[Review] Tinker Racers - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Rumbora Party Games
Published By: QUByte Interactive
Categories: Racing, Party
Release Date: 03.25.21

I’m sure if you grew up before videogames were as mainstream as they were, you might have played with RC cars, making your own tracks around the house. Tinker Racers is themed all around that, and I love it. I’ve always loved the kind of theming that makes every day objects into obstacles. Even better, the game plays like those top down racers where pressing left turns left, and right, right. It’s something to get used to, but works perfectly when you get it down.

Tinker Racers is as you’d expect, a racer. However, at least in the campaign mode, you don’t quite race in the standard way. It’s better to call these races survival races. Your goal isn’t exactly to finish a lap before your opponents, but instead to run them off the screen. Doing do will net you a point, get five and you win. You can just outrace them, or instead play like a jerk and run them off the road, knock them into pits or obstacles, like marbles from a ramp, or toys scattered around, even food. You also have HP you need to watch out for. Crashing hard or falling into those pits can lower it, when it’s at 0%, it’s over. Driving can be a tad slick at times, so don’t feel too bad if you lose HP, the only thing it affects is points as long as you don’t lose it all.

Of course, there’s more to the game than just the campaign. You can just freely drive in the courses, try for the fastest laps, and even standard races. All of these allow for multiplayer, even campaign. This is something I wish more racing games allowed for. Not that I don’t value strong single player content, but for games that feel like they’d be better with friends, letting friends play all of it is great.

As mentioned before, I love how the game presents itself. From the main menu being a desk with paper, to the courses being places around the house. Courses with the same room theme can feel a tad samey with reused assets, but there’s always new things in each course to change things up, especially for challenge. The groovy music fits perfectly for the races, and for the feel the game gives off. Nothing too serious, just fun.

While the developers themselves have said they don’t see Tinker Racers as the best game in the world, I had a lot of fun with it. It’s definitely a recommendation from me.