Horrid Henry's Krazy Karts

My first question when any local multiplayer racer lands on my desk is always the same: can four people actually squeeze onto one screen and have a good time? Krazy Karts answers that with a solid yes, at least for the right crowd. This is a 2D side-scrolling arcade racer based on the long-running CITV animated series Horrid Henry, and it wears that licence proudly. The art style is clean and faithful to the show, the character voice clips land with recognisable energy, and the gross-out theming - snot slime, foam fungus fizz, banana skids - will absolutely delight a seven-year-old. The six playable characters (Henry, Rude Ralph, Moody Margaret, Perfect Peter, Brainy Brian, and Singing Soraya) each have different attributes, and the kart workshop lets you swap wheels, engines, and paint effects to nudge your stats before each race. That layer of customisation is light but appreciated. The split-screen local multiplayer supports up to four players on one PC, which is the headline feature and the reason most families will even consider it. Just plug in extra controllers and you are sorted. Controls are deliberately minimal - accelerate, brake, and deploy your power-up - which means a young child can be competitive within minutes. Brian's Race School eases new players in gently. The eight bonus mini-games unlock pranks and power-ups like Slime Squirt and Snotbag Slinger that carry into the main races, adding a layer of pre-race prep that kids will enjoy fussing over. Here is where I have to be straight with you, though. The 40 levels spread across four themed locations - Gross World, Ashton Town, Ashton Primary, and the Park - are really four environments repeated ten times each. Once you have seen one Gross World layout, the shape of the other nine is not exactly a surprise. Experienced players will run through the single-player content in under two hours, and choppy scrolling has been flagged as a noticeable rough edge. The AI also gets launch boosts that the player cannot, which is the kind of small unfairness that kids will notice and complain about loudly. No Steam Achievements either, which feels like a missed opportunity for replay hooks. The overall quality sits closer to a polished mobile release than a full-fat PC racer, which makes sense given the game launched on Switch, then PC, then iOS and Android. Who is this for, then? Primarily parents with Horrid Henry fans aged roughly five to ten, and the four-player couch setup is genuinely its strongest card. For a casual Saturday afternoon with the kids - controllers in hand, snacks on the table - it does the job without requiring anyone to read a manual or understand a racing line. Adults playing solo will run out of things to do very quickly. There are no online modes, no Steam achievements to chase, and track variety is the obvious ceiling. It is not the kart racer you run to when you want depth; it is the one you pick when the small humans in the room love Henry and you need something everyone can actually play together.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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