Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart is a kart racing game based on what appears to be a fairly popular kids show. I had never heard of the show before this review, but it does seem to one of those CGI-animated series that stands out because it’s based on a book. It’s a harmless show that now gets a harmless video game. That said, Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart is the slowest, most boring, and generic kart racing game that I have ever played.
Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart isn’t as weird a concept as it sounds. Doing my research, the game actually recreates one episode of the series in which a character creates a number of go-karts for their friends to use. That episode has millions of views on YouTube, so it’s fair to say that it’s a popular one. Sure, it would still make more sense to have a traditional 3D platformer for something like this, especially as the show is designed for kindergarteners, something skewed far younger than most of the kid’s games that we cover.
Outright Games (a studio quickly becoming my nemesis) is on publishing duties one again. But while their last game received a lot of praise from myself and others, Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart should have stayed buried for millions of years. The game is your traditional kart racer that’s well built and looks great, it just lacks any spark to the experience. You select a dino and compete in a couple of modes. The main mode is the adventure mode that sees you competing in a number of races in a given cup.
The racers all feel exactly the same and there are no stated stats for any of your dino pals. The only reason to play a character is because you think they look neat, or you are a fan of them in the show. Thankfully, the designs of the karts and characters are wild enough to at least give the illusion of variety. But unlike Mario Kart there are no different karts to choose or unlock, but you can unlock other racers and skins (I think) by beating each cup.
What’s weird is that Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart feels unfinished at times. The prerequisite cups are here, and the intro to each is fully voiced with charcaters talking during races, but winning a cup will always simply dump you back to the main menu. There is no celebrating, no cut-scene, no cup to hold up on a pedestal. You simply are told that you won and then it fades back to the menu to race again. It simply feels unfinished in this respect. It would have been nice to get something for beating a cup, especially after you unlock the character locked to each.
Gameplay is where a kart racer lives and dies, and Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart dies on the starting line. You can earn a boot to start each race by keeping a line inside a specific area while the countdown happens. There is no challenge here and everyone will most likely earn the boost, thereby negating the boost. Still, the game does start fast, but unfortunately falls to the back of the pack in seconds. Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart is the slowest racing game that I have ever played.
The biggest problem I have is that you kart moves at a crawl, so much so that I feel like I could outrun each racer on foot. The game does use a Mario Kart drift mechanic that you can boost out of after being in a drift long enough and this is what you’ll be doing all the time in order to get any sense of speed. The boost speed feels like it should be the base speed of the entire game in my opinion and would make for a much more fun experience. Sure, this is a kid’s game, but even kids know when something is moving at a snail’s pace.
But even if you are a skilled racer, you won’t find winning to be as easy as it should be for a kid’s game. Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart uses rubber-banding like other kart racers, but it’s particularly bad here. No matter how well you play and race, if you boost out of every drift without taking a pause, you’ll never quite pull away from the racer right behind you. This means that you’ll be in first place and then risk losing out on a win on the last lap when they really close the gap.
Worse is that you can choose your difficulty level, but choosing hard does nothing to the AI, rather, it simply makes rubber-banding worse. Instead of having one person on your tail, you’ll now have every racer on your tail. At least the tracks themselves look nice and do more than other cheap kart racing games, I’m looking at you Race With Ryan. Each track has a couple of alternate routes that give serious San Francisco Rush vibes. These are often obvious, but some of them are hidden for you to find. I don’t find they give you much of edge, but they add to fun.
Because this is a kart racer, you’ll be using items to take on the other racers. These are the generic Mario Kart items only dumbed down. You can shoot coconuts to stop racers, drop plant bombs, use shields, and an ultimate star-like move that lets you take out groups of racers. These all work fine but they lack any real impact and give you no options in direction they are shot. This generic feel is made worse as the music and sound is lacking, making races feel pretty empty of life and energy.
Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart isn’t a terrible game, just one that feels cheap and intended to draw in kids who love the show. Parents will also probably get suckered into it if they know their child like the show. But the gameplay is far too lacking to be any long-lasting fun. It’s slow and lacks the heart that can be seen in the show. And the auto-drive is on by default, and with that the game essentially plays itself. At least with 15 tracks and classic 4-player split screen you can have a bit of fun with friends and family, but that won’t last long, especially with Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing out there.
Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart sits on Steam for $40 and that feels a little high for what’s on offer and I’d suggest you wait for a sale. Still, it’s a pretty looking game that runs well and might be worth the investment if you are looking for new family-friendly games to play alongside your kids. And if you have children who love the show then you should have this on your Wishlist. For those looking for a good kart racing game then you have a lot better options out there.
Gigantosaurus: Dino Kart is great for parents with kids who love the series, but if you’re looking for a fun & fast kart racer you should steer clear.
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