Metroid Prime Trilogy? Garbage. Super Mario Galaxy 2? Forget it. There’s only one Switch remaster this world needed, and that’s Moorhuhn Kart 2. And when we say “this world”, we clearly mean Bizarro World, where cats chase dogs, cows milk humans and seventeen-year-old PC racing games get ported to Switch for some reason.
In case you aren’t familiar with it, Moorhuhn Kart 2 (also known in different regions back in the day as Crazy Chicken Kart 2 and Chicken Hunter: License to Grill) was a PC-only karting game and the ninth title in the Moorhuhn series of games, which was based in Germany and starred a comedy chicken.
This Switch version claims to be a ‘remaster’ and certainly has had a subtle lick of paint when you compare it side-by-side to the original. Don’t be expecting anything revolutionary here, though: in fact, in some ways this new version is actually inferior to the PC one despite arriving nearly two decades later.
There are seven characters to choose from, including Moorhuhn itself and some other nondescript animals (plus a scary pumpkin because hey, why not, it’s always Halloween somewhere). Each has their own stats as you’d expect but because the handling is pretty easy and there’s no rubber-banding to speak of, you may as well pick the one with the highest top speed and go for it, which is… (checks notes) ah. The pumpkin.
Once you’ve picked your driver, there are two options available to you: Single Race or Championship. No big surprises here, because the former is self-explanatory and the latter is your typical Mario Kart style Grand Prix consisting of four tracks. Here’s the first problem, though: there are only two Championships, which means the game only has eight tracks in total. Now, we appreciate not every game can be as packed as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but when you’re charging $30 for your game and it has fewer tracks than a Led Zeppelin album that’s not ideal.
That metaphor actually goes deeper than you’d think, because much like Zeppelin’s output, the tracks here can get pretty long: delightfully long in the case of Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham; painfully long here. The Egypt-themed course in particular can take just over seven minutes to beat, and that’s assuming you get a relatively clean run. That may not seem like a long time written down but you’d better believe it goes by slowly (by comparison, Rainbow Road in Mario Kart Wii can easily be done in around three minutes).
It doesn’t help that the game just isn’t that fun to play either. The handling is by-the-books and presents no real problems, but there are no powerslides or anything to actually make navigating corners fun. There is an old-school Mario Kart style hop-and-slide move, but it acts more like a handbrake and dramatically kills your speed, so it’s more just for taking on sharp turns.
Other issues are your standard design flaws that you often find in the lower tiers of karting games: the sort of games that try to emulate the look of Mario Kart but don’t actually get what makes it entertaining. Weapons are completely random, which on paper seems good but in practice means you’ll regularly either find yourself in last place with a bunch of oil slicks and bombs you can only drop behind you, or in first place with a load of projectile weapons that can only fire forwards.
You’re also constantly being hit with two types of weapon in particular: an earthquake thing that spins you out then makes your kart slowly waddle for about ten seconds, and a tornado that sweeps along the track taking out absolutely everyone. This would be frustrating in any situation but the fact that they affect practically every car means they’re pointless, too: all they’re doing is slowing you down and making the game even less fun to play. Blue shells are at least exciting, but watching a tornado move slowly around the map and stopping every player along the way has a dull inevitability to it.
So far so meh, then, but some of Moorhuhn Kart 2’s players won’t even realise that the game is even less polished than its seventeen-year-old PC source material. The characters in that game had more personality: they’d look over their shoulders every now and then, and taunt other racers as they passed them; that doesn’t happen here. The PC game also had 50cc, 100cc and 150cc options, but you won’t get those on the Switch version: once you’ve mastered its sole plodding speed, there’s really nothing left to do.
Actually, that’s not strictly true, there’s also the option to race online with up to seven other players. Let’s face it, though, we know how these things go by now. At the time of writing the game’s been out for a week and we haven’t been able to find a race yet, and given that it’s a sub-par $30 karting game with a character practically unknown outside of Germany — on a system that already has Mario, Sonic and Crash racers on it no less — we doubt that’s going to change.
Ultimately, like so many smaller games that launch with dead online modes, there’s no way this was ever going to have even a small online community, and we wish the team had focused its resources on tightening the local single-player and multiplayer racing instead of putting energy into something that was always destined to be tumbleweeds as far as the eye can see.
It’s just hard to recommend this to anyone, really. If you’re the world’s biggest fan of the original Moorhuhn Kart and you’re made of money, then go for it – viel Spaß haben, as they say. But thirty bucks for a game with only eight long, dull tracks would have been a hard sell back in 2004, even on the PC with its relative lack of good karting games at the time. To charge that much in 2021 on a system dominated by great karting games, though, is clucking ridiculous.
Conclusion
Moorhuhn Kart 2 takes a game that's nearly two decades old, tweaks the visuals a bit, then actually removes elements from it (such as its character animations and speed settings). With only eight tracks on offer it would be underwhelming at a budget price, but given it's selling for $30 at launch there's nowhere near enough content or quality to justify that price.
Comments 62
Cluck that then.
