The general speed of the game seems to be stuck on molasses. About the only time you'll feel as though you are moving faster than a snail is when you unleash a burst of nitro or run over a speed strip. In stark contrast to the majority of the race, which is generally spent creeping slowly towards the end, nitro very briefly rockets you forward at an almost uncontrollable velocity. Of course, actually accumulating nitro can often be difficult as well, since it is earned by collecting crystals scattered about the tracks and by power sliding. The main flaw with this is that unless you're in first place, most of the crystals will already have been collected by other racers, and at the speed at which you sputter without nitro, power slides are rather difficult to pull off and sad to watch.

Most of the weapons in the game can be directly paralleled to Mario Kart staples as well, while the originals don't add much to the game. Instead of squid ink from a blooper obscuring your vision, it's hearts that need to be waved out of the way. Three soccer balls that roll in a straight line once fired feel an awful lot like green shells. Heat-seeking watermelon, hmm what does that remind you of? In fact, the only power-up that felt completely original was by far my least favorite in the game. The one I'm speaking of turns your screen completely upside down in the middle of race for a period of time. Not only is this incredibly confusing when you don't know it's coming, it is also about the most nauseating experience imaginable.

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Sadly, even with the nice additions of a story mode and a fairly robust cart customization aspect, the gameplay itself is the biggest deterrent of MySims Racing. It's not that the game can't be fun at times, but it definitely gets tedious quickly, and with the excellent Mario Kart Wii already available on the same system, it gets hard to recommend picking this one up. It becomes even more difficult if you're planning to play it with friends online, as MySims Racing doesn't support this option and only allows for up to four-player split-screen action. But, if you've already played your fill of Mario Kart Wii and are looking for something new in the line of a cart combat racing game, MySims Racing will certainly keep you busy for awhile.

By Adam Brown
CCC Staff Contributor