Bomberman Kart

I spoke briefly in my mobile Crash Tag Team Racing review about the tremendous opportunity out there for a company to create a fast and frantic mascot kart racer for the mobile platform. Kart racers, great ones, have the ability to appeal beyond typical "hardcore" or "casual" playing habits, and appeal to everyone. Bomberman Kart comes a lot closer to achieving that goal than Crash did, but it still isn't quite there.

In Kart gamers can choose from bombermen of many different colors, each with their own unique stats. I eventually became partial to the red bomber, who had an extremely high boost rating (at the expense of below average stats in other areas). Once a driver has been chosen you select from one of three karts, again, each with their own stats for grip, speed, and more. It might have made sense to select a kart with strengths to offset your driver's weaknesses, but in practice this much thoughtful planning isn't necessary to win races.

The meat of the game is the ever-familiar GP mode - race through three tracks, earning points based on your standing after each race. The most points at the end of the three races wins. There are three GPs total, but the last is really just a super GP, made up of all the courses from the first two. This leaves Bomberman Kart fairly brief at just six courses. A time trial mode does do a little to alleviate the game's brevity, however.

The courses themselves are a lot more interesting than many other mobile kart titles. Boosts strips are regular sights early on, replaced in later courses with sharp, hairpin turns. Mines, oil spills, and ramps (to send you airborne, thus avoiding said pitfalls) also litter the tracks.

The entire game gives much more of a sensation of speed than it's peers. Using your nitro sends you flying up the track and (usually) allows you to quickly overtake at least a couple of your fellow racers. Racing against 5 other bombermen also helps to keep the action frantic. I never went long without someone shooting a weapon my way, or me having the opportunity to return the favor.

Bomberman Kart's biggest fault is that I'm just not convinced the mobile medium is ready to do this type of game justice, yet. The experience lacks fidelity - sometimes I'll seemingly pass right through obstacles, or other racers. Other times I'll get stopped in my tracks and have no idea what hit me. The entire experience is a little too loose to be as fun as it could have been.
Bomberman Kart is probably the most enjoyable mobile kart racer I've played, but it's still a tough game to give a huge amount of praise. The gameplay is inoffensive enough, but doesn't do anything to elevate above adequacy.