Mini Karts

fighissimo il concept, peccato per l'assenza del multiplayer

Review:

Mini Karts is a simple, but very fun 2.5D racing game somewhat reminiscent of old top-down racing games, but with much smoother controls and a gameplay style more in line with modern kart racers. 

At first handling the kart can be somewhat difficult (in part due to the somewhat janky collision system being very punishing), but it doesn't take long to get used to the controls and once that happens, racing around the track and drifting around corners, trying get as much speed as possible by charging  mini-turbos up until the last second, becomes very fun. The core gameplay is definitely very satisfying, and I'll admit I spent way too much time trying to improve and optimize my times.

As far as the presentation goes, the 2.5D style the game uses looks very nice. While the track's look may be a bit generic, it captures the aesthetic of those retro racing games really well, while at the same time taking advantage of the dynaminism the fake 3D style and its moving camera offer. The particle effects  are also pretty nice, and I really liked the detail of the skid marks the karts leave on the track. I also really liked the  charming designs of the karts.

As for the only real flaw in the game in my opinion (nitpicks aside) is, as I alluded to earlier, the unpredictable collision system. Whenever you crash into a tree or an AI racer, it feels completely arbitrary which direction you will end up facing, not to mention it also almost completely kills your speed and any mini-turbo you're in the middle of charging. This can make any crashes very disorienting, especially combined with the fact that the camera still follows the direction your kart is facing after the collision. This isn't much of a problem once you learn how to avoid the trees, but against the other racers, it can make it very risky and difficult to overtake them or stop them from doing the same, especially since the road isn't particularly wide. The collisions can also be a bit glitchy too.

Despite this, the game is still very fun and I would recommend it if you're looking for a nice, fun, short and simple game to play on an afternoon or something. I'll close this review off with a list of some small nitpicks or bugs I've noticed which don't really impact the gameplay but I think could be improved upon:

-When choosing the green and red cars, they start behind the blue car, which has a lower acceleration, which means a crash is practically guaranteed if the player doesn't wait a second before accelerating after the start of the race.

-For some reason hitting some trees can sometimes teleport you to a different part of the track (or even the AI racers). Honestly this is kind of amusing lol.

-Hitting another racer can rarely cause a chain reaction of other collisions for about a second. 

-The placement indicator can be a bit buggy when racers are on different laps, though this doesn't really matter.

-I feel like the mini-turbo stat is a bit too valuable compared to the rest (Honestly I'd tier the karts from highest to lowest mini-turbo, that's how good I think it is, though maybe I'm just too obsessed with drifting anywhere I can haha)

Overall, especially for a game made in less than a month, this was a very enjoyable experience.