Plot: What’s it about?
Joy Ride Turbo is a sequel, but unlike the original Joy Ride, this game isn’t designed for Kinect. Instead we have a more traditional kart racer experience, complete with all the usual elements. One cool design choice is that your racer happens to your avatar, which leads to some humorous moments. That might not be a game changer, but it is cool and adds a personal touch to Joy Ride Turbo. As you’d expect, you race around several courses with the goal to outpace your competition, through a blend of speed and guile. So you’ll need to keep your speed up, make use of the drift and boost mechanics, and of course put the various power-ups to effective use. Your rival might be a little better driver than you, but once you encase their kart in a block of ice, you’ll pass with by with ease. You’re also able to pull off some wild stunts, which fill up your boost meter and that lets you unleash a massive burst of enhanced speed. So the game has all the usual elements and some new ones, but is Joy Ride Turbo just another kart clone, or does it earn a checkered flag?
Video: How does it look?
The game retains the visual approach of the original Joy Ride, with bright colors and cartoon style design. This works well with a kart racer, since the experience should be fun and silly, as opposed to a realistic design. The kart designs are based more on real cars than off the wall karts though, which is kind of a let down. I hoped to be able to unlock some wild rides, but these are all pretty grounded designs. The courses look good too, with cartoon inspired obstacles and such, while the drivers look like various avatars, so you see yourself in your kart.
Audio: How does it sound?
The sound design is also more about fun than realism, as it should be. The engines still have a nice roar, but the wipe outs and wrecks pack a sillier tone. The sound effects in general have that cartoon texture, which adds to the madcap feel the races tend to have. The music sounds good too, if a little bland in some instances. Overall, the game has terrific sound design and no glaring flaws I could detect.