TNT Racers Review

Great budget arcade racers aren’t very easy to find these days, with the influx of realism into seemingly every new game that comes out. It’s not often that a game focuses on being a fun title to pick up and play whenever you have spare time. Can TNT Racers throw realism out the window while still delivering a quality racing experience? Check out our review to find out!

Not too long ago, I played a gem called ‘Micro Machines on the NES.’ It was a top-down racing game that I loved when I was a kid, and it instantly brought to mind the game I’ll be reviewing today. TNT Racers is a top-down combat racing game. As much as racing is a vital part of the game, destroying your opponents and taking them out of the race is equally important. The game packs 18 courses to run your opponents off and plenty of vehicles to switch between. When you combine all of the course hazards and power-ups with cartoon-like graphics, you get an enjoyable experience.

Gameplay

TNT Racers packs a lot into a tiny package. At first, it doesn’t look like much; however, once you take a closer look, you realize that you’re getting a lot of content for your $9.99. This is a kart racer at heart, and you can go into it expecting much of the same that you’ve seen in many other kart racers, with a few exceptions. You’re getting a solid, fun, racing experience where the objective is to beat your opponents or eliminate them. There is a wide range of levels and vehicles to choose from.

Each level features a varying degree of environmental hazards and settings, providing a significant amount of variety to the game. The cars, while all aesthetically different, offer no fundamental performance differences (although the alien ship/hovercraft is a personal favorite of mine). The most significant difference between this game and most kart racers is the speed at which each race progresses. You can be eliminated very early on if you don’t get a quick start due to the fact that you have to be on screen to continue the race. This small fact can be frustrating. However, it adds a new dimension to the level of difficulty.

Game Modes

Solo modes are split into three different race modes: Challenge, Time Trial, and custom race options. All of these different race modes are also available for multiplayer, either locally or online. While the three race modes (really two, with a customizable third option) seem like a relatively weak offering, the Challenge Mode provides a remedy for that. There are three different series of 12 races, each with three difficulty levels: Normal, Fast, and Turbo.

In addition to the varying difficulty levels, Challenge Mode features four main game modes: Knockout, Score, Time, and Lap. All of these modes are self-explanatory; if those aren’t enough for you, there are even more! Other variants have you racing through cones or mines, trying to break objects in a set amount of time, and time trials. The content in TNT Racers is vibrant and plentiful, keeping you occupied for hours if you want to sit down and complete the challenge mode.

Power-Ups

You’ll find a lot of similarities with other kart racers in TNT Racers, and yet if you look at the power-ups, you’ll see a lot of interesting ones like mallets, plungers with anvils attached to slow your opponents down, mines, cannons, nitro boost, and shields. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. You can choose to drop a power-up if it is of no use to you. Like most games, the AI players seem to shift their focus to you if you’re close to them, which can make life difficult. Another feature quite different from most in the genre is the weather system on some levels. This includes blowing snow and sand that can crush your hopes of victory.

If you are unlucky enough to be eliminated in the early stages of a race, fear not. Your opponents have something to fear. You will become a shadow car after being eliminated during most races. This means revenge. You will have the ability to slow down cars and eliminate them from the race entirely with unique power-ups, and not only that, but you’ll still be able to collect coins (which help you attain a higher score each time you collect one of the three bronze, silver, or gold coins).

Final Thoughts

TNT Racers is one of the best value games available, thanks to the sheer amount of content it provides. The number of game modes, power-ups, levels, and cars in the game is unmatched by any other title in a similar category at the same price point. It’s simply a great game to pick up and play or something to bring out when you have a few buddies over. The problems I had with this game stem from the nearly non-existent base of players for online modes. I couldn’t find a single game on a few different days, which is a significant issue considering the amount of fun to be had with it. The only other problem with TNT Racers is the fact that while there are a considerable number of modes, there’s not a whole ton of variety when you get to the bare bones of each mode.