Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway review (PS5)

The Nickelodeon Kart Racers series is already up to its third entry, titled Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway in full. Developed by Bamtang Games and published by GameMill Entertainment, we played the PlayStation 5 version of the game – which is available for all major systems.

Between this and the recent Paw Patrol game, it’s a good season for kid-friendly kart racers – though Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 is geared towards a slightly more mature audience despite its many cartoon-licensed characters. Sitting somewhere in between Paw Patrol Grand Prix and racers like Crash Team Racing and the Sonic racing games, it’s a good go-between options for parents and kids 7+ to play together.

It’s nice to see that the series has evolved since we reviewed the first game in the series, adding more content and a number of new mechanics into the mix. You’ll have seen most of these in similar games already, but it’s an improvement to have track designs where there’s a bit more going on than there was in the past, with alternative routes and a few options to pull off cool-looking tricks. The controls could and should have been tighter though, as we played this shortly after playing Hot Wheels Unleashed and Nickelodean Kart Racers is way more floaty.

Where Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway pleasantly surprises is in its game modes, which embrace the silly cartoon-like nature of the licenses the game is based around. With special objectives and options to customize your kart, this isn’t as barebones as other kart racers and gives players things to do besides the usual cups to engage in. Add the option to play together with friends both online and offline, and you’ve got a pretty fully-featured kart racer here.

You can see something similar when you glance at how much content you get this time around. Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway features an impressive 36 tracks to race on, and while they’re not as detailed as those in Hot Wheels or Sonic there’s a good amount of content to make sure you don’t get bored with the selection too quickly. Add a large roster of characters, with highlights including TMNT, Garfield, Ren & Stimpy and SpongeBob, and Nick fans will find tons of lasting appeal here.

Combine that with the fact that the actual racing is a tad formulaic but mostly solid, and you’ve got a series that’s on the right track. Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is the best in the series thus far, and if they manage to polish the series in a few areas this can turn into a real contender in the genre. Right now the controls are a bit loose and the visuals could use a boost, but this is a good choice for families with kids in the right age group who don’t have access to a Switch with Mario Kart.

Score: 7.0/10