Recente recensies door OuTSMoKE

Seeing as the game has went 1.0 (my thoughts on that to follow), I suppose I ought to finally write a review, considering my time spent in the game. There's going to be positives and negatives.

TLDR: I definitely recommend this game. (PS: Teens & up, it's NOT for kids.)

I'll break this into sections.

All thoughts are as of June 2, 2025, some issues may have been fixed if you're reading this in the future.

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First off, it's weird how "underground" this game is. It's literally the perfect game for like a community night for streamers to play with their subscribers. I know there's like 0 advertising, but even word of mouth. I tell people and they seem disinterested, yet the ones that do eventually try are like "this game's awesome!".

The game itself offers a lot... like.. a LOT. I honestly don't even know how to describe it exactly. Even the trailer is overwhelming for people to watch. The best way I could describe it is to imagine Second Life had been developed into a GOOD game, and then bolted on all of your favorite classic online multiplayer games.

It may look like it, but it's NOT a kids game. You could like load up mini golf with chat turned off, or ball race, etc, and let your kid play, but I wouldn't advise letting them free roam on their own.

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When I first got this game, a couple buddies and I would play some mini golf in it, do some bowling, ann the hit the casino for a bit. That was basically it. I never really saw the need for "pretend houses" on the Condo building side of thing, as I wasn't giving it much thought. It wasn't until Mac put out the LibRetro update with emulator cabinets in game that it caught my attention, and after that, condo building was more my focus. I wound up first building something on each available condo, and now I basically only build new condos on the empty Smooth Dirt map. I've built multiple theaters & arcades, an amphitheater, and even have a few other basically perpetually WIP condos with a museum and an theme park. There's a low of garbage and NSFW stuff in the player condo list, but seek out the gems as there's some quality condo builds to be found. There's of course my condos, but others to keep a watch for are community events, such as The Tower Hub's community doing something, or Studio Mercy hosting an in-game concert. As for just checking out condo builds, anything by Baby in a Pipe will melt your brain, and GoopGoop's level of detail on her builds is unmatched.

I don't so much "play" that much these days as I do host my condos for the Tower community to enjoy, but Tower is still my favorite online game as of writing this.

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The Team: The team behind this game are good folks that communicate and listen to their players in order to make the game, and are also good about addressing bugs in a timely manner (for the most part). Mac & his team are constantly working on this game. Most game devs would have burned out years ago and moved on to something else, so you can tell they actually care about the game. Devs that care are crucial for a game's longevity.

Value: The fact there's no microtransactions is an appealing concept, with (almost) everything obtainable with just the initial purchase of the game. This factor also appears in the negative section.

Activities: There's a LOT to do. Kart racing, mini golf, monkey ball, movies, arcade games, carnival games, a casino, a night club, pool... I mean whatever your gaming needs, you're basically covered with this game.

Community: The community for the most part is far less toxic than most online social communities you come across in games. There's also a lot of creative condo builds to check out.

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The Team: The team being small means that things do take a bit longer, and at times when multiple projects are being worked on they can be spread rather thin. Larger projects like the dedicated condos or VR support will take considerably longer than other games.

Activies: As stated, there's a LOT to do, but that also means there's a LOT to work on. As I stated, the team loves their game, which means they have a lot of ideas. The problem with that is many aspects remained in an "unfinished" state because their attention was drawn elsewhere before completing them. Some examples of this would be a need for some additional arcade cabinet types for LibRetro emulation, the mover system being like 3/4 complete in what it can do, and the MIDI player system desparitly needing some new instruments. These things wound up kind of going unfinished because boardwalk games got prioritized, then bumper cars came along, etc. It's a little frustration if one of your favorite systems in the game needs a bit more work while you watch more and more content get added.

Community: Yes, the community overall, like 90% of it, is chill. But it's an online social game, so you're still going to come across random squeakers who think it's cool to yell the N word, or people who are just garbage in general. It's policed pretty well as far as the public Plaza areas go, and they do moderate and issue bans, just know it's something you'll most likely encounter, especially when going into Player Condos, which are user-hosted and not monitored by PixelTail unless they're directly reported. Condos can have some very NSFW things in them.

Value: This is where my opinion gets hated on. I don't agree with the "no microtransactions" policy. In a game where there's an online social public area, it's not a viable long term setup, since PixelTail has to pay to run those servers. You think GTA Online would still be up 12 years after it launched if they weren't selling people shark cards? Companies need cash flow to operate servers, and if your only income is the initial purchase, that's not going to last forever. I get there's a supporter pack, and now a second one. Will there be a third? and a fourth? Will it end up looking like the Sims 4 where it's the base game and like 30 supporter packs? Those are only purchased by people who own the game, so why not let those people who already have the game and want to support do so regularly? My suggestion was straight up unit packs, no exclusive paid items, just buy some funds if you don't want to grind. Hell, even a simple $5 a month Battle Pass or something, which could also be useful for people who maxed out their XP in areas, where gained XP goes to their pass rewards, which could be bonus units.