Seems apt it released on April 1st
I really want to know who the people are that buy these games? Are they masochists? Parents that just don't know better? Memelords perhaps? Why o why does this world with all its problems need a second Moorhuhn kart lmao
After i watched this, it didn't look really bad actually.
The game was lack of something but it seems tolerable and pretty decent game.
I didn't think the game was 3/10, i was thinking the game was like 5/10.
Remember, Chocobo Racing PS1 also have NO cc class (50 - 150 cc).
@Anti-Matter Chocobo Racing was rubbish as well.
We get these Chicken Shoot spin-offs every 2 months. Apparently they're super popular in Germany so that explains the high quantity - but why localise them?
I think I’d rather have Crazy Frog Racer Remastered. It would be better than this, at least that would be interesting.
This seems quite typical for a kart racer that doesn't star fancy jumpy jump fellas, not sure what I expected reading this. Still entertaining to read though, I guess
"Review copy provided by Higgs Games."
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@jump : I don't think that the proud owner of at least two copies of Race with Ryan will be particularly responsive to that comment.
@jump
Nope.
Chocobo Racing PS1 was my teenhood game 20 years ago.
My siblings also have ever played Chocobo Racing PS1.
I have the original game (Japan version) several months ago and i still able to drive like used to be.
I genuinely felt cheated with some of Mario Kart's ridiculously short tracks.
Such a shame that Sonic All-Stars Transformed is not on Switch.. I didn't give a ___ about the characters, but the PC version was a great game. The tracks were a healthy length with good variety. The transformation aspect also kept things interesting.
You'd have to be an absolute moorhuhn to buy this
@KillerBOB I was thinking, how does one even pronounce this game's name?
@echoplex More Hoon Kart Tsvy ^^
@echoplex : It's spelled "Moorhuhn Kart 2", but it's pronounced "throatwobbler mangrove".
My mum (RIP) used to play the original Moorhuhn on PC.
I guess she would've liked its Kart spin-offs.
@Medic_Alert : Just wait until you see the Atari VCS 800's library!
Who needs Mario Kart 9 when you have this turkey of a masterpiece~!
@Silly_G Hahahaha you killed me.
@Medic_Alert
I really like the casual games on Wii.
There are some mediocre Wii games that actually tasted better than beefy AAA games.
Yes, they are mediocre games but there was a hidden joy from the mediocrity.
Switch needs more games like during Wii / NDS era. Perfect for casual gamers like me.
Obviously there's going to be a lot of bad kart games out there, but are the decent ones even worth playing when you have Mario Kart?
How does a snow man even drive in the desert?
@TryToBeHopeful
Sometimes... Perfect is boring.
Sometimes after you played Mario Kart, you want to play different racing games that completely different than Mario Kart mechanism. Maybe some of them are decent / mediocre games but the mediocrity can spice up our attention to notice the differences rather than being too familiar and felt nothing special from playing Mario Kart so many times.
@Pluto14 Why did we need a 1st?
@Pluto14
" I really want to know who the people are that buy these games?"
Casual gamer like me with completely different gaming taste.
As a kart racer liker, I'm still curious about all kart racers. So, thanks for reviewing the game.
@Anti-Matter
This isn't mediocre though, it's just pure shovelware trash.
If you want a mediocre kart racer might I suggest Crash Nitro Kart or Konami Krazy Racers.
@Anti-Matter Casual games aren't the same as bad games, though. I consider myself a casual gamer. Love Tetris and puzzle games, I'd possibly play a demo of something like this for laughs (when I was 14-20, maybe), but I'm not paying for it.
@Noid
As a german, this is the first time hearing these games are popular. Perhaps for parents buying a cheap game for their little children or something.
The original game that started this franchise was fairly big but that is about it.
Personally I think these games are only being made, because they are incredibly cheap to make and you can always find at least some people buying this.
Was it Crash Team Racing that was available for free on NSO for a week? I think I tried it for 4 minutes, and just thought 'But I have Mario Kart'. Also I like the Nintendo IP in Mario Kart. Crash means nothing to me (Oh Vienna).
@ImBackBB
If the game was a trash, i will admit it and said it loud.
But as long i said "Not really bad", i still saw a little bit potential from that game and that's mean i still curious to know.
@TryToBeHopeful
"Crash means nothing to me"
https://i.gifer.com/1Dq9.gif
@Anti-Matter
No, dude. It's universally considered trash.
There's no harm in liking or being curious of certain trash, though. It's called a "guilty pleasure" and we all have a few.
@scully1888 you need a medal! (And I don't mean for finishing first in naff kart racers)
I love a bad movie. Well some of them. But bad games are hard work!
I agree with @GrailUK You deserve more. The evil people at Nintendolife should acknowledge the hardship
@Noid i don't think this s**t sells in Germany. I'm from there and I never hear about that crap. They and up lying around for grabs on tables with cheap discounted shovelware for some poor parents to pick up.
I don't think I will be hanging up my MK steering wheel yet! Anti Matter, I'm starting to feel you maybe being paid by the devs who are making all these sh*t games? Or you have a very dry/dark sense of humour? If the latter then I get you
Looks like a $5 budget kart racing game. Certainly not worth the $30 asking price.
