Table Top Racing: World Tour Review

Table Top Racing- World Tour Xbox One Review Screenshot 1

Arcade racing at its finest. Playing as a group, driving as fast as you can whilst collecting items to throw your opponents off course. But how does Table Top Racing compare to the many games adopting this concept?

Well, the first fundamental difference that stands out is the environment in which you are racing in. The developers have really tried to capture the gimmick of competing in tiny vehicles on a table. And it works well. Trying to avoid giant screws and bolts spread across a desk can be pretty amusing. I can’t say I’ve ever been so terrified of a collapsing water bottle, let’s put it that way.

But in addition to the tracks, there are also the vehicles that you are able to drive. The cars are split into three separate categories: Cult Classics, Street Racers and Supercars. In each category there are at least five cars to choose from giving you enough range to race in a vehicle to your tastes. Budding car fans will notice that the cars look somewhat familiar to vehicles in the real world. For example the ‘Baguetti’ in the game looks surprisingly familiar to the Bugatti Veyron. Skimming the borderline of licensing seemed to be in the forefront of the developers mind when creating this game, but it does offer light entertainment seeing how imaginative they can be.

Table Top Racing- World Tour Xbox One Review Screenshot 2

The gameplay can be best described as a short burst of fun that soon loses its novelty. Especially if you are playing the game on your own. Like most games, playing with a friend or a group makes the game so much better. And this cannot be expressed more with an arcade racer such as this. The competitiveness rises, the races become more tense and the game suddenly becomes far more enjoyable. The single player experience however is rather bland when playing against bots.

However, there was one aspect of the game that was refreshing to see and did add a different element to simply racing. On each track, there are a number of coloured coins in different areas on the track that make you think differently about how you race and the direction you drive in. Some of which are hidden, forcing you to go off the mainstream track to search for them which adds a nice secondary challenge to the game. As they are collected, they add a boost to the amount of money you gain after completing the course which can then go towards upgrading your current car or buying a totally new one.

Table Top Racing- World Tour Xbox One Review Screenshot 3

The unfortunate truth of this game is that it is not the next Mario Kart for Xbox. As much as the concept is there and the game plays pretty much the same way, nothing will top the original arcade racer. Don’t get me wrong, the game is fun for a time. But it’s a limited amount of time. Another issue that I find a big problem is the speed and intensity of the races because there isn’t any. Much of the fun that comes from racing games is the tenseness of pursuing an opponent or speeding away. But unfortunately, whichever car you choose from simple to super car is painfully slow.

Table Top Racing: World Tour feels like it could have been better than it was. It was never going to be the breakthrough title, and I doubt it was advertised and produced with that in mind. But small things like the speed of the racing, the track variety and enhancing the single player experience should have been addressed. Although the coin-collecting feature was refreshing to see, it’s not something that will keep players enthralled in the game and want them to keep playing.

Rating 5

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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