Bibi Blocksberg ™ - Big Broom Race 3

I came into this one cold, which is probably the right way to approach a broomstick racing game built around a German children's audio drama franchise. Bibi Blocksberg is a big deal in German-speaking territories, but outside that bubble the name means nothing, and the game does nothing to change that. What you get is a very basic kart racer, think Mario Kart stripped of its budget, polish, and competitive soul, dressed up in witch hats and comic-book cutscenes. The structure is simple enough. You pick one of eight playable witches and one of eight broomsticks, each with its own listed stats, and race across 14 tracks split between three themed zones: Transylvania, the Orient, and a prehistoric dinosaur world, plus two unlockable bonus tracks. The Witch Rally mode is the main campaign, which chains together four races per zone in a points-based tournament. Single Race and Team Race round out the three available modes. Local split-screen for up to four players is present, and on paper that is the game's strongest selling point. In practice, the solo experience wears thin fast, most reviewers across platforms report being largely done with single-player content within an hour or two. The core handling is serviceable for the target audience. Steering feels acceptable, and there is drift boosting in there if you look for it. Potions serve as the item system, covering the usual kart-racer basics: speed boosts, traps, and a rubber-band vortex attack reserved for last-place runners. The track layouts include shortcuts, ramps, speed pads, and obstacles, which is the right set of ideas. The execution is inconsistent, invisible walls that don't line up with visible track edges, AI that doesn't push back hard on any difficulty, and loop-the-loop sections where the broom physics stutter and clack. There is no online multiplayer at all, which in 2018 was already a significant omission and hasn't aged better since. From a technical standpoint, the game runs at a capped 30 frames per second and looks several console generations behind its release year. Character stats on the broomsticks exist but reviewers note they don't change the feel of racing in any meaningful way. The soundtrack is forgettable to the point where it barely registers. Controls require a gamepad, the game will not play without one on PC, and the face-button accelerator layout rather than trigger-based input is an odd, thumb-fatiguing choice. One quirky footnote: a small speedrunning community exists for this title, and if your household has a kid just getting into gaming who also wants to try speedrunning, the short track lengths and simple geometry make it a genuinely low-friction entry point. This is not a game for anyone searching for competitive depth, netcode quality, or mechanical ceiling. It is a licensed children's product with couch co-op as its core use case, and in that context, young kids, local play, controller in hand, it does what it needs to do without embarrassing itself. Outside that context, the shallow AI, absent online modes, and thin content mean it runs out of reasons to keep you seated. Fred, Scout Team