@Anti-Matter "Remember, Chocobo Racing PS1 also have NO cc class (50 - 150 cc)"
yes but this game did have them in so why remove them? If anything shouldn't they be adding features to such a game and not removing them
viel spass , without haben !
Poultry in motion
I never thought I'd see someone complain that games should be more mediocre.
@Pluto14
Pure Causals that played it back than on the Desktop.
@Anti-Matter Did you ever try Team Sonic Racing? I really liked it. The team mechanism was very interesting and different and story mode was fun to play through. I liked the banter between the different characters while racing too. Definitely my second favourite Switch kart racer after Mario... didn't like the Crash Bandicoot one at all.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
I want to get Team Racing Sonic PS4 version but i have to pick BEMANI PS2 games first as they are really rare games and only 1 left from Tokopedia. Next May 2021 if all according to my plan i will bring home KeyboardMania 1 + 2 PS2 with its keyboard controller from Tokopedia. Also, i predict my order from Ebay (Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 USA PS2) will be arrived in Indonesia around early May 2021. And next June 2021 i will take home Rabbids Wii games and My Universe Switch games from Tokopedia. Maybe i can pick Team Sonic Racing PS4 on July 2021. I have some purchase schedule from my agenda.
@Anti-Matter I've never heard of Keyboardmania but just looked it up on YouTube and it looks so hard!! (So many keys...) I'd be curious to try it though.
@karatekid1612
I reacted the games naturally, not because i have dark sense of humour.
I have watched the gameplay from Youtube before i made some comments.
So far from what i saw on Youtube, it looked decent like PS2 games in HD. When i saw decent games to play, they are not a trash. If the games are really trash (both in term of graphics and control schemes), i will say it aloud.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
Yes, KeyboardMania was one BEMANI game ( published by KONAMI) created during year 2000 after the success of Beatmania IIDX, DDR, DrumMania and Pop'n Music. Unlike Beatmania IIDX / Pop'n Music, KeyboardMania doesn't have really crazy fallen note bars from top except for some songs like Carezza / The Least 100 sec. Unfortunately, KeyboardMania wasn't really success with more keys to press (24 keys) and very limited songs so the series only until KeyboardMania 3rd Mix (year 2001)
KONAMI decided to port some of KeyboardMania songs to DDR, Pop'n Music, Beatmania IIDX and ported almost all KeyboardMania songs from Arcade to PS2 version with title KeyboardMania (for 1st Mix) and KeyboardMania II (2nd and 3rd Mix together).
To be fair, it's priced at $30 so that it can be perpetually "on sale".
I remember those games being attached to magazines for like 10zł (about $2.50) back in the day. $30 though? Yeah, maybe not.
But was it better then race away with MY F**ING MONEY?
Yeah, I got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I don't need any other kart racers on the Switch (I've tried Sonic and Crash kart games as well).
@Anti-Matter With the greatest of respect though, you can't just watch a video on YouTube and use that to form a solid judgement of how good the game is. Sure, it lets you see the game running but it doesn't demonstrate the feel, the longevity, the bugs that only appear after repeat playing, etc. The proof is always in the playing, so while it's perfectly fine to watch a YouTube video and think "that looks okay actually", when you take that to the next level and actually argue with reviews written by people who have actually played it based on a video you've seen, there's less legitimacy to an argument like that in my opinion.
@Anti-Matter ok so I think we have established you do not have a dark sense of humour, however, I'm saying out loud this game is SH*T
@karatekid1612
Well...
I think peoples just keep bashing any Mario Kart clones just because only Mario Kart games are allowed to be praised while the clones got critiques and Boo. 🙄
Yes, Mario Kart is already perfect but sometimes Perfect is boring.
Maybe i will give a chance for the mediocre kart games to prove the mediocre games sometimes they are still enjoyable to play.
I can start by considering Racing with Ryan.
I don't care with people's opinion because that game has stole my attention.
@Anti-Matter I'm always willing to try indie games, at present I'm playing Jet Kave Adventure and I'm really enjoying it. The problem I have with this game is it does not appeal to me and it's shovelware. MK has set a bench mark and although I'm willing to look at other racing games, this really is not worth paying for. PS Although plenty of people disagree with you, you are entitled to your difference of opinion, however you must also realise that a lot of people do not agree you on this one and they are just as entitled to their opinion as well.
@Anti-Matter "...sometimes Perfect is boring... mediocre games sometimes they are still enjoyable to play."
I so agree with you. I remember casual games like The Dogs Island or Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. I really miss those games nowadays.
@Ulanda
Ooh...
I have finished the storyline of The Dog Island Wii long time ago.
And also i have ever played Tail Concerto PS1 despite its graphic was terrible.
@Anti-Matter Graphics are not my concern but story and gameplay. That is why I love The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. But Tail Concerto looks interesting. Will look it up.
You can find this free on any abandonware site. why would you pay 30 dollars for this? Unless this game is one of those that is never not on sale.
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