I do worry about the potential for monetization, as others have said, but I want to focus this review on the other aspects of the game for those who want to know about the gameplay itself.

I'm not the biggest racing or cart racer fan, but I've played a good amount of Mario Kart in my time, as well as some Kart Rider Drift and others. And, all of that in mind, I genuinely think Disney Speedstorm might actually be my favorite of them (monetization not withstanding.)

The tracks are all beautiful and detailed, taking you through a number of worlds and scenes from various Disney movies and parks, all with plenty of shortcut, alternate routes, mirror courses, alternate starts, and more - plenty to keep it fresh and develop your own way through a course, plan tactically, and speed past opponents.

The characters are tons of fun, at least if you're a Disney fan. Many of them use classic lines from their respective movies, but but with a racing twist. And there's Figment representation! Disney parks fans rejoice.

The best part of all, so far, is the music. Each course has a number of different remixed tunes to go along with it - Make a Man Out Of You for the Mulan one, some of the Muses' gospel-sounding tracks for Hercules, etc. And these go harder than they have any right to. Absolute jams that will tickle your nostalgia while also putting you in the racing mood.

There's a couple different online race modes, as well as a ton of "story quests" that take the form of various challenge races - standard races, time trials, elimination modes, ones where you need to play as a certain character, ones with missions to perform x amount of stuns or use a number of items, etc. There's a lot of variety, and they seem like a great way to learn the mechanics, as well as start unlocking some characters and leveling them up!

All of the above makes this, for me, probably the best cart racer on PC, and a definite favorite overall personally.

Going into some of the progression mechanics - I'm 50/50 on them. First, there's the issue of monetization. Everything here is setup to support battlepasses for years to come which, on its own, isn't the worst thing... But there's also loot boxes (currently only purchasable with battle pass and other in-game currencies) and gacha shards to collect. For that reason, I am worried as others are.

That being said, if there wasn't monetizaiton to all of this (or if the monetization could stay purely cosmetic) I personally find the progression and gameplay loop appealing. I'm goal oriented, I like seeing numbers go up, so acquiring unlocks and things to fine tune stats and unlock new skills would be a nice mechanic if it wasn't a red flag here. At the same time, I can see why this might be a turn off for some folks who just want a "pure" cart racing experience, but there's plenty of room for private lobbies and alternate game modes (the former seems to already exist) that I hope the devs can consider in the future!

The one saving grace for now is that there doesn't appear to be any option to spend money beyond buying the game itself (or a Founder's Pack,) or a battle pass, meaning the only P2W present is a few exclusive skins for the early access packs and a bit of quicker progression for those with the premium battlepass unlocked. On top of that, in addition to your standard daily and weekly rotation of battle pass challenges to complete for progress, there seems to be a system in place for a seasonal story mode with challenges similar to the base game's story quest with tons and tons of time trials and objectives to complete to earn experience on the pass even as a solo player, or someone still learning and gearing up.

Overall, I definitely do recommend the game. It's great fun, and the core game is clearly made with passion for the movies and characters with many levels of detail and effort put in that it doesn't feel like *just* a cash grab. I just hope that the monetization stays tame enough to keep people engaged and not scared away by credit card swipers.

I do worry about the potential for monetization, as others have said, but I want to focus this review on the other aspects of the game for those who want to know about the gameplay itself. I'm not the biggest racing or cart racer fan, but I've played a good amount of Mario Kart in my time, as well as some Kart Rider Drift and others. And, all of that in mind, I genuinely think Disney Speedstorm might actually be my favorite of them (monetization not withstanding.) The tracks are all beautiful and detailed, taking you through a number of worlds and scenes from various Disney movies and parks, all with plenty of shortcut, alternate routes, mirror courses, alternate starts, and more - plenty to keep it fresh and develop your own way through a course, plan tactically, and speed past opponents. The characters are tons of fun, at least if you're a Disney fan. Many of them use classic lines from their respective movies, but but with a racing twist. And there's Figment representation! Disney parks fans rejoice. The best part of all, so far, is the music. Each course has a number of different remixed tunes to go along with it - Make a Man Out Of You for the Mulan one, some of the Muses' gospel-sounding tracks for Hercules, etc. And these go harder than they have any right to. Absolute jams that will tickle your nostalgia while also putting you in the racing mood. There's a couple different online race modes, as well as a ton of "story quests" that take the form of various challenge races - standard races, time trials, elimination modes, ones where you need to play as a certain character, ones with missions to perform x amount of stuns or use a number of items, etc. There's a lot of variety, and they seem like a great way to learn the mechanics, as well as start unlocking some characters and leveling them up! All of the above makes this, for me, probably the best cart racer on PC, and a definite favorite overall personally. Going into some of the progression mechanics - I'm 50/50 on them. First, there's the issue of monetization. Everything here is setup to support battlepasses for years to come which, on its own, isn't the worst thing... But there's also loot boxes (currently only purchasable with battle pass and other in-game currencies) and gacha shards to collect. For that reason, I am worried as others are. That being said, if there wasn't monetizaiton to all of this (or if the monetization could stay purely cosmetic) I personally find the progression and gameplay loop appealing. I'm goal oriented, I like seeing numbers go up, so acquiring unlocks and things to fine tune stats and unlock new skills would be a nice mechanic if it wasn't a red flag here. At the same time, I can see why this might be a turn off for some folks who just want a "pure" cart racing experience, but there's plenty of room for private lobbies and alternate game modes (the former seems to already exist) that I hope the devs can consider in the future! The one saving grace for now is that there doesn't appear to be any option to spend money beyond buying the game itself (or a Founder's Pack,) or a battle pass, meaning the only P2W present is a few exclusive skins for the early access packs and a bit of quicker progression for those with the premium battlepass unlocked. On top of that, in addition to your standard daily and weekly rotation of battle pass challenges to complete for progress, there seems to be a system in place for a seasonal story mode with challenges similar to the base game's story quest with tons and tons of time trials and objectives to complete to earn experience on the pass even as a solo player, or someone still learning and gearing up. Overall, I definitely do recommend the game. It's great fun, and the core game is clearly made with passion for the movies and characters with many levels of detail and effort put in that it doesn't feel like *just* a cash grab. I just hope that the monetization stays tame enough to keep people engaged and not scared away by credit card swipers.