TNT Racers Review

Cool power-ups and a lot of charm make TNT Racers a bunch of shallow fun.

The Good

• Fast-paced races with lots of action
• Great variety of power-ups
• Good mix of tracks and race types in solo challenges
• Groovy jazz and cartoon chase music.

The Bad

• Camera is too close for comfort on some tracks
• Nobody seems to be playing online.

Demolition derbies and time trials are the highlights of TNT Racers, a pick-up-and-play kart racing game heavy on action but light on reality. This PSP game is old-fashioned arcade racing, with loads of souped-up jalopies, lots of power-ups that can be used to make the bad guys go boom, and enough speedy race circuits to keep your trigger finger on the gas for a fair number of hours. A few issues with missing-in-action online multiplayer might cause you to hit the brakes, but Keen Games still gives you some very good vroom-vroom gaming for just eight bucks.

TNT Racers is a straightforward arcade kart racer. Rides are picked from a fairly short list of vehicles, such as old-timers like Archie used to drive around Riverdale, and sporty autos out of The Fast and Furious. All the cars have varying strengths when it comes to such things as speed and handling, although the physics are so arcade friendly (you rarely have to take your finger off the gas) that all pretty much perform the same. The solo part of the game consists of challenges split into normal, fast, and turbo difficulties that you race through in order. When you win one race, you unlock the next. The few dozen or so races in these circuits consist of a hodge-podge of straight time trials; demolition derbies where you score points by collecting coins and blowing up opponents with various power-ups; and special affairs where you either destroy obstacles or avoid them. A total of 18 courses take you from the tropics to deserts to icy wastelands. Everything is mixed up when it comes to race objectives and maps, so you rarely fall into a rut. In one race, you're running laps blowing up cacti in a windblown desert; the next, you're taking on enemies insistent on knocking you off creaky wooden bridges in a Mayan jungle.

So there aren't a whole lot of surprises here. But even though TNT Racers doesn't offer much innovation, it is still an inspired knockoff. Racing is predictable and fairly shallow, without a lot of real variation in how races play out, but for the budget price, you certainly get your money's worth. Races are very fast, with rounds sometimes ending in mere seconds because any car caught off the bottom of the screen instantly goes boom. This doesn't mean that you turn into a spectator, though; in most races, you instantly resurrect as a ghost car with the ability to play spoiler and smash up opponents. Tracks come with a lot of hazards where you can slide off ice into water, careen into canyons, and roar into walls. AI drivers have great chops, as well. They excel at staying on the track and do everything possible to force you off the bottom of the screen.

Power-ups are well balanced and varied. There are more than a dozen of them, including mundane speed bursts, repair kits, candy cannons, confetti bombs, a giant hammer that shakes the entire screen, cartoon weights attached to plungers, and even an inverter that flips the entire course. Everything is useful, yet nothing is overpowered to the point where you can mop up the track. All have real strategic use. If you're behind, the cannon or the plunger can be of great help to take out or slow down the front-runners. If you're ahead, deploying confetti mines can do a real number on pursuers. At other times, you're best off dumping a power-up because you're faster without one onboard. And you have to watch out for power-ups being used against you. AI drivers know what they're doing with them, and never hesitate to lay down bombs when they're leading the way or deploy the earthquake hammer when you're vulnerable to being knocked into a canyon.