It's been a bit, hasn't it? Hope you haven't missed me too terribly much! ...Was that crickets I just heard?
Regardless, from one mascot racing game reviewed several months ago to a new one being reviewed now, we turn our collective attention to the most anticipated (and expensive) of Nintendo Switch 2 launch titles: Mario Kart World!
Race, if you want to. Race around the world.
With nearly 80 million total units sold between Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, there seemed to be no other alternative for Nintendo than to launch its highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 with the latest in the powerhouse that is the Mario Kart franchise. Sure, there has decidedly been a fair amount of controversy surrounding the game's launch price, but overall, the hype for a new Mario Kart was palpable--and massively so--for many.
Enter and revving onto the raceway: Mario Kart World. Unlike past Mario Kart games that pretty much strictly followed the multi-lap or multi-section races and circuits that have been synonymous with the series since its inception on the Super Nintendo, Mario Kart World breaks new ground by offering, at least in its Grand Prix mode, a different take altogether.
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Take the racing action from closed tracks to the open road! |
Grand Prix numerous cups feature a traditional lap-based race to start a given cup, but what follows isn't three more multi-lap ventures as would be seen in past Mario Kart games. Instead, the rest of the cup features routes that take racers from point A, a trip TO the next track, to point B, a one-lap race around the track that serves as that route's destination. It's these series of worldwide rallies that really distinguish this Mario Kart from previous games in the franchise.
The routes are indeed wide, but that seems pretty necessary when you have 23 other racers breathing down your neck and attempting to bash, crash, and mash up your character as they all compete for first place. Then, there's the return of double item boxes, meaning chaos isn't atypical in a Mario Kart World race. While routes are seldom narrow, they generally aren't just straight affairs either. You'll follow along curves, weave through oncoming traffic, be inundated with items littering the route and enemies chucking hazards every which way. There aren't many rules of the road in Mario Kart World, except chaos being law.
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Put on your racing best with various unlockable costumes for most of the roster! |
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With 24 racers on the track, things can get wild, crazy, and occasionally crowded in an instant! |
That notwithstanding, apart from the altered version of Grand Prix cups available, what really makes Mario Kart World stand out is the highly exciting, immensely involved, adrenaline-inducing Knockout Tour. These pit 24 players against each other across six sections. At the conclusion of every section, the amount of players that can proceed to the next gets smaller and smaller. If you're not above the certain position required to advance to the next section, you're eliminated. You've essentially got to place to continue to race!
Knockout Tours are an awesome addition to Mario Kart World, and these bring you all across the game's world and various destinations. Each Knockout Tour ends with a final section taking place on a given circuit in the game. For instance, one of the early Knockout Tour cups has you finishing the tour on a familiar course from Mario Kart DS: Desert Hills! These tours certainly show how interconnected Mario Kart World's... well, WORLD, really is!
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Monty Mole celebrates a stunning come-from-behind victory! |
And that isn't limited to Grand Prix cups or Knockout Tours, either. One of the chillest and most enjoyable experiences I've had in a Mario Kart game is that of the Free Roam mode. You really get let loose in this open, expansive world, featuring plenty of locales and circuits interconnected by various routes, rivers, and railways located in various biomes. Everything is connected together on one large mass of land, from racetracks like Shy Guy Bazaar and Desert Hills in the westernmost desert region, to the central locations of Mario Circuit and Peach Stadium, to the easternmost lands featuring the most frigid of races: DK Pass, Starview Peak, and Sky-High Sundae.
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Some iconic divas of Mario Kart World: Princess Peach and Rosalina, heat up the icy heights of Starview Peak. |
It's not just aimlessly driving around, either, in Free-Roam, though you are more than welcome to do so--in fact, encouraged to do just that! There are multiple goodies to be discovered within Mario Kart World's boundaries. P-Switches that upon driving over them put you into a racing or platforming-based challenge of some kind are abound within Mario Kart World's Free Roam world. There are over 300 of these! Aside from challenges that test your racing and driving mettle, there are Peach Medallions, hidden coins scattered throughout the world, requiring a sharp eye, keen exploration, and the know-how to reach them. 200 of these await to be discovered by players. Finally, within the perimeters of each circuit are multiple panels a la Super Mario Kart that are mostly hidden in devious places or require some extra effort to ride over. 150 of these populate the world.
