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Atari Karts: Reviews

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Game Score: 7/10

This game obviously tries hard to be competition for Super Mario Kart, and although it manages fairly well, there's just far too many features lacking for it to compare. Unfortunately, Atari had a tendency to rush games out the door, and as a result, Atari Karts is a solid game, but I'm left thinking about what could have been...

The controls work well... one button to accelerate, one to brake, and one to use whatever power up you have (although most of them take effect immediately anyways). You can also use the 4 and 6 buttons (or L and R on a ProController) to do sharp turns... these sharp turns must be done carefully to avoid spinning out (unfortunately, you can exploit a flaw in the game and just tap the button fast to get the same effect as holding it, except without spinning out). There is no jumping, and there isn't really any drifting or power sliding. You can also play 2-player matches which use a split screen.

There are four difficulty levels, and within each difficulty level, you are challenged with three ''Cups''. Each cup is a fairly large set of levels which you play in a Mario Kart fashion... you get points based on what position you finished in, and at the end of the Cup, whoever has the most points gets first place. You have to conquer each cup in succession, and once you complete all three, you are then challenged to the ''Miracle Race'', which is a one-on-one race against one of the four hidden characters. If you win the race, you can then choose their karts if you like (and you'd be well advised to do so, since their stats are MUCH higher than the normal characters).

Speaking of characters, there are 11 in total, each with their own stats (speed, acceleration and steering). They're all original creations except for Bently Bear. The characters are all pretty well done, and well drawn... but since they never talk, and this is their only appearance, they're not given a lot of personality (which I always felt was a very important part of Mario Kart's appeal). In any case, the characters have a lot of variety, such as Regius who is a biker chicken; Ptarmigan is a rather evil looking snowman, Vulky the alien, Haratari the samurai, Pulpito the octopus and so on. Some voice clips would really have added to their appeal though.

The tracks in Atari Karts are nicely done... they're very detailed, and each follows a theme (such as the winter track, and the Halloween track). They're very similar in layout to the tracks from Super Mario Kart, but unfortunately they don't really exceed Mario Kart. The only real obstacles throughout the levels are the edges of the track, the odd item, patches of water or dirt that slow you down, oil that spins you around, and some really nasty obstacles that stop you dead in your tracks... unfortunately, that's about it. Mario Kart had a much wider assortment of stuff, like the moles that would jump out at you and such. The real problem with these levels is that everything is so flat. Aside from some upright obstacles, everything is ''painted'' on the ground. This means that it can be hard to tell the differences between power ups, and some obstacles that will stop you dead are almost impossible to see until you hit them. However, the tracks do have a nice 3D effect to them by including hills. Don't expect anything like Mario Kart 64's 3D though, it just sort of ''bends'' the track and makes your kart jump. It's a small addition, but it's nice. Oh, and each track has speed boost arrors and jump pads placed here and there to add to the fun.

Unfortunately, the power ups are a low point in this game. There are no offensive weapons in this game, which really hurts the game play... What could have been frantic and competitive (the way kart racers should be) kind of distills into just another racing game. What you DO get for power ups are a steering wheel (which prevents you from spinning out on tight turns), a tire (which prevents you from slowing down when you go off the track), a rabbit (speed boost), a turtle (slows you down), and a red icon that reverses your controls. Unfortunately, the power ups aren't very useful, and that reverse control thing is SO nasty that you're better off just holding onto a tire without using it simply so that you don't have to worry about getting the reverse controls. Unfortunately, the power ups are also fairly sparse... there are only about 8 or so on each track and they can only be picked up once. The computer doesn't seem affected by them though, so I guess they're all yours. Of course, since there are no real weapons in the game, there is no battle mode.

Graphics: 9

The graphics are very nicely detailed. The racers are well drawn, and the tracks all look excellent. The ''flat'' look of everything is somewhat of a problem, but the hills are a very nice addition. The game plays silky smooth though. All other game screens (title screen, victory screen, etc) are all high-color, High-Res affairs too.

Sound: 6

Well, the music is well done, but it doesn't seem to fit the game very well. I would have preferred if the music had more of a carefree attitude, since kart games are supposed to be rather carefree themselves. There aren't a lot of sound effects in the game... just the standard engine noises, and bumps and such. This game really would have benefited from some character voices.

Replay: 4

Although the single player game is quite fun, there's really not much to do afterwards. You can play two players, but without a battle mode, and without offensive weapons, it gets kind of old fast. One saving grace is that some tracks have shortcuts that can be fun to look for (believe me; you'll NEED those shortcuts when you face Miracle Man!). There also is no Time Trial mode, which seems like an oversight to me.

Overall: 7

Although I kind of went on and on about the bad parts of the game, I have to admit that I still had a lot of fun with it. I just wish that Atari had spent a little more time on this, since it could have easily been far superior to Super Mario Kart.