Nickelodeon Kart Racers

There are far worse games out there than Nickelodeon Kart Racers, but there are far better ones as well. Given the tremendous opportunity represented by this IP, it’s hard not to be disappointed by the state of Nickelodeon Kart Racers; with more attention to quality and another year of development, this could’ve possibly been a compelling alternative to Mario Kart.

While not inherently bad, Nickelodeon Kart Racers just feels a bit bland. The racing is totally fine and I had some decent races here and there when I bumped up the difficulty, but with a limited roster of characters from only four franchises, it boils down to a limited feature overall, and for 40 bucks, I would say that is a steep price to pay for something that I could be done with in about a weekend.

While Nickelodeon Kart Racers’ provides plenty of content and has smart references that integrate well with some very solid racing, the poor visuals and botched battle mode leave plenty to be desired. If you accept the game for what it is there’s definitely some fun to be had but its shortcomings are jarring enough to require some substantial blinders.

Fairly decent handling isn't nearly enough to save Nickelodeon Kart Racers. Even if you ignore the squandered potential of a game featuring the network's biggest cartoon stars, this is a shallow racing game that underwhelms at every turn. Tracks have some nice details but aren't particularly imaginative, the presentation largely falls flat, and the whole thing feels undercooked. If you're a die-hard fan, it might be worth a look, but it's hard to recommend this to anyone else.

I cannot possibly imagine who at Nickelodeon looked at this and thought ‘Yes, that’s the kind of quality we want representing our brand’. While some track layouts are okay and character models passable, everything else here feels half-baked, lazy or downright awful. Terrible handling, poor audio, and the range of characters and their lack of characterization, collectively make a mockery of the franchises.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers is, simply, a very very bad game. With basic at best visuals, terrible audio design and quality, as well as just downright bland kart racing, this isn't the kart racer for you.