Positives:
- Great amount of fanservice to the Chocobo/Final Fantasy franchise.
- The controls are good overall, with characters making a difference.
- Lots- and lots of unlockables.
Negatives:
- Unbalanced when it comes to (upgraded) magic and Magicite of opponents.
- The magic system is fun, but racing against someone like Goblin makes it irrelevant.
- No indication ever when it comes to unlockables.
-----------------------------------
''Chocobo Racing is a Kart Racing game set in the Chocobo series, a spin-off of the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. This game is actually my first endeavor into the Chocobo games, a series that has a surprising amount of games underneath its belt, such as Mystery Dungeon games and more. As a result, I'm not too familiar with all of the named characters in this game, but since the series as a whole is a spin-off of one of my favourite franchises ever, all of the fanservice and mechanics all made me very happy. Almost all of the music tracks are remixes from all across the Final Fantasy franchise, like Mysidia from Final Fantasy 4 and the Town theme from Final Fantasy 1. They even teased me with Kefka's theme but he was nowhere to be seen, and that was a sin. But it's not just limited to music either, as some of the tracks themselves are love-letters to the games too. I'm specifically talking about the very final one called Fantasia, a track set in the Esper world with summons on the side of the track from all across the franchise. It made my Final Fantasy heart melt to say the least.
But that's cool and all, but fanservice alone won't make a game. Though fortunately, I had a good time playing Chocobo Racing aside from just the fanservice. There are several modes to choose from, like a short story featuring all of the characters that also goes through all of the game mechanics and items, to a Grand Prix where you can select which races you want to go through instead of having pre-defined cups. The story itself is more aimed at children and therefore not really anything noteworthy, but a story is the last thing I'm looking for in a kart racer anyway. There are also a few other modes which can be played alone, but are obviously geared towards multiplayer which I unfortunately couldn't really do.
As for the controls themselves, I like them. That said, there are a few aspects that can make- or break the game for some people. First of would be drifting, which can be tough to master. I personally found it easier to tap the X button a few times instead of holding it, which made drifting far more comfortable for me. Also, while not shown in-game, what character you choose definitely matters, as they all have invisible stats like handling and speed. The Fat Chocobo, even though they may not look like it, is easily one of the best characters when it comes to handling for example.
And characters also matter when it comes to the Magicite they come with as opponents--special moves that can vary from a boost to stealing magic of other racers. And this is a nice segue into what I consider to be Chocobo Racing's biggest flaw: the balancing issues. Aside from these Magicite, the tracks themselves have magic orbs that function as this game's items. They are all a direct representation of Final Fantasy's spells, like Fire, Mini and Reflect. What's more, all of these can be upgraded up to three times by picking up the same coloured magic orbs again, upgrading them to Fira and Firaga for example. While this is a very cool system that I love... it's almost completely pointless because of the fact that if you're racing against Goblin, he'll just keep stealing your orbs before you can even get three. If you're not racing against him, then you're probably facing someone like Bahamut who can use an unavoidable Megaflare at least two times per race that leaves you uncontrollable in place for at least 5 seconds while he speeds by. Upgraded magic leaving you immobile for at least 5 seconds are very common in general--especially that forsaken Blizzaga. Being hit by multiple of these upgraded spells back to back is not too uncommon, and being unable to move for 15 seconds? Yeah, that's not fun. But at the very least, the game is not too difficult and you can ruin their day as hard as they ruin yours. Rubber banding is not a thing in this game at all.
Finally, I wanted to cover some slight spoilers when it comes to unlockables. The game may not seem very long because of the short story and the Grand Prix being a customizable one, but that's surprisingly far from the truth... kinda. There are a lot of unlockable characters--and I mean a lot. Not only that, but there's a complete bonus setting that unlocks after racing on all difficulties on the Grand Prix. And while I love this a lot, it's also very unknown. You can play story mode again for a total of 10 times and each time you do, you unlock a new character. The first one is actually very obvious as you're racing against that character, but from there onward, there is no indication at all that you unlocked a new character. Not a simple screen, not any instructions, nothing. The same goes for the unlockable bonus setting. And I know, this is the 90s, schoolyard rumours are the way to go. And for how completely random these characters are, yeah, I can definitely see the rumours happening. But a simple visual indication would have been nice, because who even thinks of replaying story mode for a total of 10 times? And it's not like these characters appear on the selection screen, as you have to hover over the first bonus character and then press a button combination you're somehow supposed to know. I'm probably nitpicking here, but I am a completionist so that's a given.''
