Justin calvert writes:
''When Mario Kart DS was released toward the end of 2005, it set the standard for racing games on Nintendo's newest handheld extremely high. Now, with the arrival of M&M's Kart Racing, there's a new benchmark against which to compare would-be competitors, though at the other end of the scale. This candy-inspired kart racer does almost nothing right as you negotiate its 11 uninspired courses, and it doesn't even try to do a lot of the stuff that you might expect to be standard over two years after Mario Kart DS. Even if you're allergic there's more fun to be found in a packet of M&M's than there is here, and given the game's dearth of modes the candy could conceivably last longer, too.''
Carl Williams writes, "Licensing is a staple of gaming. It has been since the Atari 2600 days. Licensing is going nowhere as companies realize they can halfheartedly work on a game, slap a license on it, and expect to at least make back their investment if not a tidy profit to boot. I have collected five licensed games here that completely missed the mark in some way. As a bonus, I mention what they should have gone with for each license."
Mario Kart is very good. M&M’s, they’re not Smarties, but they’re pretty good too. Blend the two together and you can imagine how great the outcome is.
That’s right. Damned awful.
Video game tie-ins to TV shows and franchises have always been hit and miss but recently there's been a resurgence in the worst example of tie-ins: The Kart Racer. Ruaidhri counts down the Top 5 Most Shameful Kart Racing Games.
