Carbox Review: Unlimited Tracks Without Running Out Of Living Room

You want cars, but are tired of the constraints of so-called sandboxes that limit you to the same old tracks, only mirrored? Community-based Carbox might be the next thing for your list; fusing the two together to create a Micro Machines-like arena for all sorts of tomfoolery.

From Hues Games, this arcade racer is all about the marginal gains – not those time-shaving scenarios of 80-lap endurances, but self-contained skirmishes from a good selection of challenges, ultimately offering infinite replayability through user-generated maps.

Naturally, a review game, even if it’s not in the Early Access stage, may not feature all the features it boasts. The one we’re focusing on here is the community, as the leaderboards are often sparse, containing the pseudonyms of elite reviewers, playtesters, and journeymen such as myself. However, almost a week after release, it’s gaining momentum, so time to spread the word about Carbox.

The first thing you might notice about the game is just how deliciously good it looks. ‘Like’ Micro Machines for its dinkiness and top-down viewpoint, it’s not a game that necessarily emulates the classic 16-bit title, as the biomes are predominantly lived-in cityspaces rather than oversized pool tables. What this is is a purebred arcade experience of pick-up-and-play mini dashes around various stages, paying homage to a couple of classics, such as Crazy Taxi.

Carbox is a cute-looking game that is highly accessible, with simple enough controls and welcoming visuals. Often, when we see unlicensed cars, they’re either blatantly obvious about what they are based on, or a bastardisation of a Skyline or Ferrari, but coming out looking more like something out of a soapbox race. The vehicles here are great, and definitely a highlight, as too are the number of options available, and best of all, they aren’t behind an arduous campaign of unlocking.

Though gameplay is key, in a game like this, the USP feature of track editors is brilliant. From my perspective, this feature is only as good as how much time you want to invest, and no reflection on the developer. For example, Mario Maker is theoretically a masterpiece, as you can recreate and expand upon one of the greatest series ever made. However, since getting it on launch for the Wii U, how many levels have I made? One. Is the game still good? Undoubtedly, but you’re going to have much more fun by investing in the bespoke game editor than sharing with the masses.

I predominantly played on the Steam Deck as I always do for reviews, as it’s convenient. Despite having some really nice visuals and an unhealthy amount of ghost cars to race against, there was zero slowdown, and it worked brilliantly. However, it’s not so much of a playground for the editor, so I would recommend playing on a larger paperweight than the Deck, or at least beaming it to your OLED TV. If you have one.

What’s not so great about Carbox? The handling and camera angles. Yes, quite a critical criticism, but in practice, not game-breaking. The viewpoints work well, but the further you are, the better, as a lot of the pre-made stages have a lot of buildings, and it’s easy to get placed behind an object and crash. Again, not so bad as you get used to it, but my biggest issue was the handling. Even with a handbrake, it can be quite frustrating when you ace a lap or two, go wide and get stuck behind a sign through poor braking (me), but are unable to correct it or respawn back on the track. Again, not game-breaking, but something prominent for me in the early stages.

Carbox, in my opinion, is very much under the radar, which is a bad thing. More people need to know about this fun little sandbox. Again, anything that works well out of the box on the Steam Deck scores highly with me, and due to the nature of gameplay with its editing capability – plus gorgeous visuals, this works great. Additionally, that killer feature of community-led challenges will only get better if you spread the good word. So, go check it out, and tell all your friends (including the made-up Facebook ones) about it.