Now, that sort of gets into grinding my gears about the unlockables. While it would have been nice to gain characters, vehicles, and costumes from meeting certain conditions of collectibles gathered and challenges completed, all you obtain from Mario Kart World's Free Roam mode is that of an absolutely staggering assortment of stickers. However, seeing that only one sticker can be applied to your profile and thus a vehicle at a time, and some vehicles hide where said sticker is placed, this sticker feature seems half-baked at best. That said, that didn't stop me from wanting to explore and discover more of the world, engaging with Free Roam's content in the form of the P-Switch challenges, hidden Peach Medallions, and the panels.
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Just a portion of map within Mario Kart World. |
However, that's another issue altogether. There is no real way of tracking which P-Switch challenges you've completed or Peach Medallions collected via the map. You get a basic total of all collectibles, but no marker on the map to display which have been completed/collected. While P-Switches in the wild will change from blue to grey for completed challenges, and Peach Medallions will go from glowing gold to turning transparent upon collection, it's near impossible to otherwise track them. I can understand Nintendo wanting to not turn the map into a checklist for players and make exploration more organic, but I imagine there must have been a better method to helping wanted completionists to collect and complete to their heart's content.
Other things like there being no compass in Free Roam, requiring players to constantly press the Y button to bring up the full map just to see what direction their character is facing, and the inability to unlock characters in a non-random, non-Kamek way, makes for a frustrating experience as well. There is also no stats for how many coins you've collected overall, distance driven, times Lakitu rescued you--all things that were in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (added features post-release, sure), but why aren't they already in Mario Kart World?
Mario Kart World takes the philosophy "you can't teach an old series new tricks" and absolutely runs it over and then backs up over its carcass. World is teeming with new tricks, quite literally, to change up the competitive portion of the series immensely with this installment. From being able to charge up a jumping boost along straightaways to riding up the sides of walls, to rail-grinding, Mario Kart World's gotta brand-new bag, indeed. The maneuverability and acrobatics on display in races allow for greater opportunities to reach new places, pull off some insane shortcuts, and make for just an even more enjoyable and exhilarating time on the track.
Speaking of tracks, while the overall amount of standard, traditional circuits is understandably lower than previous modern Mario Kart games, sitting at just 30 total, these are engaging and exciting all the same. Various tracks from Mario Kart games' past return in a much more morphed and transformed form, such as Wario Shipyard from Mario Kart 7 (which shows off the water tech and the new ability to ride ON water as opposed to the decidedly sluggish underwater racing of recent past entries), the absolutely thrilling Airship Fortress from Mario Kart DS, and the glow-up that is Mario Kart: Double Dash's Dino Dino Jungle, going from a bog-standard dinosaur-filled jungle to more of a Jurassic Park-styled laboratory.
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Explosions in the air to fit right in with the explosive racing action going on! |
The new tracks stand out well, too, especially some of my absolute favorites from the bunch, including Crown City (both of its circuits), DK Spaceport (which is multiple sections each winding up an arcade Donkey Kong-inspired tower filled with barrels, contraptions, and a mecha DK), and of course, the track de resistance, the all-new Rainbow Road, which needs to raced on to be believed, as it's my most beloved incarnation of Mario Kart's final track, period!
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DK's new mug seems mighty happy and right at home here at DK Spaceport! |
Mario Kart World, of course, features online play, allowing up to yourself and 23 other players to race in standard-to-custom lobbies. Unfortunately, there are still limits to this. In custom lobbies with friends, you are unable to limit who can join friend-wise. Additionally, Knockout Tour with a combination of randoms and your friends is not possible either. I sort of understand the reason for this, as multiple friends together could target randoms to give each other an edge in competitive play, but it'll no doubt be a bummer for some. Otherwise, Knockout Tour with friends is limited to the CPU. (More on the CPU in just a little bit, by the way.)
