Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway review

As a kid I spent many a morning watching Nickelodeon cartoons while eating delicious bowls of sugary cereal. The adventures of oddball characters like Doug and Eliza Thornberry were all my young brain needed to start out the weekend right, and got me ready for a day of video gaming. The only thing I liked more than Nicktoons back then was a good kart racer, so the blending of these two concepts in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway would’ve blown my tiny mind.

Upon loading up Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 I was immediately impressed by the selection of characters I could choose from. All the modern cartoons that I barely recognise are represented, but so are plenty of my classics. Choosing between Hey Arnold, a Rugrats baby and Catdog was a tough decision, but eventually I settled on my favourite football headed child and was ready to race.

It feels a little harsh to say this, but if you’ve ever played a Mario Kart game you pretty much know what to expect here. Three laps around a themed course against eleven other cartoon characters is the name of the game, with a whole host of items to throw at each other to keep things interesting. This would be fine if the game was close to the quality of the leader of the kart racing pack, but unfortunately that isn’t the case.

The best way to describe the different tracks in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 is sensory overload. Themed around each of the cartoon franchises, you’ll be whizzing around these unicorn vomit coloured tracks and if you’re anything like me you’ll struggle to tell what’s a hazard and what’s a threat to your first place victory.

As you race your way to the front you’ll spot plenty of the best Mario Kart mechanics that have been gleefully inserted into this cartoon mashup. The basic stuff like drifting and a speed boost at the start of each race doesn’t feel too heinous, but the cars that transform into boats and the selection of weapons feel a little more egregious. I expected the equivalent of the red and green shell, but when I first had the hand from Spongebob block my view like a Blooper I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway does have some ideas of its own though. The slime itself is one of them, which you can collect to power up a special ability that’s usable multiple times a race. There are also slime paths hidden around a lot of the tracks that automatically speed you along them, as long as you can time jumping over the hurdles that litter them anyway.

There are also events that can happen mid race, which task everybody with a side objective to complete. One of these sees you knocking down bowling pins, and if you fail to hit enough of them you’ll spin out. Another litters the course with massive gnomes to dodge. It’s an interesting idea, but ultimately they’re often just a bit annoying when you’re trying to deal with the constant hazards and sharp turns.

It’s worth praising the variety of ways you can play Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3. Each cup (made up of four tracks) can be played alone or with a friend splitscreen, or you can take the fun online and take on the world. The online ran really smoothly in all the races I had, which is nice because it’s another way to earn the currency you’ll need to unlock everything.

There are a load of characters locked when you first start Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, as well as car parts and paint jobs. It costs a lot of slime tokens to unlock each of them, so get ready to do a hell of a lot of racing. It’s worth it to optimize your kart though, whether you’re trying to make it look stylish or maximising your top speed.

As well as putting the perfect ride together, you also need to decide on your crew. Each crew member gives you a different special ability when you’re in a race, from Shredder’s spinning blades that automatically deploy to hurt nearby enemies to Pearl’s speed boost when you’re in the air. It’s a cool way to switch up the gameplay to suit your play style, and is worth playing around with if you’re struggling to win.

Despite having fun playing Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 and reliving my childhood, I should also mention that it has some pretty significant technical issues. The framerate chugs on some levels, and it’s really distracting. I also had multiple instances of my kart falling through the level and costing me my deserved first place spot.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is a decent kart racing game, but technical issues and poor track design prevent it from being anything more than that. If you or your kids are huge Nicktoon fans then you’ll likely have some fun racing around as your favourites, but don’t go in expecting a Mario Kart killer.