IGN Reviews: Diddy Kong Racing DS

Diddy Kong Racing had huge competition back when the original game hit the Nintendo 64 as Mario Kart 64 was the king of the track on that platform. Ten years later, history repeats itself: Mario Kart DS is a tough nut to crack, but Diddy Kong Racing manages to offer up a significantly different product that, admittedly, doesn't come close to the same satisfying experience as Nintendo's own racer.

The racing's fun and challenging, no question. The ability to zoom around in cars, planes, and watercraft is reason enough to give this one a go on the Nintendo DS. But unfortunately the development team focused a bit too much on "DS-izing" the product with completely unnecessary and frustrating touch-screen and microphone challenges that disrupt the racing design. Some DS elements are better than others, but the ones that are bad are huge problems that should have been axed to make room for the elements that actually worked.

Overall, Diddy Kong Racing's a good product with some first-generation blues dragging it down. The fantastic online and customization focus offset some of the clunky items that made it into the design...but don't think we're going to turn a blind eye to the stupid stuff.

Score: 7.1

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