Apart from picking races in either circuit or route forms, choosing from one of eight arenas to combat friends and rivals in the Battle mode, and even enjoying Free Roam together (but without the ability to complete P-Switch challenges online), there are a considerable amount of online modes to enjoy with or without the company of your friends. Even waiting around in lobbies has been improved by having everyone drive around the Free Roam mode as they wait. If you're playing with friends, you can select their icon from the map to instantly transport to them. A nice and welcomed feature indeed!
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Farewell, gliding--hello, flying! |
When not playing against real players, the thorn that is the CPU really sticks into your side. It appears from doing some online sleuthing and just attempting it myself, the CPU uses a dynamic difficulty at the time of this review. What I mean by this is that your CPU opponents will adjust their skill level to yours. Do you find yourself drifting and getting boosts a bunch, or wall riding or grinding rails like a pro? Well, then, the CPU will get fiercer and fight you tooth and nail. Or maybe, tire and axle would be more apropos... Either way, it really felt like the less I played like I usually do, the easier the game became. I was three-starring cups with relative ease when I was letting up, not boosting, not drifting, and wall riding as much as I would otherwise want to do. Needless to say, this is a pretty awful design decision. It makes playing well a punishment for the player, and makes it feel genuinely artificial for difficulty and rather cheap at that.
My complaints aside with the CPU and some of the methods for unlocking content within Mario Kart World, what the game really, absolutely, positively, definitely gets right is with regard to its presentation. Goodness, is this game a stunner in its visuals, from the huge draw distance, to driving across the map without a loading screen in sight, to the amazingly expressive characters on display, and without question, the insanely good soundtrack. Many have made jokes (perhaps overly so to the point of them needing new material) that this is an $80 soundtrack with a game, but at the same time, the amount of stellar music within Mario Kart World is jaw-dropping.
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Koopa Troopa's copping some 'tude towards Baby Daisy. |
From the original, new tunes played within the game's circuits and menus, to the voluminous remixes and re-arrangements that span the Mario and Mario Kart series' illustrious histories, this is far and beyond my favorite Mario Kart soundtrack yet. That's saying something too, since Mario Kart 8 was phenomenal for many reasons, as well as in a musical regard. I felt like that one Leonardo DiCaprio meme of him pointing at the screen whenever a new remix that I heard and recognized played. And let me tell you--there are some DEEP cuts thrown in, too. I won't spoil them--but to listen is to believe.
I guess the elephant in the room remains with us: is Mario Kart World worth $80 full price? That's a subjective question, of course, and no doubt or at least I hope that Nintendo will continue adding value to the game for the rest of the Switch 2's life. Why? Because with the current state of the game, I'm really wanting more from it. There are plenty of features missing from the base game. Don't get me wrong--this is a much better package than Mario Kart 8 was at its respective launch on the Wii U, but comparing it to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at its launch followed by the Booster Course Pass additions (which seems like cheating)? Yeah...
That said, Mario Kart World as it stands, makes a good case for itself a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2. The foundation is there for more in the way of expansions, and the base game itself is more than entertaining and enjoyable, whether alone, with randoms, or with friends. New ways to race and new moves and tricks at Mario and friends' disposal add more depth to the racing while also keeping that accessibility that the Mario Kart series is known for. The Free Roam is my favorite Mario Kart solo content yet, essentially taking Mario Kart DS's Mission Mode and putting it within a contextual world. The base roster, costumes, and vehicles are fantastic, even if unlocking the majority of them is lacking in fun, and the game itself is just wonderful. Mario Kart World may not have made a stellar case for itself in beefing up its price, but it does make a magnificent case for continuing Mario Kart as being the premiere mascot racing franchise around.
[SPC Says: B+]