Review: Chocobo GP is a surprise karting hit that’s second only to Mario

videogameschronicle.com:

“Yes, really: four stars.” That’s how Matt Zoller Seitz’s review of Jackass Forever on RogerEbert.com begins, seemingly anticipating the seas of raised eyebrows that awaited him for daring to suggest that such a ‘lowbrow’ movie deserved a high rating.

He wrote: “It’s unsportsmanlike to penalise a meal for not being a sea bream fillet with citrus fruit, peppers, and caramelised ventrèche when it is plainly a hot dog with mustard.”

It’s a stance that feels particularly relevant for this review of Chocobo GP, coming as it does – through nothing other than sheer coincidence – a day after our three-star Gran Turismo 7 review.

Here we have another racing game receiving a higher score, but one that has totally different goals, for a totally different audience, on a totally different platform.

And on top of that, it’s in a sub-genre that is often looked down upon by purists. But on Nintendo Switch, the fact is that a kart racing game remains the console’s highest seller to date, and in the wider history of video games, it’s a kart racing series that for three decades has provided some of the greatest multiplayer moments ever.

And yet, it sometimes feels as if any karting game that doesn’t have Mario – or to a lesser extent, Sonic or Crash Bandicoot – on its cover is often dismissed as not worth the attention it may actually deserve.

Let us be the ones to tell you that Chocobo GP not only entirely deserves your attention, but it feels closer to a Mario Kart game than any other karting title we’ve played in years – not since Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has a non-Mario game come this close, and that was a decade ago.

Although the game is technically a spiritual successor to 1999 PlayStation title Chocobo Racing, to all intents