Shrek Kart, Gameloft’s entry into iPhone kart racing, has been released in the app store. Featuring a plethora of characters, tracks, karts, and power-ups, as well as multiple game modes and exciting gameplay, Shrek Kart is establishing itself as one of the better offerings in the app store.
Shrek Kart offers Single Race, Tournament, Challenge, and Arena modes of play. There is also a local multi-player mode that utilizes wi-fi or Bluetooth that we were unable to test. Single Race allows you to select Easy, Medium, or Hard difficulty modes, a character to race with (only 4 of the 10 are unlocked from the start, each with ratings for Speed, Acceleration, and Handling), and a track (4 of the 12 are unlocked to start). After a quick intro video for the course, you’re racing around wacky tracks that are very reminiscent of MarioKart, right down to the power-up boxes. After 3 laps around the track, you find out your lap times and overall placement among the other racers. Tournament mode has 6 different tournaments to race in, with only the first unlocked at the beginning. Within each tournament, there are multiple events to race, too. Challenge mode is similar to single race, except you are challenged to run a single lap while either gathering a minimum number of items, avoiding a maximum number of items, or completing the lap within a certain amount of time. Arena mode offers three tracks to battle your opponents. The one who takes out the most others is declared the winner.
Graphically, the game is certainly on par with the other kart racers in the app store, if not better. There are very vibrant scenes with a lot of obstacles, though your path is clearly laid out. The mini-map helps you to keep your bearings and assess your lead. The music is appropriate for the arcade atmosphere and sound effects are fun. Access to your own music library is allowed in-game. There are two different control schemes, accelerometer and touch. You can choose to either tilt your device or touch the left/right side of the screen to steer. Both are effective, but we preferred the touch option. The karts auto-accelerate, with buttons for braking and activating power-ups and special abilities. Holding the brake button will put your car into reverse, and braking while steering will cause you to drift and gain a burst of speed after you come out of the drift. There are 11 power-ups that can be grabbed by running over a box on the track. A button indicates which random power-up you received, and a tap on the button activates it. Each character also has a reusable special ability unique to that driver. You can tap to activate this at any time, but there is a cooldown period afterward during which you can’t use it until the timer expires.
There is a terrific tutorial mode that explains all aspects of gameplay and requires you to successfully demonstrate them before moving on. The help section also gives detailed explanations of game modes, power-ups, special abilities, and more. Replayability is high, with tons of different options as far as racers (all your favs are here) to tracks to power-ups to game modes. With its smooth, exciting gameplay, you’ll be entertained for hours. There are a couple of other options in the app store, but we’ve actually been most engaged by Shrek Kart as of late. At $4.99, you are receiving adequate value for the price. Shrek Kart is a 5-Dimple thrill ride.
Shrek Kart gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
