Back in December of 2019, we were given a spin on KartRider: Drift, a new free-to-play and cross-platform Mario Kart-beater from Nexon. We started the preview by saying that it was due ‘next year’, which – by our maths – hasn’t quite turned out that way, but we will pocket our questions and assume that the additional time has allowed this gem to be polished beautifully.
In that preview, we had a lot of good things to say. “All in all, the closed beta for KartRider: Drift was a great success for me. I had no issues finding people to play with, with a decent population found across Xbox and PC, and at no point in time did I experience any discernible lag, so the netcode is already pretty stable and robust. With more polishing to come, I’m now super excited to play the full release of KartRider: Drift, and if you have any interest in fun, kart racing, or even fun kart racing, you should be excited too and Mario may well have to have a glance over his shoulder when this releases for real in 2020”. Haha, 2020.
Available right now as a free-to-play title on Xbox, PlayStation, PC and mobile, Kartrider: Drift is certainly getting the basics right. There is room for eight players to play KartRider: Drift, and they can be split into four teams if you fancy some fist-bumping as you race around the track. Then there are drift or item-based races, so you can make your experience more racing or karting-flavoured.
There are some positive things that have been said about the free-to-play aspects, too. We would personally worry that a free-to-play karting game would lock essentials like tracks, racers or even pay-to-win elements behind paywalls, but KartRider: Drift is making good noises. There are “no barriers, no pay walls, and no pay-to-win elements preventing you from having a great time while topping the leaderboards”, says the accompanying press materials. Sounds good. But obviously we’ll be judging that ourselves in an upcoming review.
This certainly looks fun, and all of the racers have chunky tin-toy looks that we can’t help but find attractive. When there’s no barrier to trying it out, we clearly have a contender on our cards.
While you wait for a review, head to the Xbox Store and pick up an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S version of the game for free. It’s also on Playstation and PC through Steam. Mobile too!
Game Description:
KartRider: Drift is the only free-to-play, cross-platform kart racer with deep kart and character customization in stunning high-definition and vibrant Dolby Atmos®. Eight players can race online in up to teams of four and face off in item or drift focused races with karts and characters you personalize. Challenge your friends across platforms with no barriers, no pay walls, and no pay-to-win elements preventing you from having a great time while topping the leaderboards. Created from the ground up for dynamic, online gameplay there’s new content added regularly and huge content updates every season. Discover the next iteration in this popular racing franchise with over 380 million players!
