Disney Speedstorm

And here we have another game I REALLY wanted to like. I mean, a Disney themed kart racer that uses characters and tracks not just from Disney’s animated library but also Pixar’s and Disney’s live action stuff, back when the live action movies were actually original and not just remakes of the animated stuff to pander to adults who hate animation as a medium, AND I don’t have to play 50 previous games just to understand what the Hell is going on lol? Sign me the Hell up! Only for when I original played this back on the PS5 a few years ago I lost interest instantly and spoiler alert, playing it again recently to see if the game has improved since then only to find nothing has changed reminded me why that was. And it’s not even because of the gameplay either. Though to be honest, the gameplay itself isn’t that spectacular anyway. Because it is derivative of literally every other kart racer anyway. You played one kart racer that isn’t Disney Speedstorm? Then you’ve played Disney Speedstorm without even realizing it. There’s really nothing that interesting gameplay wise. Yeah, it has a unique boost mechanic I haven’t seen yet where everything you do from drifting to grinding on rails generates boost you can release at any point and that plus the rail grinding is cool and every item can be charged for a different effect but nothing about these mechanics really wowed me in the same way other kart racers have. Oh sure, there’s special items unique to each character but even that felt underwhelming considering Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed did this first and better. The character designs are also alright, the Pirates of the Carabien and Tron characters look a little wired in this style but they are alright even though I would of also liked an option to wear those character’s classic outfit. Thing is, if THAT was all I had to say about this game, I wouldn’t have as harsh of an opinion as I do. In fact, I’d even say this would be a fun distraction to have installed if you had nothing else going on and you were a fan of Disney. What bothers me about this game is the live service element. I’m going to be blunt; this is by far the worst live service model I have ever seen in a game in my life and that says a lot considering I’ve been alive for almost 30 years now! While you can unlock some characters just by playing the games adventure mode a majority of them have to be unlocked via the premium store because of course they would be one and the in game currency for unlocking new characters you get so slowly and so little off that it’s often easier to just buy them outright with real money and do I even need to explain why that’s a problem? Oh, but you CAN get more by doing special missions… that you can only do a few of a day before they refresh because we got to do EVERYTHING we can to get people to keep coming back. And even then, you have to get lucky and pray the character you want to unlock is available that day or season anyway because why allow players to unlock stuff naturally when you can instead charge them up the ass for it! Imagen downloading this game for you kid because they love Disney movies and it’s costs nothing to add to your library and them realizing they can’t play as say, Joy from Inside Out because she’s not available on the store at that time or she was just recently but because they didn’t play sooner, they miss out! This is something I have hated about the industry since the 2010’s! Not just the predatory microtransaction crap but also this constant and un-necessary need to have exclusive content from characters, cosmetics to even full game modes only be obtainable for a limited time and if you don’t play the game during that time you either miss out on it forever or have to wait weeks, months or even a year just to get a chance to obtain that content again meanwhile the players who were able to play during that time get to show off there fancy gear to others. It just creates un-necessity FOMO and it’s been plaguing the industry for over a decade! It’s not even just an issue with multiplayer focused games like this either, single player games have started doing this ♥♥♥♥ two! Assassin’s Creed Shadows for example has some really cool weapons and armour based of Attack on Titan but are you seriously telling that, because I didn’t play the game during the week they were added, I’m unable to get those items now? Is it any wonder I and so many others have been getting as nostalgic for the 2000’s as we have? Again, this is a game I really wanted to like and give another chance because I’ve seen plenty of comeback stories in regards to certain games getting better as time goes on such as how Cyperpunk 2077 was practically unplayable on launch thanks to just how many bugs there were or how the original version of Final Fantasy 14 was an absolute mess before A Realm Reborn and hoped Disney Speedstorm would be one of those stories two. But it wasn’t! It was an average at best kart racer wrapped in predatory live service practices when I first played it and it still is now that and if I paid actually money just to even play this game I would have been really upset! If you want an actual GOOD Disney crossover to play, just play Kingdom Hearts!