Four Modes and Several Years Ago...
Zero Gear is a fair little multiplayer kart racing / combat game. There are four different modes that you play on: basic kart racing, goal, tag, and target modes. Racing and goal modes turn out to be pretty fun. Tag and target modes, on the other hand, suck. Tag mode involves somebody being “it” and either gaining or losing points at different points during the game. However, “tagging” somebody is about as easy as trying to catch a house fly with chop sticks...ruining this mode. Target mode involves jumping off a platform and trying to land your kart in a target area for points...maybe fun for a mini-game, but it gets old pretty fast. The kart racing plays out like a poor man’s Mario Kart...but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t fun. Racing is still fun, just not as polished as some other kart racers, lacking some of the mechanics (like sliding) or memorable tracks. Goal mode is pretty much team sports in karts...you play hockey, football (American football), basketball, and soccer (football). Both racing and goal modes are really fun and make up the main chunk of the tracks that you will play on.
Empty Tracks
This game was really built around multiplayer madness. Unfortunately, nobody really plays it anymore. You can fill up slots with bots, but they just aren’t as fun as playing with / against a bunch of friends. Their AI is kinda spotty sometimes too, I noticed that on some tracks they would just get stuck constantly running themselves into a wall. However, even if you are racing against some “special needs” racers, it doesn’t sap all the enjoyment out of the game, you’ll still find some in there. One really cool feature that does need to be mentioned is that you can create and customize your own racer instead of having to choose from stock ones. I always enjoy customization stuff and this game delivers plenty of that by letting you choose racers, karts, tires, accessories, and colors for yourself.
Credit: NimbleBitDecent Indie Kart Racer
There are certainly some faults with this game. A couple of the modes are just painful to play. The multiplayer is pretty much dead. The AI for the bots is pretty bad. Even the kart racing, which is fun, features mechanics that are pretty simplistic and runs on tracks that are easily raced blind. However, the racing IS fun. The goal mode IS fun. This game DOES deliver as long as you aren’t expecting it to be Mario Kart. I give Zero Gear a 6/10, being more kart-astic rather than a kart-astrophy. I’d recommend anyone picking it up if they find it on sale or have a lot of buddies to race against, and I’d say it’s a must-try for any kart-racing enthusiast.
