Moorhuhn Kart 4 | Switch Review

I’ll be honest, before stumbling across Moorhuhn Kart 4, I had never heard of the Moorhuhn franchise. From the trailer I saw in our writer’s room, I assumed it might be a scrappy, low-budget alternative to Mario Kart, maybe even a hidden gem. I thought I’d give it a shot, play another cute kart racer, and something different to try with my fiancée instead of our usual Mario Kart showdowns.

Developed by Korion Interactive and published by Markt+Technik Verlag GmbH, what I actually found in Moorhuhn Kart 4 was a racing game so bare-bones and mediocre, I started questioning if this was even meant to be fun. But the most important question to ask is: who or what is Moorhuhn?

El Pollo Loco

There’s not much of a story in Moorhuhn Kart 4, unless you count “chickens go vroom” as a narrative arc. So instead, I want to talk about the franchise itself, because somehow, this bird became a minor gaming celebrity in Europe. Moorhuhn (literally “moorhen,” but better known as Crazy Chicken) started in 1999 as a promotional stunt for Johnnie Walker whisky. It was a simple point-and-click shooting gallery distributed as a Shockwave game. It was the kind of mindless browser-based time-waster you’d find on sites like Newgrounds. Now THAT’S a name I haven’t thought of in a decade and a half!

With a file size of just 2MB, the game spread like wildfire across Germany, mostly via email chains. The small size made it easy to attach and pass around office computers everywhere. Suddenly, it became a full-on phenomenon, spawning sequels, spin-offs, and merch. Eventually, this little motherclucker ended up in every genre imaginable: puzzle games, platformers, even pinball. So a kart racing series was inevitable. And while Moorhuhn never had much of a personality, story, or consistent tone, the brand somehow keeps clucking along.

A Desperate Need For Speed

If you’re coming into Moorhuhn Kart 4 expecting the slick, high-speed thrills of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you might want to adjust your expectations. This game feels slower and less polished, with no real sense of speed to speak of, and does not capture the adrenaline rush typical of the genre. The drifting mechanics are a bit clunky, often leading to awkward spins rather than smooth slides, which can be frustrating for players used to tighter control.

Tracks mostly stick to rural, farmland themes with modest visual variety, and the game’s collision detection sometimes feels a bit unforgiving. It’s easy to get stuck or bump into invisible barriers, which can derail your race and push you from first place to last in an instant. It happens so often that the game includes a respawn button to help you get back on track. But using it costs valuable time. Power-ups don’t play as big a role as in other kart racers, with the ghost pepper boost standing out as the most effective item.

Cluckin’ A!

Moorhuhn Kart 4 looks like it’s trying to run on nostalgia but ends up stuck in the past. While the environments initially lean heavily into farmland and countryside themes, there’s actually a bit more course variety than first impressions suggest. Snowy backroads, coastal lanes, and even a vaguely spooky track all make an appearance. Unfortunately, none of these settings feel particularly inspired. They’re serviceable at best, but lack the kind of personality or flair that would make them memorable.

Visually, the Switch version struggles the most. Aliasing is especially noticeable, with jagged edges on diagonal lines and curves that make the game feel dated — almost like something from two console generations ago. Performance is also a bit rough, and textures can look muddy. To be fair, footage from more powerful systems like the PS5 suggests a cleaner and sharper experience, so it’s likely that the Switch hardware is partially to blame. Still, paired with a repetitive, old-timey country soundtrack filled with banjos and fiddles, the whole presentation feels more like background noise than a highlight of the game.

Final Thoughts

If nothing else, Moorhuhn Kart 4 was a gateway into learning about a franchise I had somehow never heard of. It’s a bizarre, feathered empire that once ruled European office computers and browser game sites. In that sense, my time with the game wasn’t a total loss. But as a kart racer on the Nintendo Switch, it’s hard to recommend. Between its clunky mechanics, dated visuals, and forgettable track design, the game struggles to meet even modest expectations, especially on a platform already packed with top-tier alternatives.

To hear me talk more about Moorhuhn Kart 4, be sure to listen to the May 28, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:08:14 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Moorhuhn Kart 4 provided by Game.Press for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation and PC via Steam.