Trailblazers

A colourful cartoon racer that lifts some of Nintendo's big ideas, but not its attention to detail.

Some performance issues aside, this remains an engaging, and rather different, racing game that just about overcomes its problems to offer some good old fashioned fun.

Trailblazers isn't a bad game at all, it just doesn't do anything to make me ever want to go back to it. The multiplayer portion of the game does not have enough players to get into matches consistently (or ever, in my case) leaving the lacklustre single player content. There's also the local multiplayer but, just like the single-player content, you and your friends will get bored relatively quickly. To top everything off, the price of the game is far too high for what you are getting, making it difficult to convince anyone you know to pick it up.

Trailblazers is a fantastic game that blends racing and a team-based dynamic to craft a memorable experience.

Trailblazers isn't a bad racing title. Despite some floaty controls, the actual racing is fine, and the painting and team mechanics are interesting. The modes are also good, but the lack of a community means that local multiplayer is your only other option once you consume all of the single-player stuff. You'll wish the developers did something more interesting with the concept, as it feels untapped. For that, Trailblazers is only recommended for those who have already checked out other racing titles first.

"On the right track, but it's missing players and technical polish."

Trailblazers is a compilation of gorgeous race tracks with not a lot to do on them. If a sequel ever manages to come about, it’s easy to imagine a version of Trailblazers with better combat, a wider variety of ways to take advantage of painting the track, and more changes/tweaks besides, but until then this is a wasted opportunity on Supergonk’s part. Trailblazers can be fun, but it’s fleeting.

Trailblazers is has well defined visuals and plays great, with an interesting mechanic that unfortunately doesn't support the weight of a full game. Had the paint mechanic been merely one element in a grander design, things may have turned out differently. As it is, Trailblazers stands as a great proof of concept for what may hopefully evolve into a deeper title in later releases down the road.

Trailblazers successfully sets itself apart from others in the same genre, especially as the Nintendo Switch marketplace is full of crazy racing games. While it is evident that the soundtrack and art style are somewhat borrowed, they have been churned into a product that is new, refreshing and unique, blazing itself a trail all of its own.

With a community of people playing the game as intended I think Trailblazers could have had potential to be quite interesting. If you’re able to play with friends you can begin to see what the goals were and it is at least a different way to race. Unfortunately, as a single-player experience it is hard to feel the teamwork vibe working with bots and that makes for a pretty bland driving experience. Despite looking great and having a cool soundtrack there’s no escaping the somewhat ho-hum results in a typical race in Trailblazers.