Dreamworks Super Star Kartz (Xbox 360)

Dreamworks Super Star Kartz is a racing game similar to Mario Kart featuring characters from Dreamworks’ animated film properties, such as Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, and Monsters Vs Aliens.

Gameplay is fairly typical of kart racers, especially the aforementioned Mario Kart franchise. There are instant boosts from the starting line, numerous weapons, jumps, and of course, cartoon characters on small go-karts. Each character has a specific special move, known as a Star Move, that is activated once the player picks up five stars from around the track. Many items can be thrown forward or shot backward behind the player, and several items come in sets of either one or three. The weapons and items include banana peels, protection (as in a shield) potions, viking shields (which are defensive and can be thrown as projectiles), exploding pumpkins, rockets, hornet’s nests, quantonium, and frog balloons. Players can perform stunts when airborne, draft by driving behind opponent karts, and the classic kart-racer standard of drifting around turns.

As is standard with kart racers, the main focus of the game is the Circuit Race with several cups, each cup has three tracks with themes from across all the Dreamworks properties in the game. Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals are awarded depending on performance and place when crossing the finish line. Beyond the Circuit mode, there are Time Trials, a Battle Mode, and a Challenge Mode. Challenge Mode features specific challenges such as a race with only Star Moves, or straight racing with no weapons or items. There are also several dozen Dreamworks logos strewn throughout the game to be collected, some collected from Time Trials, other collected physically during races.