Hot Rod Mayhem

A nice kart racer that came out for the consoles back in April and now made its way to Steam. The karts are a bit clunky and heavy, and I wish the game were a little faster, but it plays well. Everything you'd expect from a kart racer seems accounted for like drifting, which charges up your turbo, weapons and item crates, (many) multiple pathways, a way to turbo boost from the race start (hold brake and gas at the same time and release brake just before "go"), a career mode, tournaments, and so on. The levels -- I believe there's 10 total with forward, reverse, mirror, and twisted versions of each -- are quite colorful and creative including sections that see you racing through skate parks, merry-go-rounds, avoiding walking people at an amusement park, and more. It's certainly not the greatest kart racer but it's a fine one, and well worth its relatively light asking price if you're a fan of the genre.

Hot Rod Mayhem is a fun blast, you race across wild tracks against rivals, choosing from 15 different hot-rods with varying stats to suit your style. Early on you unlock championships by completing challenge trials and things like dodging hazards, jumping through hoops, or using booster pads. Before you tackle full races, the item system adds a lot of spice, use things like a Homing Dart, a Marble, a Shield or Turbo Boost to mess with rivals or gain an edge. The courses themselves feel fresh, especially with mirrored, reversed or twisted versions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcurWozlKpY

Cool, like real Mario Cart. I'll say right off the bat, there's not much content, but it's high quality. I really liked the car physics. Surprisingly, when you unlock a new car, it's not just a reskin—it feels like a completely different vehicle to drive. To be honest, though, it turned out that the fastest car was the most comfortable to drive, even if it was less controllable. As for the tracks, I loved the idea that, although there are only about 8-10 of them, they keep things fresh by changing directions or being mirrored. It gives a sense of familiarity but with a slightly new twist—awesome! The driving is smooth, the graphics are pleasant, and the effects are well-executed. It feels great with a gamepad. Overall, if the game keeps developing, I’d recommend buying it. Additional important thing - it's not overwhelmed with colors on the screen like Dreamworks or Nickelodeon stuff. It's much harder on medium level, but it's definately easier to play cause lack trash in the screen. I would say - absolutely wonderful art design and I'm really surprised, that small team made art design better, than Nickelodeon after 3rd attempt.

Fun, casual cart game. Feels like a bit underappreciated genre on PC.

The rubber-banding is atrocious on medium difficulty, so I'd recommend this for a casual playthrough to enjoy some mindless racing looking at pretty visuals.