Garfield Kart: Furious Racing Review
Its a beautiful Sunday morning. You and your family are on your way to church and you marvel at the quietness around you. “Not a car in sight” you say before thanking the lord for this bounty. Suddenly you hear a thunderous roar. You look up to see not a cloud in the sky. The sound draws closer and louder. You begin to sweat; knuckles white from gripping the wheel. Without warning, the car is flipped up into the air. Everyone is screaming but they are drowned out from the now deafening roars, shattering glass, and the screech of metal as it scrapes and bends to the road. Clutching your head in a daze; you look and see your family are dead from the impact. Still dazed and sore yourself; you crawl out of the broken window and notice a lasagne pan at your face. Its still warm…
You quickly rise to your feet and look forward to see the face of hell itself.
Its Garfield.
He looks back at you and smiles as he drives out of view.
That’s right folks! The sequel nobody asked for, except maybe yours truly, has arrived. Garfield kart: Furious Racing, by developer Artefacts Studio and publisher Microids, is the second kart racing game to sport the orange cat and his friends and its back with a vengeance. But hey, don’t take my word for it; put on your seat belts and take this road less travelled to see if Garfield Kart 2 is right for you! (Actually… please take my word for this since this is my review…)
Story:
You’re Garfield and his pals. You have all decided to go go karting around the world. You make a competition of it. 11/10 Just enough water.
(But seriously it’s non existent and that’s fine)
- For those familiar with the first Garfield Kart, you’ll notice many assets were recycled for GK2.
- But don’t let these recycled assets fool you. The game is now over 5GB in size so a lotta work was put into the graphics.
- That said; you’ll want to turn the sound fx volume down in order to save your ears from the tinny engine revving.
Gameplay:
Feels way better than the first game. Steering is tight and kind of reminiscent of the bumper cars at your local state fair. This sounds strange but is a good thing because Garfield Kart has “borrowed” the drifting mechanics of it’s competition like Mario Kart and CTR. In fact it borrows a lot of things from the competition: You can perform tricks in the air (according to achievements though I’ve never figured it out), you have two item slots to use, each with two different uses depending on what button you press, there are collectables to find on each track and you can unlock hats and car parts that boost your stats. The one refreshing difference it has though is in the fact all karts and tracks are unlocked from the get go and… THERE ARE NO MICROTRANSACTIONS!! YA HEAR THAT ACTIVISION? WHAT’S IT LIKE TO HAVE LESS STREET CRED THAN A $15 BUDGET TITLE?! I BET IT FEELS REALLLL GOOD.
S…Sorry I got a little carried away there. That said Garfield Kart: Furious Racing plays competantly and far better than what you’d expect from games that release at it’s price range. It’s a good game for the kids or just to have for game night as it has both online and couch multiplayer. Just don’t expect to meet strangers playing this game just yet. it doesn’t exactly have it’s claws in the sales department just yet.
B+
- This game has a lot going for it despite its small price tag like dual wielding items; each with 2 different uses.
- There is also a drift boost system similar to those found in other kart games.
- Heck! It even has couch and online multiplayer.
Music and Graphics:
Music is the same as the first offering. It’s mildly cheerful and quick to be absorbed by your focus and then thoroughly drowned out by the revving of engines. In fact the only thing I can knock this game for is the engine sound they implemented. Every kart has the same sound and I am sure they just took a weed wacker and went ham on it near a microphone. Luckily you can turn down that sound but it also turns down all other sound effects. Hopefully the game will be updated to replace that sound or give the option to affect it directly without the “cat”lateral damage.
Graphics use the same model as the first game as well. In fact many assets in general were used to create this game including the tracks (which were perfectly fine last time around). However the difference here over the music is that there was a lot of time taken to clean up these graphics. There is more detail, better shadowing and it shows in the much larger file size Garfield Kart has at a solid five GB more than it’s predecessor. A huge step up for sure and for the price, a perfectly acceptable upgrade.
C (That darn engine sound really hurt this one)
- While all karts courses and karts are available right out the gate; hats and spoilers, which improve your stats, are tied up as achievement based unlockables.
- Don’t forget to look for and find these puzzle pieces for more unlockable goodies.
Final thoughts:
This ain’t yo daddy’s shovelware! Why? Cause it’s actually playable. In fact the now franchise has evolved into upper budget title status. It’s dirt cheap for what it gives you and that is a middle of the road, inoffensive but enjoyable multiplayer karting experience.
B+
Note: GameOctane editor Ryan Welch received a digital code from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing this game. Any code or product intended for reviews is distributed to the team to review and stream for our audience.
Check us out at Opencritic!