- Great amount of fanservice to the Chocobo/Final Fantasy franchise.
- The controls are good overall, with characters making a difference.
- Lots- and lots of unlockables.
Negatives:
- Unbalanced when it comes to (upgraded) magic and Magicite of opponents.
- The magic system is fun, but racing against someone like Goblin makes it irrelevant.
- No indication ever when it comes to unlockables.
-----------------------------------
''Chocobo Racing is a Kart Racing game set in the Chocobo series, a spin-off of the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. This game is actually my first endeavor into the Chocobo games, a series that has a surprising amount of games underneath its belt, such as Mystery Dungeon games and more. As a result, I'm not too familiar with all of the named characters in this game, but since the series as a whole is a spin-off of one of my favourite franchises ever, all of the fanservice and mechanics all made me very happy. Almost all of the music tracks are remixes from all across the Final Fantasy franchise, like Mysidia from Final Fantasy 4 and the Town theme from Final Fantasy 1. They even teased me with Kefka's theme but he was nowhere to be seen, and that was a sin. But it's not just limited to music either, as some of the tracks themselves are love-letters to the games too. I'm specifically talking about the very final one called Fantasia, a track set in the Esper world with summons on the side of the track from all across the franchise. It made my Final Fantasy heart melt to say the least.
But that's cool and all, but fanservice alone won't make a game. Though fortunately, I had a good time playing Chocobo Racing aside from just the fanservice. There are several modes to choose from, like a short story featuring all of the characters that also goes through all of the game mechanics and items, to a Grand Prix where you can select which races you want to go through instead of having pre-defined cups. The story itself is more aimed at children and therefore not really anything noteworthy, but a story is the last thing I'm looking for in a kart racer anyway. There are also a few other modes which can be played alone, but are obviously geared towards multiplayer which I unfortunately couldn't really do.
As for the controls themselves, I like them. That said, there are a few aspects that can make- or break the game for some people. First of would be drifting, which can be tough to master. I personally found it easier to tap the X button a few times instead of holding it, which made drifting far more comfortable for me. Also, while not shown in-game, what character you choose definitely matters, as they all have invisible stats like handling and speed. The Fat Chocobo, even though they may not look like it, is easily one of the best characters when it comes to handling for example.
And characters also matter when it comes to the Magicite they come with as opponents--special moves that can vary from a boost to stealing magic of other racers. And this is a nice segue into what I consider to be Chocobo Racing's biggest flaw: the balancing issues. Aside from these Magicite, the tracks themselves have magic orbs that function as this game's items. They are all a direct representation of Final Fantasy's spells, like Fire, Mini and Reflect. What's more, all of these can be upgraded up to three times by picking up the same coloured magic orbs again, upgrading them to Fira and Firaga for example. While this is a very cool system that I love... it's almost completely pointless because of the fact that if you're racing against Goblin, he'll just keep stealing your orbs before you can even get three. If you're not racing against him, then you're probably facing someone like Bahamut who can use an unavoidable Megaflare at least two times per race that leaves you uncontrollable in place for at least 5 seconds while he speeds by. Upgraded magic leaving you immobile for at least 5 seconds are very common in general--especially that forsaken Blizzaga. Being hit by multiple of these upgraded spells back to back is not too uncommon, and being unable to move for 15 seconds? Yeah, that's not fun. But at the very least, the game is not too difficult and you can ruin their day as hard as they ruin yours. Rubber banding is not a thing in this game at all.
Finally, I wanted to cover some slight spoilers when it comes to unlockables. The game may not seem very long because of the short story and the Grand Prix being a customizable one, but that's surprisingly far from the truth... kinda. There are a lot of unlockable characters--and I mean a lot. Not only that, but there's a complete bonus setting that unlocks after racing on all difficulties on the Grand Prix. And while I love this a lot, it's also very unknown. You can play story mode again for a total of 10 times and each time you do, you unlock a new character. The first one is actually very obvious as you're racing against that character, but from there onward, there is no indication at all that you unlocked a new character. Not a simple screen, not any instructions, nothing. The same goes for the unlockable bonus setting. And I know, this is the 90s, schoolyard rumours are the way to go. And for how completely random these characters are, yeah, I can definitely see the rumours happening. But a simple visual indication would have been nice, because who even thinks of replaying story mode for a total of 10 times? And it's not like these characters appear on the selection screen, as you have to hover over the first bonus character and then press a button combination you're somehow supposed to know. I'm probably nitpicking here, but I am a completionist so that's a given.''