this game is busted (good way)

the turbo power-up in this game feels fantastic as it improves your not only your speed with each level-up, but your handling as well. thats the item you'll want to be going for most of the time. this is very much a contest of getting ahead of the pack, which is demonstrated by the rival cpu, who zips past everyone else on the first lap. oftentimes, the start of the race is the most important part, so you'd better aim for those green bricks and not mess things up. its a bummer, because a lot of the items are powerful and fun to use!! its just, with the discrepancy in ai difficulty, a lack of rubber-banding, and no real catch-up mechanics, i feel like the game doesn't reach its full potential. would an option to randomize item placement lessen these issues? maybe! idk!

part of that potential, however, still shines through, and a prime example is the grappling hook item, which when shot at an opponent, slows them down and pulls you towards them with a tremendous amount of speed. if you don't bump into their rear end, you can sling yourself past them to keep that boost of speed awhile longer. its incredibly satisfying to use, and when you're given the opportunity to pull it off, its evident that this item fills a bit of a balance gap.

tangentially, you have to be pretty precise to win some of the time trials, which is odd considering 2/3rds of them feel like crapshoots in comparison. in some cases, i've felt like the item boxes should have been bigger, or collision on parts of the environment smaller.

now i haven't played like, every kart racer, and maybe there are some games out there that have more consistent highs, but the majority of lego racers was a blast for me. this game fucks. and i don't say that about a lot of games.

Reviewed on Apr 21, 2023


Comments