Look, this game is fun, yes; it looks cool, it sounds great, the stories are fun to read, and the character designs are top-notch. But it gets more and more p2w the longer you go on, ESPECIALLY now with the new Beascuits addition and the like (and the Tower's back but now it's unforgivingly difficult! Even for Tray 1? What's this? One of the recommended Cookies is the recently-released legend? GEE willy whiskers, I wonder what that entails!)

I have inmense stockholm syndrome with this game but like, I gotta drop it sooner or later. 3/5: One of those games where it looks super nice but the gameplay is commendable at best.

OK, I got to play the game, I played two cups and a half. Well, in reality it was the first cup and the 2nd cup up, up until the last track…

VERRRDICT!

Alright girls n' boys, I'm… not… gonna sugarcoat it. This game blows, like, not in a super good way or super bad way, it still has me stirred but, now having played it, I may be a bit less stirred. I like how the initial setup looks like, but the tutorial is STILL absurdly long, 45 minutes minimum, how? No idea, but it's there. It can be skipped with the "Let's see you do it, hotshot"-type race and I find that annoying, or thru an obscure code, like Online and Addons. And I still find the idea of locking Time Trials, a kart-racing essential, downright abysmal!

As for the REAL game? It's a mess. A sort of lovable mess, I can't really hate it, but it's maddening, to a degree. I think the problem is that there's too much going on in a race.

You've got the track and your opponents to take care of, you've got the roulettes to take care of, you've got THE ENVIRONMENTAL DANGERS to take care of… putting it midly?, It's sensory overload. And there's too many mechanics to boot, same for the controls; too many buttons… for a Kart racer. A type of game where you can just— get up and go race at a few clicks.

And then there's the race AI too, who is very much happy to rubberband at a moment's notice and get spiteful if you as much as win 2 races in first, which is CRAZY and almost feels like some of your wins are unwarranted and come down to pure luck. So at times, the game can feel downright punishing if you do the slight miscalculation of drifting at the wrong angle.

The unlock system is another whole can of beans; did you know the rewards in the challenge grid, while "set", are truly random? Your neighbour's build might have Metal Knuckles on the top row, but yours may have a Chaos Drive Follower on the top row, so there's no clear "unlock path" which can lead to some truly "Guide Dang It" moments. And the requirements get crazier as you go on, too! An unlock chain can go on for MILES across several Unlocks. It reminds me a bit of those convoluted urban legends of yore, and that's fine! I find that funny too, but it becomes unfunny at some point.

All in all, this gane is NOT for everyone, and it shows. It can feel beginner-unfriendly, it can be messy and some tracks can be overdecorated, racing is a test of your attention span at times and worst? It may feel like the game is conspiring against you. The tutorial could benefit from being divided into separate "beginner" and "advanced" tutorials, and a less aggresive way to skip it without the code could help too. The game could greatly benefit from Time Trials being unlocked from the start so people can ease in to the wild variety of tracks, and the AI could ESPECIALLY take a chill pill or two. I'm pretty sure there are more flaws with the tutorial asides "ough Tutorial long", but we'd be here forever.

Overall, this game definitively exists. And if you like it, that's fine, and totally awesome! But for me? Damn, it sure hits different. I'm just hoping it gets some QoL updates down the line..