Explore a giant open world island from the seat of your go kart in Go Kart Island.  In the game’s story mode, you play as a young steer (ha) who wants to win the Big Race, but the mayor charges you 1000 coins to enter.  So now you must enter smaller races and challenges to earn the money you need.  Hmmm, an open world kart racer where you can play as a cow?  Where have I seen that before?  You may think this is just a run of the mill kart racer, but it does have one thing that sets it apart.  You view the action from a more top down perspective.  Anyway, Go Kart Island is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Even though the game is viewed differently, you do control things pretty much like any other kart game.  Press buttons for brake and gas, and hold down the ZR button as you turn to drift.  Run over items boxes and use items with the L shoulder button.  Items are typical kart fare: oil slicks, homing pizza slices, bouncing cookies, speed boosts, etc.  The main mode is the Story, where you’ll drive around the open world looking for quests to earn money.  They are clearly marked with arrows to let you know where to go.  These challenges include races, time trials, and other activities like finding lost chickens on a farm.

The main problem I had with this game is that in order to unlock the races and challenges in multiplayer mode, you first have to complete them in Story Mode.  And because of the loose controls and tedious activities in Story Mode, I lost interest in this game pretty quickly.  It’s a shame because there are nearly three dozen characters to unlock and lots of things to do.  I can just think of way better kart racers released this past year alone that are more worth your time than this.

Kid Factor:

Go Kart Island is rated E for Everyone with ESRB descriptors of Mild Fantasy Violence and Mild Language.  I didn’t notice any bad language in the text, and you just shoot silly things at other cartoon animals in karts and they just spin around when hit.  Reading skill is a must and younger gamers may find this one too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews