Chocobo GP

Chocobo GP is a kart racing game developed by Akira and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to the predecessor Chocobo Racing. It was released on March 10, 2022, on the Nintendo Switch as part of the series' 35th anniversary.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game is a rip-off of Mario Kart 8/8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled due to the implementation of tricks and boost items (coins, wumpa fruits, and crystals respectively) and the latter's implementation of items that will power-up, story mode, limited events (Grand Prix and Chocobo GP seasons respectively), etc.
 * 2) This game is filled with microtransactions. In fact, this game can be considered a mobile game, if not, the first ever Switch-exclusive mobile game, even though the mobile game's gameplay looks different. Some cost more than the actual game.
 * 3) If the players want to go to Chocobo GP mode, they have to buy a Nintendo Switch Online membership just to play that and unlock something that is limited such as Cloud Strife.
 * 4) Like Sonic Free Riders, Team Sonic Racing, and Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, the story mode's cutscenes have still backgrounds and settings, though the characters move.
 * 5) Some of the story mode dialogue is straight up cringy as it fails to be self aware (Like the scene poking fun at the terrible pacing) to borderline face palm worthy (Like where Shirma admits that she wants bigger breasts because of the fans).
 * 6) Some of the characters have either been butchered slightly or are unlikable in general:
 * 7) *Terra, while still likeable, has a blander and oversimplified personality.
 * 8) *Maduin became a bumbling worrisome father when he was an all-powerful and serious esper in Final Fantasy VI.
 * 9) *Vivi and Steiner are also still likeable, but some of their story arcs from Final Fantasy IX are also implemented into the game's plot. Given the emotional and heavy themes of that game, it doesn't fit in well within this game's happy and innocent universe. Vivi literally repeats a thought-provoking and existential line ("How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we don't exist?") out of nowhere.
 * 10) *Necroshell is an incredibly boring and uninteresting villain who is an obvious rehash of Exdeath, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy V, as he literally repeats his lines from that game such as the famous "The laws of the universe mean nothing!" and even nearly introduces himself as "Neo Exdeath", the final boss of that game. Much like the Cloud of Darkness from Final Fantasy III and Zemus from Final Fantasy IV, he only appears at the very end of the story.
 * 11) **Also, the mysterious being recruits Racing Hero X to lure innocents into the Interdimensional Rift (the final dungeon of Final Fantasy V) and has Gilgamesh (also from Final Fantasy V) as an underling, which are plot points taken from Exdeath (plus, his tree form can even be seen in the background of the Interdimensional Rift tracks), meaning it could build up to the big reveal that he would be the main antagonist and it would be a perfect fit given his hammy, cartoonish and over-the-top villainous personality. If the game was going to just reuse his dialogue and personality for Necroshell, then why couldn't they have just put him into the game?!
 * 12) *Alta and Clair break the fourth wall a lot to point out the aforementioned bad qualities (like Vivi's out-of-nowhere existential line or Necroshell's unoriginal dialogue) as the game's way of being self-aware of itself, but this comes off as annoying and unfunny in general.
 * 13) False Advertising: When looking at the pop-up, Cloud Strife is unlocked by purchasing the Prize Pass, but they can unlock him when they reach level 60. He also has the incorrect voice actor despite Square Enix promising that this situation wouldn't happen.
 * 14) There are only 21 tracks in this game plus variants.
 * 15) Awful track design that ether has lots of big and long turns or are extremely boring and bland, and would better fit a platforming game than a racing game. Some turns are complete 180 turns that even on slow mode, can't be drifted.
 * 16) *The worst offender for all of the 9 locations is Gold Saucer because the last portion has a bottomless pit where players can fall down easily.
 * 17) *Mario Kart 8/8 Deluxe and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled have better looking track designs than this since they have moderate turns with challenging paths and shortcuts.
 * 18) Players can only buy better rewards or items if they buy Magicites on the Nintendo eShop or wait for weekly rewards.
 * 19) Free Magicites are on a time limit as they expire after a set amount of time, which essentially means the game is either forcing you spend all your remaining free magicite or purchase more using real money.
 * 20) If you're in the air in any way, shape, or form, you are completely unable to use items.
 * 21) Items also do a ridiculous amount of stunning, being borderline unfair.
 * 22) In the Lite Version, players can play only the Prologue, which is disappointing considering this one is a demo.
 * 23) Also, they can only play Chocobo GP mode since there is no way they can play without the aforementioned online membership. This shouldn't be the case since the Lite Version is free (Free games usually don't need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription unless said game is a bonus from the service)
 * 24) Despite having a good main theme (See GQ #1), most of the lyrics for the main theme are just the character names.
 * 25) Despite being a live service game, Square Enix has not promised any fixes to any of the game's major flaws, barely even acknowledging them.
 * 26) There is a bug online where you're unable to leave an online GP if the queue fails to load up, forcing you to restart the whole game.
 * 27) While it was improved in an early update, leveling up the Battle Pass is still somewhat of a chore since there are no quests that increase Pass XP.
 * 28) For some reason, the final race of a Chocobo GP only gives you XP for the race if you win, despite previous races allowing you to still get XP when you get 2nd-4th, which could promote poor losing habits for kids

Good Qualities

 * 1) The music is decent.
 * 2) The background designs and graphics looks amazing.
 * 3) Characters have their unique abilities after the gauge is full such as Chocobo's own special move, Chocobo Dash, where he boost speed while steering, as well as gaining dash rings to boost up speed for other players.
 * 4) Magicites are items that will upgrade when players grab the blue egg items (or extremely rare occasions, gold or bronze eggs), such as Fire/Fira/Firaga or Water/Watera/Wateraga.
 * 5) Like Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, this game has customizations, but only limited unlike the former where players can customize any kart whatever they want.
 * 6) At least there is a way to change music before the race.

Reception
This game received mixed or average reviews according to Metacritic, with a score of 64/100, Destructoid received a 6.5/10, Nintendo World Report received a 6/10, and Nintendo Life received 8/10 stars.

Videos
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