Square Enix has certainly kept Final Fantasy fans waiting a long time for a sequel to their classic kart racer Chocobo Racing.
But at long last fans' prayers have been answered twenty-three years later in the form of its spiritual successor Chocobo GP.
Chocobo Racing was Square Enix’s answer to other Kart racing titles such as Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing.
Incorporating the same formula as other games, Chocobo Racing was also a crossover featuring the most loved characters from Square Enix’s biggest titles, who take part in chaotic races.
Chocobo GP has kept all the favourite characters from the original game such as Chocobo and Mog whilst including more who weren’t involved the first time around.
Chocobo GP is a delightful looking game with a dazzling colour palette that stretches across its UI, characters and race tracks.
Character models are very cartoonish, but aren’t unbearable caricatures and still retain most of the characteristics from their base designs.
Cloud for instance still has his brooding demeanour while Squall is still as cool as ever. Race tracks feature various motifs and easter eggs from Square Enix’s history for fans to enjoy.
They really vary in difficulty, with the more complex track designs appearing in Series Race. They could do with a few extra interactive elements as well.
The soundtrack features a great mix of charming lighthearted tunes and plenty of famous sound effects from the Final Fantasy series.
Chocobo GP features voice acting during the cutscenes, which are just adorable to watch.
It's great to see such entertaining performances that bring these innocent characters to life without coming across as too cheesy.
Chocobo GP includes a few different modes for players to get stuck into and having most of the content needing to be unlocked in various ways is a great prompt for players to try everything.
Story mode is a collection of races that will help players to learn the game while completing specific objectives for progression. This is the best place to unlock new characters and tracks.
Time attack mode lets players race for their best times and go up against ghosts of their fastest laps.
Series Races is basically the main grand Prix where players can compete in a four-race cup.
Each series will feature a different version of a previous track, every track will have a hyper-speed, technical, long and short version.
Having different versions of each track really stops the game from becoming repetitive and keeps players on their toes.
The game can feel very easy with the two difficulty modes on offer at the start, but as players progress, new modes will become available.
The difficulty spike from the extra modes really transforms the game into a very challenging experience.
There is a lot to unlock from characters, race tracks, vehicles and customisable items such as stickers.
Unlocking these extras can become a bit tedious as rather than letting the players use all these new characters or vehicles instantly after being unlocked, the majority will be sent to the shop to be purchased with in-game currency.
This does offer massive replay value but it can make the process a massive slog.
Players won’t be able to build their own kart like in other games, but each character will come with a different version of their vehicle, each with its own stats.
Chocobo GP has borrowed a few elements from the Final Fantasy series such as Magicite. Magicite are items imbued with magical powers that will give players offensive and defensive abilities.
These abilities can be obtained by brushing up against a Magical Egg, which comes in a few different colours.
Chocobo GP adds an extra layer of strategy by letting you level up your attack if you hit the same type of egg more than once and store the energy for one big attack.
There are several types of Magicite attacks with some featuring famous summons like Bahamut making an appearance for fan service.
One feature that I think has been lost in kart games are characters having their own special moves or abilities.
This feature has been used in different games and was a huge factor in what characters I would pick.
Chocobo GP has brought this back, giving each of their characters a special skill that adds an advantage in the race, the caveat being that you can only activate it once the ability gauge fills by itself over time.
Chocobo GP does feature extra techniques that are synonymous with other kart games.
Skills such as drifting to gain a boost, performing air tricks and even a starting boost all make an appearance in this game.
Chocobo GP will feel very familiar to fans of games from this genre, but it does still feature some original elements such as the provoke technique, which allows players to basically taunt other racers.
I just love the fact that it doesn’t offer any buffs but it's just for bragging rights. The Wheel Spin technique is a nice addition that lets characters adjust their directions with ease when facing the wrong way.
Verdict
Chocobo GP is a frantic but fun experience that Final Fantasy Fans will simply adore.
It’s a nice surprise for the Nintendo Switch that may have borrowed from other games but still has enough originality to offer a unique experience.
Chocobo GP is out for the Nintendo Switch on 10 March
