I was trying to find a game for two kindergardeners to play with at the same time. This game is rated E and supports split screen (up to 4I was trying to find a game for two kindergardeners to play with at the same time. This game is rated E and supports split screen (up to 4 players) so it fits the bill. I got it for full price on Steam after I tried the demo.
Lets start with the positives: The game is almost exactly what I have been looking for in a game for younger kids. Very nice, sharp vivid graphics. Cute models
There are few bugs that I have experienced. The game crashed two times in single player mode during two hours of play. It also got stuck one time on the game pause menu when I switched back to Windows and then back to game. The selected screen resolution doesn't seem to stick. I choose 1920x1080 but every time I start the game it resets itself to 12xx x something.
There are few things that are plainly annoying. The music is boring and gets annoying fast. This game with E rating will be mostly played by younger audience and the techno/electronic music doesn't do much for them. When playing multiplayer the first player gets the name from Steam login, while the other players (up to 3 additional) are just called Player X. There is no way to change the name. The game doesn't remember when multiple players are playing. You need to select how many players are playing for every single race which is again hard for young kids. In single player mode many cars look the same (the same color, since it is so hard to unlock skins) so during fast racing it is hard to distinguish what car is yours. It would be nice to have the red or green shadow as in multiplayer around the car. The car gets sometimes stuck behind a building and the camera angle doesn't allow to see it. For younger kids it is almost impossible to get it unstuck. I would recommend adding one more button to allow reset the car and camera back to the middle of the track.
Now let me discuss what is just plainly wrong with this game. When you install it for the first time and you want to jump in to multiplayer racing, you are left with a choice of single car, single skin (color/design) and single race track. Yup, this is all you can play until you unlock more. You cannot unlock more in free play mode, for that you have to do the championship or career. We disabled the computer controlled cars and just let the kids race against each other and this doesn't allow them to advance nowhere. The smaller kids are never going to be able to unlock most of this stuff anyway. So if you are like me and you want to let them enjoy the game, you spent few hours at night going through the career mode trying to win as much as you can to unlock as many cars and as many tracks, basically grinding. After about 3 hours of play I have most of the three lower level cars unlocked and all but one track. On the other hand to unlock multiple skins (colors/stickers) for the cars you have to achieve some ridiculous feats so I am not sure my kids will ever be able to use these. I am not sure what the designers were thinking but if you design game with E rating clearly geared towards younger audience, please let them play rather than be frustrated with something they can never achieve. One recommendation. If you just want to quickly enjoy the multiplayer, get the free demo, it has multiple cars and all skins unlocked and is limited to single track. For free you get more than what you initially get when you pay for it.
Some wishlist which can make this game awesome. The race track environment is very nicely done and my kids really enjoyed seeing the details around it, especially the various support cars, fire truck, repair car, etc. Unfortunately the race track environment is pretty static. I would think it would be over the top if some of these other cars could participate in the play. E.g. the fire truck could spray with water the cars on fire passing by. If car gets too damaged, it could be disabled on the track and the fire truck would come to put out the fire and the tow truck would tow the car to the repair spot. The pacing car could stop and slow down all the cars in case of bad accident. Few details like this would make the game so much better.
This game has lots of potential. There is few games that look this pretty, are easy to use and are non violent as this game. If the items I have listed here are addressed this game could be easily rated 9 or 10 by parents like me.… Expand
