Crazy Kart by int13
production, Price: $15
Reviewed September 2003
Even though there aren’t a lot of
racing games for the Pocket PC, it still takes a special
game to stand out and grab gamers’ attention. Developed
by int13 production, Crazy Kart stands out with its Wallace
and Gromit cartoon style, well designed racing courses and
game controls that are easy to master. What’s even
more special is that not only does the game support both
Pocket PC and Zaurus Linux, but also within a week of the
game release, there is already another add-on pack that shows
off some new cool tracks.
Veteran Bandicoot racers won’t find
the dynamite or strategically placed pedestrians along your
speedway. What you will find are 12 clean go-kart tracks
set in 5 dramatically different backgrounds with a few items
to pick up and obstacles to avoid. Instead of the usual car
selection, Crazy Kart gives you 4 adorable cartoon characters
to choose from, each having different strong points in speed,
control, acceleration, etc. and you must race as these characters
to find out exactly what their strong points are. The game
plays in landscape mode, which can be flipped for lefties,
and controlled by the d-pad and hardware buttons. There is
an auto acceleration feature, which allows you to only control
the d-pad during the game. The AI is well designed so that
you won’t take a long time to master the controls,
and the various surfaces effect your cart in a very realistic
fashion.
Crazy Kart has 12 fantasy tracks. The background
graphics are sharp and vibrant, and the tracks have a decent
number of obstacles, such as water puddles on a rainy day,
black holes on the space tracks, etc. As you pick up the
bonus items on the tracks, you can spill oil or shoot rockets
at other carts. The style of the cartoon racers and in-between-race
title screens will bring smiles to Chicken Run fans’ faces.
The frame rates are very good during the race. As you unlock
the tracks by winning the races in the Championship mode,
you can enjoy a short race in Quick Race or Time Trial mode.
Accompanying the cartoon racers in their
go-karts are the equally cartoon-ish music tunes and sound
effects. The music fits the mood and you will hear the wheels
squealing when they are leaving skid marks on the tracks.
Crazy Kart supports both Pocket PC and the Sharp Zaurus models
running Linux. It takes about 5MB storage space.
It’s not everyday a cute game
like Crazy Kart shows up on PDAs. While the cool looking
cartoon racers will attract gamers’ attention, the
tracks length seems a bit too short. The three racing modes
will satisfy both types of gamers who either have only
a few minutes for a quick race or want to go all the way
to earn the Championship crown!
Playing Hints and Tips
Try every racer to see the difference
in the race. It’s not always a good idea to go for
the bonus items, especially when these items are out of
your best routes. |
