Crazy Kart - Reviews [PocketMatrix >> mobile devices]

Seriously, its just like your standard racing game, going around a track in a vehicle, but using Go-Karts, and usually spiced up with a bunch of cartoony graphics and characters, and some fantasy cartoon-world courses and physics. Make Sense? Good!

This particular game has you choose from one of four cartoony characters, and then gives you the option of racing in a championship, practicing for the championship, or doing a time trial on a single course to beat your best score.

The interesting twist int13 has included from other popular Kart racers, is the ability to pick up power-ups (or weapons) while you're racing and use it to give you that 'extra edge' against the other racers. These weapons include power-ups from speed boosts and lighting bolts, to oil slicks and projectiles.

Jason: All of the art in the game is better than in most Pocket PC games. It’s obvious that a massive amount of content was created for this game, including the many different backgrounds and tracks for the separate environments. Ranging from an Ice and Snow track, to a tropical beach track, Outer Space and more. Not to mention the fact that they keep releasing more expansion packs with brand new levels.. that artist must be extremely busy!

Also, it looks like some time was spent on character design as well. There are only four of them, and we would have preferred to see more. And don't get me wrong, the characters are well designed, its just that I personally think the frankenstein character looks strange, and I have Cymbidium-canaliculatum-phobia, which is...... fear of Bananas.

With that being said, the art in the game is fantastic. The graphics themselves, meaning the framerates and the 'wow factor' aren't quite on the same level as the art.

While the engine is very reminiscent of the original Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo, the framerates on slower devices aren't quite up to snuff. It should be noted that I am running the game on the HP 1910, which is not on their compatibility list.

Matt: On faster devices like the A620 and the HP2215, (they ARE on the compatibility list) the game runs fantastic, and looks really nice!

The 'wow factor' may not be as impressive as some of the 3D games out there, but its still nice nonetheless.

Jason: And graphical wow-ness never has never really mattered to me as much as gameplay itself. It's unfortunate that most of the nice graphics are overshadowed by the amount of glitches associated with the gameplay. :(

Another issue that bugged me, that I believe is related to the massive amount of content and graphics is the load times. Now, I admit, these aren't too bad once you overclock or if you have a really fast device, like Matt, but the majority of current PPC owners and I don't :(

Matt: I found that the average load time is probably between 10-15 seconds on my 2215, still a bit longer than I want to wait.

Jason: On my non-awesome device, load times were taken about 30-60 seconds on average. I believe that if you have to wait more than 5 seconds to play a level, its taking too long.

Still.. it's not half as bad as X-box load times! ;)

It should be noted that if you lose a race and have to reload a level, it doesn't take half as long. This is because the game loads from your devices memory cache, which is a great idea. However, we noticed a bug that if you use the oil-slick power up, it will return the next time the track is loaded.. meaning.. if you used a lot of oil during your last race, you can have a very slippery first lap!

Jason: The sound effects are pretty standard PPC fare, a few tinny bumps and engine noises.

Matt: Yup, nothing to scream about.. nothing to complain about either.

Jason: Yeah, at least the game has sound effects :) Its amazing that some PPC games still don't include sound in their game to date!

Jason: While it is unfair of me to comment directly on the music in a game. I am happy that there is music! Many PPC games still overlook this aspect of a game.. and so I applaud you on this point.

Matt: However, I find the music to be quite repetitive, and it doesn't always fit the mood of the level. I have definitely seen worse music in a game, but this stuff isn't exactly going to get your attention.

Jason: The game play itself, is pretty good. The structure of the game makes logical sense, just like any other kart or racing game. As it stands, most players will spend a majority of their time playing the championship mode, as this is the meat and potatoes of the game.

There really is no story per se... I'm just imagining that these characters are racing for blood money for the CK Mafia or something. Silly little stories like those may not mean anything to some gamers, but it must apparently to others (me being one of them), as the vast majority of commercial games out there have stories. Not really a knock on the game play at all.. its just a personal preference.

Matt: I'd like to think that I don't care either way.. but it's just one of those things you only notice when its missing :) Not to mention, how is the game supposed to be filled with humor, if its missing any of the funny texts? ;)

Jason: When choosing one of the four characters, many people wonder whether they are truly different in their driving characteristics. As with other Kart games, this is definitely true, but not quite to the obvious extent. You really have to play for a long while to figure out the different attributes like Foxy seems to turn better, or Franck has better acceleration. I never played with the Banana, as he scared me.

Matt: The Banana turns a little wider, I think. I'm not quite astute at finding the minor differences in the characters as Jason is.

Speaking of which, I really wish there were more than 4 characters to choose from. Limiting the characters to 4 not only gives you less options (3 in my case :P), but it also changes the gameplay from a normal Kart game as well. This game requires you to get 1st place in every race, as there are only 4 places to be won. Most Kart games have at least 8 characters, and then an average of players placing in the top 3 at the end of the championship.

