App it Up: Krazy Kart Racers
Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Originals
Category: Cart racing game
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.0 or later
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
File Size: 15.7MB
What is it?
It’s crazy, that’s what it is! So crazy, in fact, that they misspelled the words in the title! Beyond that, it’s your typical cart racing game.
How does it work?
Krazy Kart Racers, like every cart racing game before it, involves driving through ridiculous race tracks while heaving objects at your opponents (and avoiding theirs in the process). The games are as much about personality as they are about racing, and Krazy Kart Racers is quite successful there. You play as one of 10 Konami characters (Frogger, that penguin thing, some girl in a lucha libre mask…it’s not exactly the Mario gang, but it works), racing on 16 different tracks. Each track provides weapons in red boxes that you can use to thwart your opponents, as well as speed boosts in blue boxes. Placing these in different colored boxes is actually a good idea, adding an element of strategy to your racing instead of keeping item retrieval completely random.
Five game modes are offered: Krazy GP, Trials, Free Run, Time Attack and Mini Battle. In addition, Krazy Kart Racers offers WiFi racing with up to six carts on the track at a time. Single players can play at easy, medium and hard difficulty levels, all of which will be fairly simple for experienced cart racers to surmount once you get used to the controls. Turning and acceleration can be handled by the accelerometer (tilt) or by touch (slide your finger to turn). This is one of the rare cases where the accelerometer is easily the best the control method, although both options can feel clunky when you’re hitting walls or trying to pull off hairpin turns. Still, once you get comfortable with the tracks (and their various secrets), racing through them is very enjoyable, especially with friends on WiFi. The tracks are thoughtfully created, quite colorful, and plenty of fun.
Features
- 10 characters with different skills
- 16 tracks
- WiFi for up to six racers
- Fantastic graphics and animation
- Ability to turn sound off in-game
- Requires more skill and planning than most cart racing games, which tend to be random
App it Up, Sum it Up
Krazy Kart Racers is quite goofy and light (still not sure why is sometimes turn into a pig), but manages to also be a pretty competitive racer. WiFi multiplayer is fantastic, but there’s enough variety in the tracks to keep single player racers entertained for quite some time.
Cost - $2.99
Worth the Money? - Yes. Even moreso if you convince some friends to buy it, too.
Availability - Now, in the iTunes App Store
Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »