SRB2Kart wasn't the best racing game ever. However, for a piece of free software made by fans that's basically running on the DOOM engine, it's safe to say it's more than impressive. At its core, SRB2Kart is essentially free Mario Kart for your PC, with some noticeable differences, of course. Anyone could pick it up, and while they may not understand it at first, it wouldn't take long before they start getting a good grip on the basics. Download a few funny mods, get some friends in a call, and you'll be playing as Peter Griffin on Coconut Mall in just a few minutes. In a way, the experience feels somewhat cobbled together, but it's so simple and fun, which makes for a chill experience with an amazing amount of replayability.

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers, in its current form, is a fantastic game that is otherwise hidden beneath a heap of questionable choices. In what seems like a quest to be a full-fledged, retail-quality game, Ring Racers starts with the base of SRB2Kart, bloats it exponentially, and locks away features that were available from the get-go. For most SRB2Kart fans, it's unfortunate, given how the actual vibe and presentation of the game is so expertly crafted, professional, and most of all: fun.

When you first boot it up, you're greeted with a lengthy, unskippable sequence as they let you adjust your game settings. Even though it's a little slow, I like this intro a lot; Tails' and Robotnik's friendship is cute, the sequence overall looks and sounds great, and it sets the tone to show how much more sophisticated the whole package is compared to its predecessor.

From there, you are sucker-punched into a nearly hour-long^ tutorial as the game slings a seemingly never-ending barrage of mechanics and dialog at you. An entire Ring economy, melee attacks, spin dashes, fast-falling, easy-braking, trick pads, trick directions, hill physics, and so much more; it involves a lot more thinking than the average kart racer. It's pretty overwhelming. After completing the tutorial (with no real understanding of what I went through), I jumped into a Grand Prix cup only to get my ass handed to me on a silver platter while on Easy Mode. After a few tries, I got brought to the Unlocks Screen after winning. Once again, I got sucker-punched when I made the realization that Online Mode is an unlockable; I have to convince my friends to traverse the same gauntlet I just endured if they want to play online with me. Of course, you can use cheats to bypass this, but I don't think this should be the default experience. They're really going to scare off more casual players with this sort of first impression.

Aside from the racing mechanics and tutorial, there's a lot of other unpleasant changes: The controls don't feel as tight, mods are unlocked after you complete 4 cups, alternate character colors have to be found on each track, Time Trials are locked behind collecting character colors, the CPUs seem to rubber-band like crazy even on Easy Mode, CPUs love using the melee attacks so it feels like you get battered around more than you do in Mario Kart, the "use weapon" button has 4 different functions, and the list goes on^.

I feel like a dick complaining about it considering this is a free game that had thousands of hours put into its development. I almost feel I’m being unfair to it. As a standalone entry, it has more than enough potential to be great. I can clearly see the vision: rather than making an experimental game that feels like a disjointed mod of a mod of a mod, they instead wanted to deliver a more robust and cohesive package – a game that truly feels like a "real game” you could pick from a store shelf. A finished game that is unmistakably unique. The spritework, the tracks, the menus, and the custom music are all gorgeous and you can tell so much passion and dedication went into it all of it. As someone who attempted to make content for the original game, I can assure you making nearly anything for this engine is not an easy process.

However, due to the fact it's a sequel, it unfortunately comes with a lot of preconceived notions, like not having to unlock Online Mode, character colors, or whatever. It's very difficult to divorce it from its predecessor: a game widely popularized for being both accessible and highly customizable from the start. As a result, it's hard to not feel a bit unsatisfied with how the gameplay and progression turned out. Many players' expectations were defied, and mostly not for the better. I think they severely underestimated the value of how easy it was to pick up and play SRB2Kart on a whim.

So far, I'm more comfortable labeling Ring Racers as an alternative way to play SRB2Kart (primarily for hardcore veterans) rather than a replacement or even an upgrade. With this in mind, I do find myself wanting to play more of it despite the many frustrations. I'm not won over by this game just yet, but there's definitely something interesting here. I think I would be okay with a good portion of the changes if the CPUs weren't so merciless, but there's still some heavy adjustments to be made beyond that.

I don't have a rating on this yet because I would like to see how this game shapes up over time from feedback.

^: As of v2.1, you can exit the tutorial once you reach a fairly early point. They've also made Online, Mods, and Time Attack unlock much earlier. I'm very glad they're responsive to some of the feedback already.
Also I suppose Time Attack was not actually hidden behind finding character colors? I can't find a concrete answer, so I apologize for perpetuating misinfo if this is the case.