DreamWorks Super Star Kartz

DreamWorks holds the keys to many people’s childhood. Producing movies like Shrek, Madagascar, and How to Train a Dragon, DreamWorks made memories with children that will be unforgettable. Furthering this childhood development, DreamWorks decided to publish a game featuring some of its most famous characters, giving rise to DreamWorks Super Star Kartz. For many, this is a way to reach the nostalgic feeling of seeing their favorite characters and movies for the first time in a different setting, connecting multiple points of their childhood together under one roof: the DreamWorks universe.

Visual Arts

DreamWorks Super Star Kartz will largely remind one of Mario Kart 64, as that is the basis for almost all kart games to land on the market. Luckily for Dreamworks, they can easily fit their characters in to the karting art style, as they are often cartoons anyway, allowing for goofy graphics and lack of extreme detail to not take away anything from the game, but to possibly even add to it, giving to authenticity of the characters and how they would fit in their original areas.

Gameplay

The objective of the game and the ways to complete it are almost identical to Mario Kart, with players lining up around a track attempting to place first, able to use certain abilities and power ups that they collect while racing around the track. What separates Super Star Kartz apart from other karting games is the collection of tracks and racers, with famous settings and characters from the DreamWorks universe making their appearances. Tracks taking places in Shrek’s Swamp, Dragon Island, Gallaxhar’s Ship, and Central Park Zoo help players feel right at home after they have chosen their racer from a collection including Shrek, Donkey, Dusk, Dawn, Alex, Fiona, Hiccup, Marty, [B.O.B, Skipper, and even Toothless.

Community Rating

For the audience it was intended, DreamWorks Super Star Kartz is practically a dream come true, making an almost perfect game. This led to a greatly positive support from its fanbase and even ratings from GameStop reaching 4.4/5, larger than the majority of games. The fanbase supports this game so much that there are even individuals and groups that still play this game and love every bit of it, experiencing the magic of racing with childhood heroes.

Personal Rating

Being one that holds DreamWorks in my childhood deeply, it is hard to give something with all my favorite characters a rating anything less than amazing, but in all honesty the game is somewhat dry without the characters, being identical to all other karting games on the market, with no original mechanics to match the universe it takes place in.

Pros:

• Beloved, Known Characters
• Tracks in familiar places
• Single and Multiplayer

Cons:

• Older graphics & mechanics
• Does not include newer characters or movies
• Nothing different from other Karting games in terms of mechanics