It is nice to see some kart racing genres getting attention, and Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing almost misses the mark by an inch.
It is understandably hard to find the sweet spot when creating a game; there is no questioning that. However, some genres require no further additions to make them better. No matter how you try to come up with a different approach, the genre provides whatever else there is, and it takes quite a bit of brainstorming to change the formula. Admittedly, kart racing is one of those genres; so far, they have yet to come close to redefining the genre as a whole with their attempts.
I do not like comparing games while looking at a game, but comparing kart racers is a must since the rules are already out there. An arcade-kart racer plays by the rules of rivalry, excitement, unlocking new stuff, and, let’s not forget, the rubberbanding. If any of these pre-determined rules are absent, the game feels out of touch and not enjoyable. While checking out Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing, I thought, “It will be another shovelware.” I ended up changing my look on it as I kept playing.
From the outside, just by looking at the character models in the races, you can feel what Jank Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing has to offer, but believe me, it has at least some effort put into it. As I said earlier, some genres do not require a tedious field search for them to be pushed out. That game has some sort of care put into it. Unfortunately, this does not make it a worthwhile experience.
As the name implies, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is based around the Dreamworks franchise, which includes well-known characters such as Shrek, Puss in Boots, Alex from Madagascar, Wolf from the Bad Guys, and, who could forget, the Boss Baby. I would have said these characters do not matter at the beginning, as some kart racers employ all the characters to have the same stats, but they offer more than I expected. To begin with, every character has their stats on speed, turbo, handling, etc. These are already stable factors when it comes to kart racers, but the charisma stat stands out from the rest.
Every character in Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing has their charisma stat to boost their confidence, and allegedly, that affects the overall state of the character to be better than the AI, but I have not seen any difference in charisma stat come into play. Talking about rivalry, one thing that caught me off guard is the fact that all the characters seem to know each other, even though they are in separate movies. You could bump into Wolf from The Bad Guys as Shrek, and Shrek would say something to Wolf, even calling him the bad guy. So the lore acknowledgment in the game is done right.
Turning our attention to the gameplay, Dreamworks All-Star Kar Racing provides a few options for game modes. Cup Mode, where you can race against 7 AI opponents to win a cup. Free race, which is basically a practice session. Time Trials is about getting the best time on a circuit, and lastly, the Challenge Mode, in which you have to do certain tasks in a lap. Unlike other kart racers, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing has four different speeds instead of three, which will ramp up the difficulty depending on your skill level.
Nevertheless, in some cases, AI in Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing still struggles to do path-finding and has problems understanding the opponents around them. It is leaning more towards how badly it is coded rather than the game pushing the rubber band to its limits. Even on my first race, I found Shrek and another racer, whom I forgot, stuck on an obstacle in a circuit. They were unable to leave that state until the race was over.
Just letting you know that AI will cheat or do something that you cannot do, even basic things, such as not being able to go through a shortcut. Unfortunately, some maps are not properly tested, and you might end up not even being able to go through the shortcuts that are intended for your usage.
The Museum of Fine Arts track, which takes place in The Bad Guys movie, has a simple two-part shortcut you can take so you wouldn’t have to go through the corners. On my second lap, my curiosity piqued, and I wanted to try it out, only to be stuck on it, unable to leave the platform. I ended up losing by finishing 8th.
Now I know I have been talking about the downsides for a while, but there is also something good to talk about in the game, such as the sense of speed, kart customization, challenge mode, unique race experience, and lots of characters to choose from. Kart customization might be nothing new, as the widely known, popular kart racers also employ the same mechanic. But being able to unlock new parts because of finishing first is at least rewarding and pushes players to seek first place in all races.
What makes Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing a tad bit different from its competitors is the way you would race. Some others would be straightforward by adding some shortcuts and power-ups through the race. However, another way to add shortcuts would be going through arches to make a rainbow road. These usually get you a speed boost at the end of it if you drive through all of them without jumping off. When you come to think of it, every single action you take grants you a speed boost. Therefore, it is quite important to build your stats around boosting and handling.
Your race usually consists of managing your drifts and getting out of the corner with the highest speed possible. In terms of a kart race, this is not something new, though. You can find some corners having different colored stripes, which also allow you to have a speed boost if you drift through them. These corners appear roughly once or twice, so it is best to utilize them when you can.
Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing starts with only six characters to choose from, but as you start winning cups and eliminating challenges, you unlock new characters to drive with. The reward system is not only tied to unlocking characters but lets you unlock new parts for your ride as well. These change how a kart drives or how it behaves.
The whole premise of unlocking new content is evenly spread through the Cups and Challenge Mode, making it a nice way to let players try different modes. It is not always required to unlock parts for your driver, but still, getting something for your success is better than rewards being locked behind paywalls.
Unfortunately, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing does not provide much content. There are two main things to focus on for your 100 percent completion, and once they are done, you could hop onto the online portion of the game… If you can find others playing, of course. Out of curiosity, I wanted to hop onto a random lobby and play with some random people, hoping to make some friends too.
One of the best third-party games to check out the details of the game you are playing is SteamDB, and it can also show how many players are online. To my surprise, during my search for an online lobby, only two people were playing, one of them being me, of course, so it is easy to figure out how “crowded” it gets while looking for an online match.
For a kart racer, the game offered me decent graphics. I was not expecting it to look very sharp and resemble a current-year title. Most of the tracks were gorgeous looking, and they were built fairly reasonably in terms of both their looks and playability. I am happy to say that tracks are one of the positive sides of the title, and there are about twenty of them or so, and then the number could be raised up to almost sixty tracks with different variations and reverse courses.
Compared to the last kart racing game I reviewed, that was the Smurfs Kart, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing provided more of a better execution of the kart racing genre. I had to compare the previous game because both of the same ground in terms of providing a kart racer, but Smurfs Kart fell too quickly, while Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing made me realize the potential of what else could be added.
In the end, Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is another go at the notorious kart genre, hoping to get things right. In some aspects, it does, but in certain places, it fails the deliver to make it a worthwhile experience. The graphics, kart customization, and the interaction between characters are great.
However, it could have used some more polishing on the edges to be at least competitive with strong candidates in the genre, such as Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing. Nevertheless, it provides some good times with lots of challenges to do in order to complete it 100 percent, which ultimately makes it a worthwhile purchase in my book.
