Review by: Brittany Vincent

There certainly aren't many kart racers out there anymore, especially up for download via Xbox Live Arcade. TNT Racers, a curiosity in that respect, fills that niche, but not as lavishly as fans might hope. A closed-minded and distinctly childish approach mars what could have otherwise been a successful and affordable kart racer suitable for online play.

Interestingly enough, the cartoonish atmosphere and catering to casual players is what works best for the game. It recreates the wacky, zany feeling of weekend cartoons, masterfully serving up silly car makes and models and a rainbow of colors to paint them with. Robust, boldly-colored tracks match the aesthetic perfectly, along with jazzy 50s-styled tracks that accompany you throughout menus and each race. It nails the "kiddie" feeling that kart racers tend to evoke perfectly, which in any other situation would be great, but that translation to gameplay is where things start to go wrong.

Unfortunately, simply driving your cute little racer is an absolute pain. All of the action throughout the races and other challenges is focused on the leader at the front of the pack rather than on you. A top-down camera angle is a little odd, though evocative of classics like Micro Machines. It's far more difficult than it should logically be to make simple turns, feeling much more like you're moving backwards or that you're "confused," if you will. Pressing the analog stick in the right direction does not ensure you're going to move that way. It's a good thing then that speed isn't the key to victory. Instead, TNT Racers offers up power-ups and Burnout-styled competitive racing that asks you to take out your opponents rather than beat them to the finish line.

You can accomplish this via unloading missiles in the middle of the race track or even aiming at the cars in your way with a very ineffective peashooter that takes far too much control to aim and fire accurately. Furthermore, the powerups are pretty boring, nowhere near in the league of Mario Kart or other esteemed kart racers. It's satisfying to knock out other competitors, and when you're taken out as well you come back as a ghostly apparition of your former self, back in the race but only to impede others' progress. At least you can continue to participate when you're taken out. I did appreciate that augment as most games would simply forbid you from participating.

As you play through the time trials, the main tournament mode, and the online multiplayer, it quickly becomes apparent that without the main allure of simple race modes, TNT Racers rapidly drives itself into a rut. It doesn't have that oomph, that instant gratification that only repeated races and trying to improve your score does. In that respect I just can't bring myself to recommend this quirky little racer, even if it is unique for its platform. There isn't enough here for repeated play sessions, as it will wear thin on your patience quicker than you'll spin out when trying to get the hang of its more confusing vehicle controls. I'd like to see a successful little kart racer on the XBLA, but unfortunately, this just isn't it.