After the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World were announced, I was honestly a bit worried. Seeing all of the changes like 24-character races, a vast open world, and even course layouts were all big question marks. Would Nintendo really be able to make all of these changes and have them all piece together into one coherent Mario Kart puzzle?
It’s a daunting and borderline impossible task, but Nintendo EPD pulled it off and engineered a magical game that looks, feels, and breathes like a Mario Kart title should. That being said, there are a few features that feel like they were trimmed to fit into place while others are missing a few knobs and sockets.
Nintendo is home to many iconic characters and their appearances in titles like Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. is something special and unique to Nintendo games. Although Mario Kart World has limited the cast to just the Mario series, the addition of side characters and outfits will make you quickly forget about the non-returning cast.
With the largest Mario Kart cast to date, Mario Kart World also has the largest number of drivers in a race at 24, which means even more items to avoid. The number of items isn’t as noticeable when playing against computers, but playing against other players online is a different beast. If you’re stuck in the middle of the pack, you’ll end up in a battlefield that leaves a trail of gold coins in its wake.
The road is always cluttered with something as shells, bananas, explosions, cows on the road, and even cows in the driver seat crowd the streets. Each and every obstacle will drop you from a podium finish to the middle of the pack, but this is what Mario Kart is all about, right? The wave of emotions as you rise to first only to end up in tenth is something that is quintessential to the Mario Kart experience and it’s no different in Mario Kart World.
This is even more prevalent in the new Knockout Tour mode, which is Mario Kart’s version of a battle royale-racing mode. Everyone is using their items to escape a bottom four elimination, which leads to pure and utter madness. But, if you can embrace the chaos, you’ll experience something beautiful and hilarious that only 24 drivers can bring.
The only time where the driver count feels a little disappointing is when you’re racing on an empty straight portion of the track. As courses can now include the journey to the next location, there are less turns, which can make it a little harder to pass your plethora of opponents.
Now, you might be thinking that that is a fair chunk of the race, but it happens a little less often than you think. There are a lot of short cuts scattered around the track and possibly the most short cuts ever seen before in a Mario Kart game. You can drive off the course and cut through the terrain with one of the many speed boosting items or use the new tricks — wall ride, rail ride, and charge jump — to your advantage. So many short cuts are hidden behind the new tricks with more being discovered every day, and when you’re finally able to pull one off, you get a glimpse of what makes Mario Kart World so enjoyable and satisfying.
With that being said, Mario Kart World does seem to be the most mechanical Mario Kart title for the average player. Although Mario Kart has always been good at evening out the playing field through items, these new tricks might leave old dogs in the dust in the future. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, as Mario Kart World does try to teach you in Free Roam.
Free Roam is a new mode where you can test your skills through challenges varying from simple to hand-cramping levels of difficulty or just cruise around town while jamming out to one of the best soundtracks featured in a Mario game. The courses and points of interest may stir up the wanderlust inside you, but the absence of a few features does put the brakes on your curiosity.
There is an abundance of challenges for you to complete like beating P-switches, collecting Peach medallions, and interacting with “?” panels, but it’s impossible to track which switches and medallions you’ve already interacted with or how many you have left in-game. Finishing every challenge is already intimidating enough, but the thought of endlessly wandering around looking for missing switches and medallions makes the idea a bit more dispiriting.
Additionally, you’ll encounter random events like catching a speedy Nabbit or knocking down an entire pyramid of Goombas, but moments like these are few and far between. The open world is slightly empty like many other open world games, but it’s still a great mode if you want to explore and see all of the iconic sights. Each location is full of little details that will transport you into the Mario Kart world. The attention to detail for each road sign, billboard ad, and even the Rosalina Tour Bus route will make your road trip a smidge more whimsical.
One thing that would make Free Roam slightly better is the ability to explore the map in its entirety with a friend online, but Free Roam wasn’t the only mode that was forgotten. If you want to play Knockout Tour with a friend online, you can only play vs computers — not other players online. It’s a bit bewildering why you can’t play Mario Kart World‘s stand out mode against other players with a friend, but you can only hope that Nintendo adds the feature in a future patch.
Overall, Mario Kart World stays true to the Mario Kart formula and adds a lot of new features — with more hits than misses. The gameplay is the smoothest it’s ever been and, in my opinion, more fun than ever. The techniques keep things fresh; the maps enchant you with their design and soundtracks; and the chaos make you turn on your Switch 2 night after night.
You should play Mario Kart World!
As the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch title, Mario Kart World had a big shoes to fill, but it was ready for the task and passed with flying colors. Even if free roam isn’t the premiere game mode it set out to be, the other game modes step up to the plate and put on a show to remember. Its replayability will keep you picking up your controller and repeatedly saying, “just one more race.”
It does come at a hefty price point, but if you already have a Nintendo Switch 2 and you don’t have Mario Kart World, all I can say is this — What are you waiting for?
Mario Kart, Sonic Racing, Garfield Kart
