When I was a kid, everything was a racetrack for my toy cars; sandboxes became sweeping deserts, and my kitchen table was a gigantic race track that hosted all the cars I begged my mother to buy for me. Imagination was the driving force behind my enjoyment, and now that same playful experience has been converted into a racing game for the PlayStation Vita. And while it tries to capture that same fun with its creative tracks and concept, it falls short of being anything more than a decent distraction.

Originally released on iOS, Table Top Racing controls a lo like a traditional karting game. The framework of racing is similar to more popular titles like Mario Kart with its simple controls and power-ups, and its casual angle. Races are bite-sized by nature, which is a nice fit for Vita, and  really enjoyed pulling out my Vita, playing a quick race, and saving more for later. Once I started playing for longer than short bursts, though, is when Table Top Racing became to grow tiresome and show its underwhelming diversity.

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Various power-ups are littered throughout the track, and they’ll be your main weapon in securing victory. The problem with the power-ups isn’t that they’re not fun to use, it’s that they’re just too few in number. There’s a guided missile, a bomb, an EMP, a boost-and that’s it. What makes power-ups in games like Mario Kart so great is that the items are varied and plentiful, so each pick-up could give you something that makes the race unique, so even if you play the same track, you could have an entirely different experience. In every race I played, I generally always got all four of the pick-ups, and sometimes at least two of each when the fairly dimwitted AI racers are at their worst and missing picking up items.

Table Top Racing offers three different modes you can play. Two of the modes-special and drift-offer decent amusement away from the general racing. Special mode ups the difficulty and makes the AI  a little more competitive than the generally poor AI you’ll encounter in normal races. Drift mode is odd, because the game’s naturally loose controls make it hard to land long drifts, but once you can get a handle on the steering, piecing long drifts can be rewarding. There’s the traditional championship mode, but it’s anything but traditional-and I love it for that. You see, championship mode itself is split into various events that help liven up the experience and steers away from just throwing multiple races with all the items, but it’s the other events that highlight this surprisingly unique mode. There are races where you can’t use items and must use pure skill and driving prowess, solo timed laps, and a chase mode where your only objective is to ram the car ahead of you in as little time possible. The mixed events is a nice palate cleanser that helps liven up the otherwise static racing, and it’s something I’d love to see other racing games follow suit.

Instead of racing your car around traditional race tracks, you’ll compete on picnic tables, garage tables, and every other household table top you can think of. It’s wonderfully charming, and some of the layouts are really unique and innovative; however, this charm doesn’t come without a hitch. With all that’s going on in the track with colors, decor and everything between, it can become difficult to make out the main track from the scenery. I found myself crashing into walls and objects, because it can become an impossibility to see when both the track and surrounding areas feature the same patterns and colors.

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At any time, you can visit the game’s garage to buy new cars, upgrades, and cosmetic details to your liking. Cars can specialize in pure speed, defense and recovery from items, or a little bit of both. As you race through each track, you’l win coins that you can spend in the garage on all of these upgrades. There’s the option to buy coins with real money, which if you want to get the best car with all the upgrades, you might just have to shell out the money. It seems like you’d have to grind races over and over again in order to have enough to buy the stock car without any upgrades.

When developer Playrise Edge does something well, it seems they introduce something lackluster that neutralizes the fun you might be having. Racing once and a while on your Vita is the best way to experience Table Top Racing, but if you’re looking to really sink your teeth into a kart-racer, it’s likely not going to fill that hunger.

Table Top Racing can’t escape feeling like a game you’d play on your phone rather than on a dedicated gaming handheld. Sure, the racing can be fun-and there are some definite highlights-but it lacks enough substance to be more than an occasional detour from your Vita’s library.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation Vita game Table Top Racing by Playrise Edge Ltd.

 

Falling Off the Table | Table Top Racing Review
Overall6
Positives
  • Solid racing
  • Varied racing modes
  • Interesting track concepts...
Negatives
  • ...but it can be hard to see the actual track
  • Too few power-ups and content in general
6Overall Score
Reader Rating: (2 Votes)
0.3

About The Author

Josh is a Senior Editor for New Gamer Nation. He'd love to chat with you about games on Twitter.