Power Racing Bundle 3

Genre: Compilation / Arcade Racing

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)

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Review:

Power Racing Bundle 3, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, is a Compilation of three Arcade Racing games: WildTrax Racing and Speedway Racing, both released separately on the Nintendo Switch in 2020, and Speed Truck Racing, released separately on the Nintendo Switch in 2021. In addition, these three games have been included in different configurations of two in three bundles also available on the eShop. However, this marks the first time they’re all available in one collection.

Here’s what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Speedway Racing	Arcade Racing	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D+
tl;dr Speedway Racing is an Arcade Racing game with NASCAR-style racing events. The game mixes some surprisingly good presentation elements with some bad ones and some that are outright bizarre. However, even the good elements here are hard to appreciate with this game’s terrible framerates, bad collision physics, and some really inexplicably awful design choices that make this game an ordeal to play.
Speed Truck Racing	Arcade Racing	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D+
tl;dr Speed Truck Racing is an Arcade-style Racing game that has players racing trucks on a strange combination of Nascar-style tracks and dirt-covered tracks. This game isn’t without its positive points, and it does make improvements over its predecessor, Speedway Racing, but the core gameplay here is still terribly broken, and this combined with the game’s aggressive checkpoint system sap all the fun out of the experience.
WildTrax Racing	Arcade Racing	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D+
tl;dr WildTrax Racing is an Arcade Racing game where players take 4×4 vehicles out on off-road courses. Unfortunately, the game has a serious lack of content, the single-player gameplay isn’t very compelling, and the multiplayer mode is crippled by horrendous graphical issues. I struggle to see any reason to play this game at all.

All of these games make use of many of the same art assets, and both games share many of the same flaws. All of the games have some good lighting in areas, but suffer from some nasty slowdown and aliasing – WildTrax Racing’s multiplayer is crippled by these graphical flaws, and the other two games suffer from them throughout the entire game to a lesser extent. Speedway Racing also has some absurdly over-aggressive AI and insane vehicle collision physics. And all three games have the same inexplicable use of sound-alike brand logos for companies like “Mechilin”, “Mibol” and “Subawy” (no, I didn’t misspell those) and a strange, cheesy announcer, who says things like “kart your engines”.

Between the three, it’s hard to say which I like most. WildTrax Racing is the most playable game of the bunch, but it’s also bland, horribly lacking in content, and the graphical problems leave the multiplayer so broken that it’s nearly unplayable. Meanwhile, Speedway Racing has a great soundtrack and lots of personality, but it’s also a huge pain to play. And while Speed Truck Racing is an interesting combination of different types of racing games, the core gameplay is so broken it makes it a pain to play.

In the end, none of these games is very good, and bundling them together doesn’t change that. At the very least, unlike the prior bundles in this series, this compilation offers players a small enticement to buy it – it’s a whole $3 cheaper than buying the games separately. However, that’s not much to talk about for a $25 bundle of three bad racing games. Do yourself a favor and spend that money on one good racing game instead.

tl;dr – Power Racing Bundle 3 is a compilation of Speedway Racing, Speed Truck Racing, and WildTrax Racing, three Arcade Racing games that have a lot of shared art assets, but also all have some terrible framerate issues and game design flaws. There are a few good points here and there, but overall none of these games is worth getting, and the bundle does little to change that.

Grade: D+

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