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I honestly love this game. There's so much you can do with it. That said, I have some concerns over decisions made with the 1.0 release. I'm sure they had their reasons for doing it when they did, but man that was the worse timing. People's first impressions of the game shouldn't have been the Plaza during Anniversary mode. We all know how sketchy even a half full Plaza runs when there's 3 character visits, and egg and catack hunt, pumpkin blast running and x-mas presents all over all at once. I fell like they should have ended Anniversary before going 1.0. If you played during that and bailed, try it now that it's back in normal mode.

I also think 1.0 should have waited until systems that people interested in this type of game would want were completed, such as Dedicated Condos & VR Support, and the Workshop Rental Store to show off what the game can do on the condo side of it.

I still definitely recommend it.

This is a really fun and unique game. Been doing a duos run with a buddy and it's be so fun!

In a sea of zombie games, battle royals, and Rust-type clones, this game is a breath of fresh air! I'm nearing the end of my game now, and have enjoyed every minute. The perspective of a simple backyard from a bug's point of view is quite immersive. While realism is stretched a bit in some instances, they've done a great job of turning normal natural items into things you can use for crafting and building.

The level of detail put into the game is also very impressive. At first it feels like it may be kind of a generic backyard level, but the further out you start to explore, the more you discover the amount of care and attention to detail they've actually put into building this huge backyard world. Our whole adventure has been filled with "dude, come look at this!" moments as we find yet another cool thing they've tucked into some random corner somewhere.

The story itself is also kind of neat. We were expecting something along the lines of a "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" type story line, but they went in a different direction with it. The mission dialog can be a bit long winded, but also at times has made us both laugh. The character ad libs in game I could do without, as they're very repetitive.

Now that it's almost over, while waiting on my buddy to have time to wrap it up (only do missions and stuff when we're both on), I find myself hopping back into our game just to run around and explore every inch of the amazing map.

There's only one real downside with this game. The story. Don't get me wrong, the story is fun, but it's also the main driving factor in this game. This is one of those games where once you finish it, you probably won't play it again, at least not for a long time.

We were already speculating and coming up with DLC stuff for it. We're hoping for an expansion DLC sometime in the future. Like a "Return to the backyard" type of thing, or the adjacent yard unlocking due to a hole in the fence, or even a new adventure that ventures INTO the house.

So yeah, overall, highly recommend. More fun with friends!

It's a solid kart racing game that makes a lot of bad decisions.

First off, it's not a bad game, which is why I gave it a thumbs up. Overall I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars, though. The controls are solid, the latency has been good for me, and overall it's fun.

However, it has some really glaring issues that I will list below.

1: New tracks are locked behind having to Driver's Ed type missions. This is really dumb. Track progression to keep different skill levels grouped together is fine, but this isn't the way to do it. They could have easily made like 4 starter tracks, and after you've placed Top 3 in them X amount of times you unlock the next set. The fact that a majority of the players don't even know about this setup means everyone is always playing the same handful of tracks, leading to the game becoming boring more quickly. If you

2: The whole Nexon account thing sucks. I don't care about the having an account per-say, but having to pick a Nexon display name instead of just displaying our Steam names is garbage. I use the same main account name everywhere, yet because I needed an account with this Korean company I never knew about until this game, of course it wasn't available. They could have left it displaying our gamer tags from whatever platform we're on while still having to link to a Nexon for their back end stuff. This is fixable and hopefully they do it.

3: Once you pick your display name, you can't change it. WTF is this? Again if we're linked to a Nexon account, what's it matter if we change the display name?

4: The game could do a better job of relaying how some things work, and the tutorial is more boring than informative. It basically goes over what everyone already knows about kart games, but fails to really touch on the unique points of the game that people would need to know about. Power up items are one, but you can learn these as you play, a quick reference chart of power ups and what they do in the lobby somewhere would be ideal. Another is the decal editor mode, it's not very intuitive.

5: This game desperately needs circuit races, I would have to imagine that it has to be something planned for the future. The single race setup REALLY hampers the game flow. My buddy and I started playing this, expecting basically like a Fall Guys structure, like 3 or 4 races in a block and the all the tracks scores added up at the end to determine winners. Instead we were greeted to a quick 3 lap race on a relatively short track, then were like "That's it, we gotta re-queue again already?". Now, I understand that a single race structure can prevent people from bailing on multiple race setups, but they could implement a punishment system. Bail on one race, X minute ban from circuit mode, multiple leaves can lead to longer bans from the mode. Excluding mobile devices from a circuit mode would also probably be ideal.

