I haven’t played very many Avatar-based games on the Xbox 360, but I suppose if I played a lot of games with decent Avatar awards, or spent a lot of money on purely cosmetic items for the things, I might care more about that annoying little Mii knock-off that vaguely looks like me and appears whenever I start up my console.
I want to keep the comparisons to Mario Kart and its ilk to a minimum here, but seriously, the appeal of playing a Mario Kart-type game where the only playable character is that Avatar is lost on me.
Races in Joy Ride Turbo sound remarkably sterile; say what you will about Daisy announcing her name ad nausea – that annoyance is preferable to an eight-man race where none of the characters make a peep and are only able to express themselves via fist pumping.
There is a moderate level of variety to the tracks, at least, though half of them sport enough red cliffs to make you think that you’re playing a TF2 racing game.
(Note to self: Make TF2 racing game. Choose Heavy and laugh at whoever chose Medic and has to constantly be behind me.)