KartRider: Drift The Speedy Review

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It is with the most thrilling of emotions that I present to you, KartRider: Drift! I personally am a long time fan of this series so far, having played KartRider Rush+ upon the global release last year in 2021. Catering to racing fans around the world, the KartRider franchise has been entertaining gamers since the early 2000s in the gaming industry.
Originally published by the NEXON company, racers might be wondering what this game is exactly. I am here to tell you that KartRider: Drift is a racing game which involves cartoon style characters drifting around tracks of various difficulty levels, or battling it out with items in the Item Mode. Players can expect to put countless hours into this game since it features two split paths that a racer can take when it comes to gameplay.
First and foremost, Item Mode is a game mode which is similar to the likes of the Mario Kart franchise. Racers are put onto a racetrack and are required to use items in order to gain a competitive advantage over their opponents. There are many items to use while zipping around the track, but some of the more important ones would be, Nitro which gives you a speed boost, Shield which allows users in any position to prevent themselves from getting hit one time, and the Guardian Wings which protects your entire team for a couple of seconds.
Racers might think that this mode is easy at first, but at the top-level of gameplay in its predecessor KartRider Rush+, racers will have a very hard time staying in first place. Featuring high level NA and KR teams being pitted against one another in KartRider tournaments taking place on a grand stage on the official Twitch livestreams.
The KartRider franchise also features a Speed Mode, where racers need to beat a track as fast as they can whilst being put against multiple opponents of the same skill level. It's very safe to say that this mode is the hardest challenge to face head on as a racer inside of the game, with the mode featuring insane skips, racing techniques, and constant nitro usage. Alongside the fact that racers will be setting times on 5 star difficulty tracks set across multiple fantasy worlds imaginable.
KartRider: Drift's Speed mode will take a long time to master for the average player due to how many things that racers are required to learn. Dating back to the original KartRider game from 2006 in Korea, many of the tracks on display also require multiple sessions just to get good times on only one track among the 10s of others. Casual players of the genre will definitely not be disappointed when it comes to having things to do, but might be concerned about the skins provided inside of the game.
KartRider: Drift will also feature Kart customization, as well as costume for the drivers. A year after the release of KartRider Rush+, the mascot of the franchise Dao had already received well over 7 separate skins. The customization doesn't really play a major role until you get into competitive play where everything matters with giving yourself the advantage. This is something that the average casual won't have to worry about doing correctly, but rather, just being able to focus on how to do it in the first place in regard to what they want personally.
Among these upgrades as seen in the screenshot, the ones that players will be focusing on the most are, Booster Output, Max Speed, and Drift Escape. Booster output changes your nitro efficiency, Max Speed, of course, changes how fast your car can go at it's top speed, and Drift Escape changes the efficiency of your drifts. Drift Escape will be a very key aspect when making your car be the best there is, due in part to the top-level requiring racers to be using nitro throughout the entire race.
With all of these points aside, here is where we get to my own personal problem with the franchise. Character's skins, in my opinion, cost way too much. Some of the characters in KartRider Rush+, a year after its release, would set players back over $500 just to get every skin for a single character in the game. I personally don't expect this new title to be any different than the one that came before it, but, I might be wrong because who really knows.
Complaint on the sidelines, NEXON has undoubtedly produced some top quality skins however. Racers can expect the top rarity and most expensive skins in Drift to look like they came from an entirely different world, making users be in shock or disbelief at how well-made they are. This is one thing that I cannot express my concerns about due to the skin quality, while being overpriced, is consistently being released on a regular basis. Allowing for players to always have something new to look forward to.
Next on the list is something that the entire player base might be looking forward to, are there going to be collaborations? From one racer to another, there certainly will be, having been featured in KartRider Rush+, players can expect Drift to also come out with respective skins for LINE Friends, Sonic, and many other Korean or North American characters. Personally this is something I enjoyed because the collaborations were generally all excellent except for a certain few.
NEXON doesn't really disappoint on the events side, but rather, on the pricing side. I still really enjoyed my team in the previous title as a North American player and don't overly regret starting it last year. That said however, NEXON alongside other companies, will always have their downsides in one way or another. This aspect like a few others, is definitely what brings their reputation down.
To finish off this speedy review, KartRider: Drift might feature in-game time leader boards for the Speed Mode, and a ranked list for top players in the Item category. This is an aspect that is well-received since many players want to know how they stack up against the top players in everything, allowing for racers to improve certain skills or tracks as they please. Whilst also featuring a Ranked and Story Mode.
Ranked Mode is pretty much exactly how it sounds, featuring Speed Mode players battling it out for first place on every track in the game. Competing for ranked tiers and ending up reaching a tier where you try to earn the most stars in the world. The Story Mode however, is a feature that teaches you about tracks in the game, lets racers try out new cars, and teaches players about the game's Item Mode. I would personally rate the Story Mode a 5/5 simply for how detailed it is among other games. I also really enjoy the fact that players are not forced to complete the Store Mode at all in order to progress through the game, rather instead depending on a level system to unlock things.
Racers can expect KartRider: Drift to contain a lot of the same features since they have shown success in the past on their mobile platform. With that said, I'm not really against the idea, just that I simply wish that their games had a bigger player base to support it. I hope that you all will appreciate this review on what to expect from a personal favorite among the sea of games on the Play Store and TapTap. I have high hopes that NEXON will turn Drift into an experience for the ages, having been in the racing industry for over 10 years thus far.
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Annabelle Graham
Annabelle Graham
4
I like this gamea
06/23/2022
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Annabelle Graham
Annabelle Graham
4
I like this game
06/23/2022
CapitánTaco
CapitánTaco
3
siii yo jugue la versión beta de nexon... hasta que me entere que lo lanzaron para móvil... me encantaría que lancen nuevamente para la pc...
06/27/2022
Levis Osorioo
Levis Osorioo
3
uejwndjd
06/23/2022
FireyFan
FireyFan
can't download here? then find the other one on the play store
10/21/2022
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