to be poor sellers They didn do well in the market So whenever we got word that their third title was in the making we all knew and felt, and I believe they should know as well, that it needs to be a good one. It needs to be a theme that needs to grab a large audience, and it needs to sell well. They can't have three in a row that don't do well. That's not going to be good for business. So then, a couple of months ago, Canada drops the bomb that the rumor is that they were working on Hot Wheels. I don't know of many people that were excited about the possibility of it being Hot Wheels. There might have been the select few, but the vast majority of us were kind of going, I hope not. But if they were going to do it, we all began speculating on what we wanted it to have and kind of visually stimulating things that we would think that a Hot Wheels themed game should integrate. And do we get that with this game? Not really. I think whenever you talk about Hot Wheels, you picture orange ramps with loops, and you've got to go back to your childhood and start thinking about all the things that they could do with this, but definitely orange loops. That is probably the most prominent signature item for Hot Wheels. And they integrate that a little bit into this game, but not as much as I feel that they should have. I mean, I pictured, like, you know, wire forms launching balls into other wire forms, kind of like the game Big Guns. If you don't know what that game is, look it up. It has cannons that basically launch from wire forms into another set of wire forms. It's a pretty cool game. Now, when it came to visuals for the screen, I immediately thought of Psyonix Rocket League game. And they have a Hot Wheels DLC pack that they unveiled, I want to say it was the year before last or so. But those are the visuals that I felt this game should have on it. Now, did we get that? No. I think we got the antithesis. The antithesis? Yes, the antithesis of what that is, actually. The on-screen display honestly looks very bad. But that's just by going with what I've seen so far. It does not look good. American Pinball, you need to make some phone calls. But what about shots and layout? It's a fan layout, but it doesn't guarantee that I'm not going to like it. Honestly, from the footage that I've seen, I want to play it. But I hate to fully judge gameplay on this footage alone. I need more. but that brings me to a good point of american pinball why is it you didn't provide us with high quality videos or pictures to show off your new title you left it up to the public with flip phones and parkinson to show us what this game looks like and what it can do That not the best idea Hell, even Deep Root provided this with high quality images to show off their Test Raza title. I don't understand companies sometimes. I mean, the objective of a reveal is to show off your product. Don't let the public do it for you because it's not going to all be good. and that's this is going to be proof of that so with what footage i do have what are my thoughts i've got some notes right here that i can look over and let's start with art that's always the first one because it needs to basically grab your attention and art i'm saying the cabin is hot wheels all the way no major complaints that the playfield art looks to be consistent with the play field so that's also a perk the screen being off centered on the backbox isn't really a turn off for me but it definitely will be a turn off for others the visuals on the display look to be a mess this can be fixed hopefully down the road with some updates and graphics and everything but i saw what looked to be very poor lego-ish style animations and dinosaurs and stuff i don't really know how that's going to go together but it did not look very appealing shots and layout now this is where i'm troubled because even with the footage and the images that we have it's very difficult for me to dissect the play field on where all the shots lead to and what the game is going to do next typically with high quality res images or some good video from above i'm able to see how the game flows but I don't have that so I have to go by a lot of speculation at this point which is why I'm not you know either highly praising this game or highly ripping it apart because I'm going off a lot of speculation here and my speculation is actually leading me more towards I am interested I want to play this game just to basically get a good idea of what I think about it. I'm not turned off from the shots that I've seen and what the game does. It looks like it might be pretty fun guys, but some things that are worth noting, and that is firstly that it is in fact a fan layout with at least seven shots. I want to say, um, there is a buck that is blocked by a drop target, uh, that will launch a ball utilizing a loop that feeds the left ramp to the left flipper. Now this loop is not a full loop-de-loop, but I believe that's what they were going for was the orange loop. So it's not exactly what we were looking for, but it does kind of give you the feel of what it was supposed to be, and it is a little bit different There is a spinning mech in the middle upper play field that goes around and around that looks like it may assist the ball going up that orange ramp as well as even snatch the ball off that ramp and spin the ball around or like throw it out in the play field or do something with it but i feel like that's going to be very annoying after a while seeing that thing go around and around and around and never stop i don't think i saw that game just with that spinning thing doing nothing i think it was always spinning unless no one was playing it. So that's one of my main concerns on that. We've got spinners. We've got two of them. Now, are they opto or are they mechanical? I don't know. I don't have good enough pictures to really judge that. Almost every post has a target. So that's going to be a plus for us postmasters out there. But what I'm liking so far at the glance and images and video that I've seen is that it doesn't look to be a simplistic layout. I truly and honestly want to give this game a fair shot. But let's say this game is fun. Let's say that it is crazy fun. Is that title enough to get you to buy it? Is it being fun enough to sell you on the fact that I want to say it's going for $6,300? With it being fun, would that be enough to sell you on a Hot Wheels theme? Me personally, I don't judge a game solely on the theme. But it is something that needs to be recognizable. And Hot Wheels is definitely recognizable. I think everyone knows what Hot Wheels is. It's just a matter of whether or not the population is going to want to have that big of a thing that represents Hot Wheels inside their home with that price tag. Hopefully in the next coming days before Texas Pinball Festival, we can get a better idea of what this game has in store for us. If not, then I'm only going to be able to really give you some better information until Texas Pinball Festival. hopefully the lines won't be too long i'll be able to get some time on it definitely and the after party session on saturday night and give you guys a better insight of how i feel about this title but that's all i gotta say about hot wheels at this point in time with what information i have right now on day one if i get something that's much more worthy of me sticking my teeth into and better footage and everything then maybe i'll do a video before tpf let me know what you think about American Pinball's Hot Wheels game in the comments section down below. And if you haven't already, do not forget to hit that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. And until next time, guys, peace out. Thank you.