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Review by Jason Venter 
December 05, 2006
Kart racing games have a short but amusing legacy. Super Mario Kart opened the floodgates and now it seems that every mascot aimed at an audience under 12 has no choice but to take it to the race track and show once and for all who is the better racer. Maybe it’s the fascination kids have with cars, or maybe it’s the unspoken rule that says cartoon characters must smash one another with anvils and send each other sliding with banana peels while preparing rocket fire. Cartoon Network Racing is aware of that heritage and it embraces it to. . . decent effect.
The way the game works is pretty simple. There are six different cartoons reflected here: Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, I Am Weasel, Cow & Chicken and Johnny Bravo. Each of the cartoons contributes three racing environments that are collected into circuits. You’ll also be able to choose characters from the shows and karts that reflect their distinct personality (though why Courage would drive a frightening Jack-O-Lantern shall remain an eternal mystery to me; I’d sooner expect to see him steering a giant marshmallow).
When the game first begins, you’ll have only one available circuit, with each new one unlocked as you finish the previous one in first place. Finish the first six circuits and you will have unlocked a clip to go with each of the represented shows. They are all present in their entirety, including opening and closing credits. They also happen to be quite hilarious and, if you’ve not seen a given show before (as was the case for me with “I Am Weasel”), will acquaint you with the personality of each series. Finishing all six tourneys also unlocks the ‘Super Tournament,’ which you can race through to reveal the latter half of a total of 12 cartoon clips.
As neat as that is, you might be asking yourself how the gameplay is. The answer can be summed up in one word: ‘tepid.’
There are a few problems with Cartoon Network Racing, all somewhat typical of hastily-designed games within the genre. The first of these is a tendency to rely on items rather than good courses to provide the bulk of your experience. That translates to a lot of frantic rocket firing and oil slick dropping. At first, it’s kind of fun. It quickly grows tiresome, however, when you spend half your time spinning cookies after rebounding from an attack you couldn’t avoid. There are times when you’ll take two or three hits before you even regain control of your kart. There’s a nice assortment of offensive and defensive weapons like artificial crates, oil slicks, rockets and boosts, but none of the available options have the simple charm of a red shell or a banana peel.
Perhaps because there are so many items scattered about (and opponents ready to use them), the game employs what some have aptly called rubber band AI. The minute you take the lead, you can be certain you’ll maintain it for only a second or two. Then the red exclamation mark will appear to tell you that you’re about to be wiped out by an attack from behind, and then you are. Alternatively, you might build up a healthy lead, then round a corner and watch in surprise as an opponent glides right by you as if the move didn’t take any effort at all.
Some might suppose that my complaint is the result of me taking a corner poorly. I assure you that it is not. Cornering is actually pretty decent once you get used to the loose controls and fully utilize your drift capabilities. Even the tightest of corners can be pulled through if you hit them at the right angle, then release the gas, drift off to the side and then accelerate out of the curve. Switchbacks are no match for a cow and a chicken with the passion to win!
Of course, there also are those corners you can’t possibly take the way you might intend. Maybe you’re still spinning from one of the too-numerous weapon attacks, or perhaps a kart has bumped you from the side just when you were about to turn with a figure skater’s grace. Maybe you just weren’t paying attention. Whatever the case, it seems like half the corners you must attempt aren’t met under optimal circumstances. Then you hit a wall off to the side and try to correct yourself, only the kart spins wildly at all sorts of odd angles and everyone passes you.
It’s no matter; you can take all the time in the world on the normal tournament. Maybe you’ll sit there and stare at the wall for a second, admiring the textures and collecting your thoughts. Then you’ll race like crazy again, and in half a lap you’ll be in the middle of true contention for first place all over again. That is the nature of the artificial intelligence on display here. You can love it or hate it, but make sure that you use it to your advantage when possible.
Once you figure out how to do so, it probably won’t take you long to unlock each of the six course sets. When I played through, I was half ready to start cussing any number of times, but I always managed to pull through in the lead. All six circuits fell to my superior racing skills on the first attempt, and then it was on to the Super Tournament. Only that isn’t nearly as easy as the first one. There, the racers aren’t gracious enough to wait for you and they aren’t any nicer about pelting you with weapons. Veteran racers will find themselves plenty challenged, while kids would almost certainly just keep playing the early races if not for the desire to unlock additional cartoon episodes.
In any event, Cartoon Network Racing is a decent game that suffers from the same flaws you’ll find in any of its contemporaries. That’s perhaps not so much its fault as it is a fault of the genre. If you’re ready to put up with the AI’s deficiencies and longer load times than normal, you’ll probably find that the game is a perfectly acceptable way to pass a rainy afternoon.
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Most recent video game reviews written by Jason Venter
The Simpsons Arcade Game (Xbox 360) [February 04, 2012]
Pushmo (3DS) [January 31, 2012]
Unstoppable Gorg (PC) [January 19, 2012]
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Xbox 360) [January 08, 2012]
Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC) [January 04, 2012]
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