Chocobo GP Test: Victory or Last?

On your marks, get set, go is the motto on the Nintendo Switch not only in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but also in Chocobo GP, which was released for the Switch on March 10th, 2022. You can find out whether the fun racer is any good in my Chocobo GP test.

As a big fan of Final Fantasy X I always remembered the chocobo race on the Silent Plains. You had to collect balloons and much more. That turned out to be very entertaining and entertaining. And that despite it being just a mini-game in a JRPG of gigantic proportions. So I was very attracted to the idea of a Chocobo fun racer. In addition, well-known figures from Final Fantasy (e.g. Mogrys, Squall or Cloud Strife) should be included. And so it came about that I now hold the game in my hands and tell you about my experiences with it.

Debut over 20 years ago

The chocobos are yellow mounts from the Final Fantasy universe and they made their debut in very early times. The chocobos were even allowed to present themselves on the race track, but that was over 20 years ago. The game’s ratings on the PS1 were average at best and solved, unlike Nintendo’s Mario Kart no hype. In the following trailer, including gameplay material, you can clearly see that Nintendo’s title has provided some inspiration here.

A tutorial on how to start in story mode

Before you are allowed to hit the slopes or track, a short intro video awaits you, in which the “story” is briefly explained. This offers little added value, but unlike Mario Kart there is at least one. This story mode is designed to give you an understanding of the routes, the driving itself, and the characters. In this mode, for example, you unlock characters and also collect item coupons (just one of the in-game currencies that you can use to unlock/buy something) that you can spend in a shop.

: Square Enix

The copy mog has struck

The title has a lot of multiplayer options to offer. Starting with local multiplayer options to the highlight in the form of an online tournament, in which a total of 64 players start and fight their way through the round of 16, quarters and semi-finals to the final. In the modes you can expect hardly anything different than in single player mode. It’s about seeing the 1 light up at the end if possible. In order to achieve that, you have, in contrast to Mario Kart not only power-ups on the track, but the drivers have unique special abilities (e.g. choco sprint from the chocobo or Clair’s disappear hood to dodge enemy attacks for a short time). And of course all drivers have different cars with different values (speed, grip, acceleration and drift). Exactly, when you choose a driver, you also choose the “car” at the same time. So you can’t choose every car with every character like in Mario Kart. In contrast to the Shy Guy in Mario Kart, you cannot make any external changes to the drivers. at Chocobo GP this is different and this is where the – to be more correct, I would have to say an – item shop comes into play. There are 3 of them! A mithril, a coupon and a gil shop. You can purchase mithril in the eShop for cash.

Chocobo GP Test conclusion: Be sure to try the Free2Play version first

I have with Chocobo GP my dear toil and distress. As mentioned at the beginning, I was really looking forward to the title, but unfortunately the game turned out to be cheaper Mario Kart Clone. They copied more or less everything and tried to bring their own identity into the game with characters from the Final Fantasy universe. This also works – but more through the design decision that each character has its own special ability. Otherwise, everything is really cheaply copied – for example, the yellow boost fields even look the same. But when I think about it, not everything is copied, because Nintendo didn’t go for a free2play title with countless possibilities to spend ingame gil, mithril or coupons.

I wouldn’t have a problem with it if it had been left with a pure F2P game, but I don’t understand how to make a boxed version of it for the best will in the world. For this reason I would really recommend you to try the free version before you buy the game or to try it right away Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to grab. Even with so many years under its belt, Mario Kart beats the new Chocobo GP in my opinion, in all categories, high.