I literally got myself a PS3 just to be able to play this game. I know it might sound stupid, but as a teenager I was designing my own racing tracks all the time, doing drawings on paper and creating concepts, so when I heard this game existed and it allowed you not only to create your own driver and kart, but also to design your own racetracks, I was blown away, I had to play it. And I'm so glad I did. It was so creative, and at the same time so engaging to play online with other people and discover their tracks and then show them yours. Of course it's no perfect game, the loading screens were extremely long and annoying, the story mode is a bit meh and I don't know if I completely enjoy the feel of driving in the game, but the track creator more than makes it up for it.

I'll have to admit that maybe nostalgia plays a role here, but I'm really not kidding when I say that the racetracks in this game have some of the best track designs that I've ever seen in any racing game. Some of these tracks are so long that require around 1:30 minute laps, maybe even longer for more casual players or children. The AI was also not very forgiving! Especially around the second time the levels have to be beaten; I remember having a rather tough time trying to beat them when I was young. However, with great level design come great shortcuts. If there's anything I love about racing games of that time is how abundant in shortcuts they are. These levels can have up to 5 shortcuts, ranging from small cuts to alternate routes to hidden passages to doorways that have to be opened by going through three rings that are scattered around the track. Some of these shortcuts are so well hidden that I didn't even discover them until I replayed the game not long ago! It's really a lot of fun to go through these tracks, which also have amazing theming, being based upon real rides and attractions at Disneyland. The trophy game was also a cool addition that tested your knowledge and familiarity with the track, especially to see if you've discovered those sneaky shortcuts I was talking about earlier! Overall I really enjoyed this game, and I still think modern racing games should look back to this period and check if they can learn a thing or two from it :)

I was in love with this game when I was young, every time I went home from school to have lunch I played it even if it was only for half an hour, as I had to return to school on the afternoon. Being able to customise my own kart and racer and play with it was WILD to me! The item system was also super original and a lot of fun, with different block colours indicating different types of power-up (red=attack, blue=defense, yellow=backwards trap and green=speed boost), and white tiles used to level up each item to get a more powerful or longer lasting effect. The track design was also amazing, even though they were very short there was at least one shortcut in every single racetrack (except for one), and the shortcuts were different from each other too! Some were in plain sight, others well hidden, some required a red attack item to open the entrance, others a blue defensive item and one of them even required going through a series of gates to enter a colour coded code and open a door! The only issue would be that there's only 13 tracks, so the game ends up being very short, but that was not an impediment for me to spend hours and hours playing it!