This is one that interested me when it appeared on one of my discovery queues on Steam last year. It felt a very similar vibe to BIG-Bobby-Car: The Big Race. However, even with a Steam Deck, the last three months of the year were dominated by PowerWash Simulator, so I never got around to it. And now I find that it’s a game developed by someone of GRcade! And has recently also launched on the Switch! Naturally I grabbed it to give a go.

Arriving at what is known as Go Kart Island, Lachlan the Highland cow has dreams of entering the big race that happens on the island and becoming a champion like his dad. The meany mayor has other ideas, demanding that Lachlan pay 1000 coins to be able to enter the race. And so the funds need to be raised via taking part in other races around the island along with helping its residents get to places.

The tutorial gives a good idea of what Go Kart Island holds. Including its humorous interactions with those residents. The tutorial is designed to be fun, getting me straight into driving and learning while on the job taking someone back to their house. It’s not often a tutorial has me smiling so much, but this game managed that. Which is something I can say for all of the interactions and even the challenge start and end screens.

Once the goal of getting 1000 coins is in motion, I simply decided to just drive. Explore the island and grab all the collectibles. 100 of the 1000 coins are just one of those collectibles, being the only one that matters. There’s also gems to find and vote mayor signs to smash, with all three types of collectibles shown on the minimap. There’s also paint jobs for the kart to find, though these don’t appear on that minimap.

The driving around collecting everything had me admiring the island, which has a fair few biomes to it. The town gives way to forests, a snowy area, and a desert. Which also have smaller towns among them. It’s not a complex world, or a large one. But it feels great to drive around, with a lot of variety packed into it. A castle, airport, dock and other places found around felt they would make for some good racetracks. And sure enough, they are host to races.

Races make up quite a number of the challenges found in Go Kart Island, and the variety is strong here. There are numerous race types, with a standard race being joined by elimination races, checkpoint races (finish first and before the time runs out), collect races (finish first having collected all the items on a track), and death races (survive with at least one heart and win the race). Along with those are point-to-point races and time trials.

The time trials are more involved than just getting from one point to another, as a lot of track hazards come into play. More so than in the other races. These proved to be the most fun I had with Go Kart Island, dodging around oil slicks and spatula strikes, rolling pizzas and dynamite. Hoping I had timed a section right to avoid the shrinking rays. They were a challenge, but a fair one. Of course, I was playing on the middle of three difficulty options, which affect the time limit in challenges such as this.

The non-race challenges were also fun. Also full of variety, they had me collecting things, getting involved in chases, and a nice homage to… I wouldn’t want to spoil that one. But speaking of homages, part of the humour of the writing is in incorporating quotes from various films and series. Being a Star Wars fan, I laughed with recognition at a certain plea for help being used here. There’s also a fair bit of meta humour here, especially in one early interaction regarding a farm and how that works when they’re all animals.

The story mode only takes a few hours to complete, but is a riot all the way through. But, for completionists or those who just enjoy the racing, there’s more to get involved in. Everything from the story can be found in challenge mode, where all those racetracks can now be completed across all race types. Time trials and the non-race challenges have specific times to beat for the gold medals. And every character encountered across that story can be used. I’m certain I’ll be getting a lot of enjoyment from that.

Go Kart Island is an absolutely fun time. The story mode is a joy to drive through, seeing the delightful interactions with the residents. The variety on offer with its challenges. Sure, precision isn’t the best when driving through narrow areas, but that alone can’t drag the experience down. It is one I can easily recommend, having been invested from start to finish. And will continue to be invested in, whether through challenge mode or another run of the story.

Images Taken From:
Go Kart Island | Nintendo Switch 2 [Handheld]