Go Kart Mania

Genre: Kart Racing

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in multiple bundles. If you want a breakdown of which bundles contain which games, check out this page.)

Go Kart Mania is a Kart Racing game released on Nintendo Switch in 2024. And… I wish I had more to tell you in this opening paragraph, but I’m not sure there’s much else to say – Go Kart Mania is painfully generic.

That’s not to say it’s ugly. The presentation here uses simple but decent 3D visuals for its courses and racers, with an overall colorful and slightly-cartoony look. However, all of the racers appear to be generic color-swaps with helmets and no personality, and the courses themselves (named after locations like England, Australia, and China) are all fairly generic depictions of each (a grassy location, a beach, and a track with pagodas and a bunch of paper lanterns hanging around it). It all runs at a smooth framerate, and everything looks polished enough, it’s just all completely forgettable.

Unfortunately, these forgettable visuals are framed by a game interface that absolutely screams “mobile game”, which definitely doesn’t help matters. What’s more, these visuals are backed by a pretty generic guitar-centric soundtrack. There are no voices, and apart from the sounds of the engines and the occasional collision noise, there’s not really anything else to hear.

Sadly, the racing itself doesn’t fare any better. There’s no depth to the gameplay here, no nuance. You have gas and brake pedals and a single-use turbo button, and that’s it. Can’t seem to beat the AI-controlled opponents? Just spend in-game coins you earn by participating in races (even if you come in last place) to upgrade one of your kart’s stats and try again. As there’s no depth to the gameplay, getting better at the game isn’t a matter of skill so much as persistence. Oh, and don’t expect to get any fun out of the multiplayer mode here, because there isn’t one.

Given how basic and generic everything is, the game’s $10 price tag feels like a slap in the face. Surely, this game could have at least included a multiplayer mode at that price? Of course, the clear reasoning behind that price is to make it seem like a deal when the game goes on sale for $2, but even at $2 this feels like a rip-off – if you’re looking for a cheap Kart Racer, you can just get Disney Speedstorm instead, as that game is free (albeit with microtransactions). Or, if you’re willing to actually spend some money, you can just do the obvious thing and get Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the definitive game in the genre.

With other options like those on the market, there’s just no reason to bother with a game as bland and featureless as Go Kart Mania. While technically functional, this Kart Racer is completely forgettable and lacking any sort of interesting features or qualities to make it worth your time and attention when you have such great alternatives to choose from.

tl;dr – Go Kart Mania is a Kart Racing game with no depth, no personality, and no multiplayer. And with so many better options in the genre on Nintendo Switch, there is no reason to play it.

Grade: D

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}