Hot Wheels SharkBite Bay Play Set - Product Review

If you have a son or a little girl who loves die-cast toy cars then you're probably no stranger to Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels is one of the leading brands of die-cast toy cars. Not only does Hot wheels manufacture die-cast toy cars this company also manufactures play sets for the cars. This season I purchased one of the newest play sets by Hot Wheels, SharkBite Bay. Below is my review of the product.

Hot Wheels SharkBite Bay comes in very attractive packaging. There is a painted picture of the play set on the front of the package. There is also an assemblage of colors on the package which range from blue, to red, to white, and yellow. It's not a package that would be easily overlooked. On shelves it stands out. SharkBite Bay is recommended for ages 4 and up. The set comes with 1 car and takes three button cell batteries which are included.

The idea of the play set is for kids to make their cars travel through the bay and avoid getting chomped down on by the talking shark that is attached to the side of the set. There are various obstacles the car must avoid.

The Review

Assembly

Assembly is dreadful. Although the play set folds out, you will still need to snap a few of the car tracks together. To figure out where the tracks connect you will need to look over the directions. Reviewing the SharkBite Bay directions is a chore because the directions only include visuals and no words.

Play and Quality

Before play can begin you will need to observe the directions on how to play with the set. The directions (which consist of only visuals) are mind boggling. After spending twenty minutes viewing how to play with the toy you might find yourself feeling less enthused to play with it. Prepare to spend up to twenty minuets learning how to play with the set, and only 10 minutes playing with the set.

On one section of the package it reads," "Blast through the bay and take down the trash-talking shark!" and "This shark likes his meals on wheels." These phrases are a bit deceiving as it is nearly impossible to "blast through the bay." The cars will either fall off of the elevated track or stop midway on it because of a piece of track that slightly protrudes due to the screws underneath it. With any play set made for cars it is ideal for the toy cars to be able to smoothly proceed through the obstacle and this is not the case with Shark BiteBay.

The attached, talking Shark that "likes his meals on wheels," is one of the most frustrating qualities of the whole set. This shark's mouth is supposed to stay open by a surfboard that dangles from its mouth. The surfboard is to be positioned straight up in the shark's mouth. The idea here is for the cars to enter the shark's mouth, nudge the surf board which causes the Shark's mouth to drop down and trap the car. Once this surfboard is nudged the Shark voices one of the "12 fishy phrases" (which are quite hilarious.) But there is a major flaw here the surf board does not position easily in the shark's mouth. Instead of standing upward the surf board collapses and slides to the side of the shark's mouth, which keeps the shark's mouth slightly closed. The cars enter and exit the shark's mouth without challenge and the shark says nothing at all. You might find yourself going slightly insane trying to find a way to keep the shark's mouth open. You'll eventually give up and have to use your hand to open and close the shark's mouth.

There are three features of the play set that work reasonably and these are; the moving elevator, the "carpoon" launcher, and the spinning eel pit. Once the car is loaded and brought up on the elevator the shark says a comical phrase such as "Here comes lunch." Once at the top you can launch a shark attack by placing the car on the "carpoon" and shooting it directly at the shark's nose, to which the shark will reply, "That stings!" The carpoon works great, and flings the car a great distance. The spinning eel pit works well too. You place the car on the eel pit and spin it around by sliding a button up and down.

Lastly, this is a fold and go play set which means that the set should fold up easily so that it can be carried around with the attached handle, but it will take some time and patience to position the tracks correctly so that the set easily closes.

Certain parts of the set are sturdier than others. The quality is just okay, there is nothing that stands out about this set. Hot Wheels could have done much better with this set. The design is very unique but the execution is subpar. This set is not fun, it is frustrating. I would not recommend this toy for a kid. The commercial and package advertising are more entertaining than the actual toy.