Matt: I really liked the track length in this game. Very short courses, where most could be beaten in a little over a minute. Which makes sense with the 'shorter-quicker games' philosophy of the PPC.

Jason: I prefer a longer tracks. Possibly because I'm used to the habit of tracks that take an average of 3 minutes to complete; which there are some, but the majority, as Matt said, are quite short. Good thing we're getting those expansion packs and a Level editor soon!

Jason: Okay, this is where everything starts to go sour :(

The Play control is my least favorite part of the game. You're stuck using whatever terrible D-pad your Pocket PC came with for steering, which isn't too bad I suppose if you have an A620, but most people don't :(

Matt: Unfortunately for me, on my 2215 I often would press slightly down or up, causing the kart to either stop or just go straight. Which for me, meant losing a lot of races that I would have otherwise won; Because I went straight instead of turning, and ended up bouncing off a wall while the other racers laughed at my poor steering.

Jason: The fact is that the D-pad is terrible on most PPCs (after the great E-125, of course ;) ) and stylus control should really be implemented.

The gas button is pretty easy to use, as it’s an onscreen button, and is either on or off.. that's about it. They have also added a onscreen break button, which doesn't really seem necessary, unless you use the auto-accelerate option; which some people prefer.

There is a weapon button to use your 'power ups' against other players.. but its set to a hardware button, and therefore you have to let go of the D-pad to use it... not a good idea if you're in the middle of a turn. The one way around that, is to use the auto-accelerate button and use your right hand to reach over and hit the hardware button for the weapon/powerup.. but then you start feeling silly. This could easily be overcome by adding customizable controls.

Matt: And this is where we started noticing the glitches in the game :( The hit and miss detection in the game is very sketchy, and can cause you to: run into invisible trees (and penguins), get dropped in water over, and over-like a dunk tank, get stopped by invisible drivers, spin out, get stuck in corners, and others. The bets way to avoid these bugs: Don't try to cut corners over bridges, completely steer away from all obstacles (including penguins, trees, and puddles :), Stay away from other racers, stay away from all holes in the ground, be careful not to touch anything that looks suspicious, and my harm you :)

As you can see, this takes a little bit of the fun away from the game, and sounds like advice from your mom when she was teaching you how to drive ;) Many of these obstacles could be avoided more easily if the steering was top notch, as we mentioned earlier, but its not (if the steering was fantastic, then we may not have even noticed the hit detection as much :) . Steering aside, the hit and miss detection in this game really has to be tweaked.

Matt: Add a jump button :) Running into a wall in this game is almost always a fate sealing move. Because you aren't going to be free from that wall until you have bounced off it at least a couple more times, and all the other racers are well past you.

Jason: Or a reverse button.. that would work too.

Other minor glitches include: the sensitivity of the Wrong Way signal and the Computer characters levitating over the obstacles... not really horrible distractions, but they can hinder you somewhat. In addition, if you put the screen capture mode on.. it takes away your pause button, which can be really frustrating if you have to pee! As we mentioned earlier, those customizable controls would really help this out :)

I think a few minor features could have been implemented into the control as well, which would fix some of the problems.

Fun:

Matt: In all honesty, the game does have some appeal if you have a device that will play the game smoothly. Unfortunately, it doesn't last too long, as the amount of flaws in the game tend to outweigh the good aspects of it. So much potential though....

If you don't mind lots of bugs getting in the way, and you can play with the flaws (which many have, don't get me wrong), then this game may be very enjoyable to you.

But many casual and hard-core gamers alike may be turned off by the bugs very quickly, so we suggest trying the demo thoroughly first.

Matt: There are already two expansion packs for the game, with more extra levels!

Jason: And it has been announced that they are creating a level editor soon!

Matt: I haven't played them... as I can't see myself enjoying them until the major flaws like the play control are worked out. Once things are fixed up though, extra levels are always an added plus! :)

Jason: If you do actually like and enjoy the game as it is, then I guess this would have as much replay value as you want. Considering, it looks like they have many more expansion packs to be released in the future, and a level editor means you and others can easily create your own. Very cool idea.

This game is actually entertaining to play for a short while. It has some decent graphics, and it’s quite playable for a very casual gamer with a Fast device. However, if you have your hopes set high on it being a great Mario Kart clone (or something similar that you've played before); you will be let down a bit. So our advice is definitely try the demo first :)

While we might make the game sound horrible, it may not be so for you. We just had very high hopes for the game! :) And it can be quite a killer title.

Therefore, this game might be awesome once it gets the updates needs. But as of right now, it's needs some help.

And until that happens, I'll give the game these words of encouragement: Good effort, looks like it can be quite a stellar title! Get those bugs fixed, and then it'll rock! We'll be happy to re-review it when the game is ready.

Pros	Cons
Lots of Nice Looking Art Good, Tried and True Concept Good Speed on the Fastest Devices	Glitches Controls Bad Hit/Miss Detection Short 'Compatibility List'