Today marks the full KartRider: Drift release date across PC, iOS, and Android platforms, and a mix of old fans of the series and new players trying it out for the first time are tearing up the tracks.
The free-to-play kart racer is a cross-platform affair that gives you a chance to race together with your friends, regardless of what device they’re using for gaming. So that’s all new opportunities to lose friends over-liberal banana skin use.
PC And Mobile Now, Consoles Soon?
Console versions for Xbox and PlayStation aren’t out yet, but we expect them to follow soon. There are platform-specific rewards including PlayStation and Xbox skins in the Kartrider: Drift pre-download announcement, so we know the KartRider: Drift release date for other players is coming.
You have the option to face off in two kinds of races, with Speed Mode focusing on mechanics and being able to maintain drifts and boosts, while Item Mode adds a more chaotic element with different items to help yourself or sabotage other racers. Watch out for those water bubbles.
A Kart Racing Legend In Its Home Nation
While it’s not a household name in the west in the same way other kart racers starring Italian plumbers are, the KartRider series has pedigree.
The first game, Crazyracing KartRider came out in 2004 and was an absolute force of nature in its native South Korea. One source claims that by 2007, one-quarter of the entire population of the country had played at least one round.
The games seem to set out to hit a sweet spot where they can satisfy both a laid-back party game atmosphere and more hardcore competitive play. What has perhaps held the previous mobile version, KartRider: Rush+, back in the past has been a reliance on gacha for the best vehicles.
Goodbye Gacha?
With Drift, Nexon apparently intends to only charge for cosmetic choices, so that’s one less desirable aspect of the previous game they’ve wiped out. Less pay-to-win is always good news, and hopefully, that help can cultivate the really robust multiplayer community previous versions have enjoyed.
If the game speaks to you, you can catch it now on Google Play. You’ll need to connect a Google account to Nexon to get started, and that’ll give you a friend code.
Not sold on karting, but still want to go fast? Check out our feature on the best Android endless runners.
