Super Toy Cars (Nintendo Switch) Review

By Josh Di Falco 19.03.2018

Review for Super Toy Cars on Nintendo Switch

With the popularity of the Mario Kart series on Nintendo's platforms, it was a wonder when the next kart-based racer would hit the latest console from the Japanese creator. Eclipse Games' Super Toy Cars was originally released a couple of years ago, and now it gets its chance to shine on Switch. Rather than driving karts, though, this is very much super-powered toy cars racing around a child's bedroom floor, or on kitchen surfaces. Using the design palette that weighs heavily on nostalgia from those days back when playing with toy cars from the toy box was the norm, how does this arcade racer match up on Switch to memories gone by?

There are a variety of different cars on offer to control, each with varying levels of statistics that determine how well the car controls on the straight, as well as the ability to drift successfully around corners. While, in theory, each car would have its own strengths and weaknesses that would vary the strategy of driving each car, the reality is far from that.

Quite simply, most of the cars on offer are basically untenable. There are few that do the job of winning a race, while the rest are a struggle to turn around even the most basic of corners. In the campaign, only a handful is available. Then, with help from purchased upgrades, stats are improved upon, except for the fact that they don't seem to have any sort of bearing at all. Upgraded vehicles rarely seem as if they drive any faster or handle any better than pre-upgraded cars, which is a concern.

Screenshot for Super Toy Cars on Nintendo Switch

Super Toy Cars boasts a large variety of tracks, spread out across three main themes. The only thing is, apart from the thematical changes, each track does not have a unique identifier that separates them from each other. The impact of this means that there might be three or four races in a row that all seem to be taking place on the same track. Give this game one hour of playtime, and the tracks will become too repetitive. Now, being repetitive is not always a negative, but the lack of control over most of the cars sours the experience further.

While the design of the tracks and the environments upon which the races take place look quite amazing, unfortunately track "clipping" issues are quite inconsistent. While experiencing a race, environmental objects on the side of the track that should stop cars in their tracks, instead sees cars drive straight through them. Then on the next corner, for instance, a small ball could be enough to send the car flying. It is aggravating seeing the competitors drive straight through what should have otherwise been a solid wall. This inconsistency detracts from the overall look and gloss of the tracks, and Super Toy Cars feels very much like a preview build because of it.

Screenshot for Super Toy Cars on Nintendo Switch

That is not to say that Super Toy Cars is entirely bad. As previously mentioned, there are a handful of cars that control well, and racing with these is quite fun. The AI opponents are quite troublesome as they use on-road power-ups occasionally, and they make trying to win a challenging task. During these great moments, many of the issues could almost be forgotten about. However, the track graphical issues are present in every single course and are impossible to ignore. Power-ups are littered across the tracks akin to Mario Kart. Without being too similar, there are some great ideas in Super Toy Cars. Cars can throw giant 8-Balls, which crush any cars in their wake, while heat-seeking rockets will strike the next car on the track.

The single-player mode even contains a series of events that range from simple races to the fun and anarchic minefield-littered tracks, with the last car getting eliminated. Even the repetitive tracks aren't an issue when these events are cycled through, adding a lot of variation instead of enduring normal races. The only thing that would have made this experience better would have been to allow for couch-multiplayer on these events.

Screenshot for Super Toy Cars on Nintendo Switch

Unfortunately, even trying to access a two-player race is troublesome. Trying to get a second controller to even register for the game is a challenge, because the game doesn't specify how to get another controller to opt in. Upon pushing all the buttons on the Joy-Con, the second controller still would not register during the review process. Just as the game was about to be quit, the second controller mysteriously appeared on the screen. Then, though, there were issues trying to select a car, as the game would auto-select for any other player except player one. Only after repeated attempts at backing out to the menu, and jumping back into multiplayer, did the game finally allow for player two to select their own car.

The hassle of fighting the glitches just to get a second player to jump in for some fun multiplayer is enough to rip apart any joy that could have been had from the races. One night when reviewing this had taken fifteen minutes just to get Super Toy Cars to stop glitching out at the car select screen, and even after getting everything to work, there was still no obvious solution to what exactly had fixed the issue. To make matters worse, the best experiences in this arcade racer are when playing with a friend on the sofa, and yet it's also the hardest mode to get into for some reason, as glitches galore prevent this mode from being a seamless experience.

Screenshot for Super Toy Cars on Nintendo Switch

Cubed3 Rating

4/10
Rated 4 out of 10

Subpar

Super Toy Cars feels like a preview build of a game that is not yet ready for home release. Races play out as expected, and the power-ups do exactly as they are supposed to, while the AI racers provide enough of a challenge to make this fun. However, a huge abundance of glitches ruin the overall gloss, as some walls or other environmental track obstacles are not programmed as solid, while trying to initiate a couch-multiplayer race is a most painful experience. Plus, the cars are so unbalanced that half of them are not even worth racing, and it is a wonder how they even made it into the game in this state.

Developer

Eclipse

Publisher

Eclipse Games

Genre

Driving

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  4/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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