Krazy Kart Racers, Konami’s go-kart racing game that’s drawing comparisons to Mario Kart, has finally hit the app store, well ahead of as-yet-unreleased competitor Shrek Kart. Sporting decent graphics, challenging pitfalls, and easy controls, Krazy Kart Racers has established itself as the defacto kart racing king on the iPhone and iPod touch.
From the start, you are given the option to Quick Start a race (simply choose a difficulty level and you’re off) or take on one of the many game modes: Krazy GP, Trials, Free Run, Time Attack, and Mini Battle. Krazy GP enters you in one of four Cups, consisting of 4 races. Top racers receive points, which are aggregated across all four races to determine an overall winner. Trials require you to complete a task, such as finishing a race within a certain time frame or compete successfully in a mini battle. Free Run is more fun racing. Time Attack allows you to try to set track time records on different courses. Mini Battle allows you to play Chicken or Bomb Chaser against your opponents. They are simple, fun games.
There are 16 available tracks and 10 different characters to choose from. A certain number of each can be unlocked by successfully completing, or beating, certain courses or competitions. There are 3 difficulty levels, as well. We played everything on Medium and found it to be pretty well balanced (won some, lost some). You can play either single player or multiplayer over local or internet wi-fi, although we were unable to connect to any of the available internet servers. There are tutorial pop-ups available to explain aspects of the game, if necessary. Each course has several pitfalls, whether it is a stream running alongside the track edge, smashing columns, holes in the course, sliding walruses, or any number of crazy obstacles. Like Mario Kart, there are also several power-up boxes scattered throughout the board, giving you items such as speed boost, missiles, and more. There are many items which can be used to slow enemies and give you a tremendous advantage. A button in the lower right corner will indicate what the current item is. Activate it by tapping on the button.
Graphically, the game looks decent. It doesn’t quite have the polish of Mario Kart, but it comes close enough. Courses tend to get a bit busy, which sometimes makes it unclear where boundaries are or which way to turn. There is a mini map available, but it can be difficult to try to track yourself on the map while avoiding the pitfalls on the course itself. There is a soundtrack, but it’s nothing all that great. A rather annoying bit of music loops on the menu screens. The music during gameplay is fairly unintrusive, which makes it tolerable. If you start playing your own music before starting the game, you can listen to tracks from your own library. Controls work very well, which was a surprise. There are two options: gyro or touch. Gyro uses the accelerometer to control steering, while touch uses a slider bar to control left/right turning. We actually preferred the touch control, as it took little more that some slight movements and pressure changes to gain fairly tight control over the kart.
In all, Krazy Kart Racers seems to accomplish the difficult task of replicating the experience of one of the most popular video games of all-time. With no real competition in the app store just yet, Krazy Kart Racers has the opportunity to really make its mark. There are still a few clear flaws, including terrible tap controls on menu screens (some options require about 10 uncomfortably forceful taps to register the selection). Hopefully, this will be addressed soon. Replay value is pretty high, as the game is a lot of fun and there are several courses to master and time trials to conquer. Konami has currently discounted the price of Krazy Kart Racers to $2.99 from its original launch price of $7.99. If you want to get a piece of this 4-Dimple speedster, now is the time.
Krazy Kart Racers gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating:
