Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers

Genre: Kart Racing

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

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Review:

Blaze and the Monster Machines is an animated series that ran on Nickelodeon from 2014 through 2025, with this game, Axle City Racers, releasing in 2021 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Its Nintendo Switch release is currently no longer available on digital storefronts, but you can still purchase the physical release if you want. As for the type of game this is, while this game’s vehicles are all anthropomorphic monster trucks, the gameplay is clearly in line with a typical Kart Racer game.

One thing Axle City Racers does quite well is presentation: this game’s colorful, detailed, cartoony 3D visuals may not be quite on par with the likes of Mario Kart, but they’re still quite appealing, with some good bouncy animation for the cars themselves. I do note that there’s a bit of aliasing here, but it’s not so bad that it ruined the experience. This is joined by upbeat music with various remixes of the TV show’s theme, along with voiced characters and a voiced announcer that… well, I’ll be honest, I found them to be annoying and repetitive, and the announcer’s tone struck me as patronizing. Perhaps fitting for the show and the super-young target audience, but not for anyone over the age of 6.

As for the core gameplay, I think the key word here is “competent”. There’s not much depth here, but racing in this game feels good. Turning feels reasonably responsive, and there’s a drift-boost system, though it’s not really clear at what point you’ve drifted enough to set off a boost. Plus, you have a character-based special move system activated by collecting wrench icons on the track, giving you more to do on the track than just going fast.

Unfortunately, if you are older than 6, you’ll start seeing the problems here. Even on the highest setting, the sense of speed here is not great. Also even on the highest setting, the game is far too easy, something the game tries to compensate for with ridiculous rubber-banding. What’s more, having your special move tied to your racer means you’ll have far less variety – if you have a character with an attack, they’ll always use the same attack. If it’s another move, they’ll always use that. None of Mario Kart’s randomized power-ups.

If you’re a young child who’s a fan of Blaze and the Monster Machines, you’ll likely find Axle City Racers to be a solid take on the show with accessible, enjoyable racing gameplay. But if you’re any older than that, I think you’ll find the issues I outlined above enough to make you ask the obvious question: “why am I playing this instead of Mario Kart?”. My answer to that question? You should probably just play Mario Kart instead, or one of the multiple other better Kart Racing games on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers is a Kart Racing game with a good presentation that mirrors the show, as well as some enjoyable racing gameplay… if you’re a young child. If you’re any older, and you’ll likely be frustrated at the overly-easy difficulty, the absurd rubber-banding, the lack of depth, and the lack of variety. For players like these, you’re better off playing Mario Kart or one of the multiple other better Kart Racing games on the Nintendo Switch.

Grade: C

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