So yeah. I have quite a few gripes, but the game is still really fun. I would say that reasons #1 & 5 above DEFINITELY keeps me from playing this game much more, as they definitely hurt the gameplay.

Let me start out by saying I love this game. Not only does it present you with a solid racing game, it also fulfills the expected Destruction Derby™ nostalgia as well. Another spiritual successor showing the AAA guys how it's done.

This is my review after playing only career mode, completing the first two championships. At this time I will not include any online play review, though I'm guessing this would be mad fun with friends.

My System: i7-4790k/16GB DDR3/GTX 1080

PROS

- The game runs amazingly smooth for how many things it's keeping track of with all the damage and other stuff all over the track. The only frame dips i ever get are during a demolition derby, and even then my locked 60 dips to MAYBE 57 at the lowest.

- Speaking of things on the track, the amount of the track that is interactive is crazy. There have been many times where I have that old mentality of "I'll just deflect off this railing and straighten out", which in this game turns into "oh, I went through the railing and am now tumbling down a hill".

- I like the way career mode is presented, and it gives a variety of options to keep things fresh. The variants in races & vehicles changes things up quite a bit. These points are ironically also going to be showing up in my cons list.

- The vehicle handling and physics are very good in this. They offer a simplified tuning system anyone can grasp, as well as some more advances options for those who like to tinker further.

- The AI in this game is neat. It seems like it's a blend of basic AI and player data, which displays player names above them. It makes career races almost feel like an online race, except with all the toxic 14 year olds.

- The level of detail is great when it comes to the other cars. The map damage, the road markings, the tire smoke, the vehicle pieces. A lot of companies focus mostly on your main car and leave stuff off the AI for performance, but they've manage to include those high level of details to the cars around you, making it more immersive.

CONS

- I'll start off with the big one, the one everyone complains about, and the reason this didn't get 5 stars, and that's career mode. The fact that to replay a race you have to reset all progress is ridiculous. Once you finish a race in career, the points for that race should lock in, allowing you to come back to try and raise/max them, or try to complete the bonus goals. The fact that you have to do both at once is a very poor design choice.

It seems the races all default to 3 laps, and sometimes a "final race" in a circuit having 6 laps, no matter the length. One particular race I was in was 3 laps on a 1700 yard track. The bonus goal is to crash out 3 other racers. So you have to start at the back of the pack, crash 3 people, AND finish in first place in the course of like 3-4 minutes, which you're only going to do by dumb luck. For now until this is fixed I just ignore the bonus goals and if they clear, they clear. Otherwise prepare to be using the restart function constantly.

- So this was in my pro list too, but the variety. The amount of different vehicle classes and races types you're present with, coupled with the current rate of in game money you get, makes it difficult to keep up with upgrading all your vehicles.

- The random rewards are definitely random. They will give you parts you already own, which would be fine if you could sell them. Just in my last session I received a stock exhaust as a reward... which is stock... as in the part the car has on it when you get it. I also had it give me a part i had just bought 2 races back, I think it was a sports carb.

- "Visual" upgrades. My last complaint, and this is nitpicking, but I feel like with a game that is this detail it's an oversight. I get that visual upgrades are supposed to be cosmetic this that don't effect performance, but they aren't, really. Visual upgrades would be stuff like the paint and livery, not body modifications. Cutting off parts of your car, or adding items should effect performance. IE: Cutting off fenders should reduce weight, or adding a spolier could increase weight slightly but improve cornering.

CONCLUSION

This is a great racing title that just needs some minor tweaks to make it an absolute gem. It's a fun, nostalgic, casual racing game that should fit into everyone's library.

If you're on the fence, grab it next sale!

SOS? More like POS.

Not what I thought I was buying. Youtube videos showed the old game, the cool, co-op survival game show game, not some garbage battle royale game. Incoming refund.

Feel sorry for the people who got bait-and-switched early and can't refund it now.

It's just a subpar battle royale game, not even worth the $6 it's on sale for right now. What was once a great concept has turned into your run of the mill cash grab.

I did play 2 rounds of BR mode to give it a try at least, it's terrible. The lighting is bad, the sounds are horrible in regards to hearing your own steps like it's other people, no co-op modes for teaming with friends, no voice chat. Just don't buy it.

I really enjoy this game. It definietly has a feel of lonliness. Definitely worht the 15 bucks!