Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is as the title tells you, clearly the third entry in the Nickelodeon-branded Kart Racing series made by GameMill Entertainment. As the third entry in the series and a game made for every console, current and next-gen, some serious polish is expected for a kart racing game intended to compete with Mario Kart, the series that originated the genre.

In recent years Nickelodeon has been trying to muscle in on some of Nintendo’s space in the game industry with entries like with their previous Nickelodeon Kart Racer games, and most recently with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Their attempts with the previous iterations of Nickelodeon Kart Racer were well-met critically and the trend continues with Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway, as it proves to be unique enough of a game to differentiate itself from the genre while remaining fun.

Story

There is technically no story to speak of, however, there is a single-player mode that involves completing races, tournaments, challenges, and more to unlock characters, cars, modifications, and more.

Gameplay

The mechanics of any kart racing game are key and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway does not disappoint. The basic controls are similar to other kart racing games with go, brake/reverse, jump, drift, and throw/use item. One big difference comes with the crew abilities that activate as time goes on or as you collect slime, they vary depending on the ‘crew’ you choose at the start of a race but all characters go into a race with three crew.

A key part of the game is the customization of your ride, crew, and racer before each race or tournament. There are 40 distinct characters and each has different base stats to affect their racing that are then changed by their choice of car or motorcycle, which type of car or motorcycle, what wheels are used, and exhaust pipes. Aside from that, you choose a ‘crew’ of 3 from a wide cast of Nickelodeon characters that are essentially 3 different skills that apply in-game. All the above customizations from characters to crew have plenty of unlockable additions that appear as you play the game. The end result is an incredibly detailed customization process that lets you personalize your ride stats to exactly how you want them, whether that be absurd speed with no handling, average everything, or heavy with middling speed, good handling, and crazy acceleration.

The races themselves are fast, chaotic, and hectic, especially with all the items and abilities going around. The maps are covered in the iconic Nickelodeon slime in various colors and slime coins, which can give boosts and charge the skills of your pit crew. The slime and skills make the races even more crazy, fun, and unique. Aside from your basic races, there are multiple other game modes that the player can make use of from time trials, to challenges, to the arena.

The arena itself includes four different game modes: Demolition, Control the Golden Spatula, Slime Trails, and Jellyspotters. In order, they are a free for all fight, king of the hill, and literally Splatoon with cars and slime instead of paint. Jellyspotters is unique in that it is a sort of team game of tag where one team catches the ‘jellyfish’ on the other team and puts them in a jar; the jellyfish's goal is to keep away from the catchers and try to free their teammates from the jar if they can. Catchers win if they get everyone in the jar and the jellyfish win if time runs out before they are all captured.

There is a Single Player mode, Local Multiplayer, and online mode. The online mode requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership if you are on the switch though so unless you get really into it or already have an account the game will be limited to an in-person party game on the Switch at least.

Audio and Visuals

The graphics on the Switch can be simple at times. There are 36 different tracks to race on, but some of the textures for the ground or large areas can be plain, and overall the textures feel a bit plain at times despite the amazing gameplay. The 3D character models are wildly hit or miss, some of them clearly have had a lot of attention such as Spongbob’s model, as well as Aang’s, but Zuko’s model just looks wrong, his head and body are completely the wrong proportions, and his hair looks like it came from a Mii on the original Wii. On the other hand, the care and thought put into some of the maps in terms of style and design is amazing, even if at times the detail is a little lacking. The fun of racing through the TMNT sewers filled with slime is incredible.

In regards to audio the sound it is rather rudimentary. Characters have a few voice lines they repeat ad nauseam and each track has its own tune that is rather short and plays on a loop. The sound effects are nice enough, and serve well as signifiers of action onscreen, but none of the audio is desirable enough for me to turn it off or very low and listen to a podcast or something while I play.

Replayability

Something common to all kart racing games is the incredibly high level of replayability. At it’s heart, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is a party game that you can play over and over again even after you have completed all the challenges, time trials, and obtained all the unlockables.

What It Could Have Done Better

For what the game is, that being Nickelodeon’s spin on Mario Kart with their own IP, and a presumably cheaper production cost, it does a fairly good job. The game is enjoyable, easy to pick up yet hard to master, fun - especially for kids, unique enough to stand out, and most importantly available on all consoles and PC, and not only on Switch.

The biggest problems the game has only exist presumably due to budget constraints and time crunch. The character models could do with some TLC (tender love and care) particularly, and the maps could have had more attention paid to the patterns and details of materials. The audio is particularly lacking. I understand the cost and feasibility issues for voicework for the characters, as that can get expensive with doing it in every language and getting either original voice actors or sound-a-likes. Where the voicework is understandable the simplicity and repetitiveness of the audio tracks to most of the maps can get grating sometimes and some longer or more detailed songs would have been nice.

Verdict

Overall Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is an enjoyable kart racing game great for all ages and especially kids who are fans of Nickelodeon, or adults keen on nostalgia. The price tag of $49.99 for the base game or $59.99 for the Turbo Edition is great for what you get. A lot of kart racing games would start with half the amount of characters and tracks or less and then throw more at you later behind DLC paywalls. I presume that Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway will eventually do something similar, but the amount of customization and unlockables is definitely worth the price tag. The game itself is incredibly fun, and the chaos of it all is definitely a selling point. If you are looking for a kart racing game that’s fun for all ages and that kids will enjoy but don’t have a Switch, I highly recommend Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.