Can you believe it’s been over a decade since we’ve had a new Mario Kart game? But along with the Nintendo Switch 2, here we are. In many ways, Mario Kart World is an awesome follow-up to an almost perfect kart-racer that has stood the test of time. On the fresh hardware, it looks fantastic and runs incredibly well. There are plenty of cool tracks and a couple of adorable new characters across a large roster. It’s a familiar experience that feels all the more polished and refined.
But for as much time as I’ve spent with Mario Kart World, I’ve come to realise that it’s rarely its newest features that are prompting me to return. Mario Kart World does so many things well, but I wish it integrated its new open world into the core experience, be it single-player, multiplayer or both. As a result, its broader structure leaves many of its newer features feeling undercooked and underutilised.
Push it to the Limit
For anyone who’s played a Mario Kart game before (let’s face it, almost all of us), you’ll generally feel right at home here. Karts handle incredibly well with a sense of speed and weight, and while this will change depending on your selected class and racing assists, it all feels easy enough to learn and challenging enough to want to master. While I’m always a sucker for the 150cc class, I found myself pumping the gas and drifting at every turn for some extra boost, as even AI-controlled opponenets can get quite tough.
Many elements from previous Mario Kart games return, like the ability to choose between several vehicles for your racer. Karts, Bikes and everything in between are on the table, and while you can’t customise these options this time around, I didn’t mind as there’s plenty to unlock and choose from. There’s even a whopping 50 playable characters to choose from, with 24 main characters and 26 NPC-based characters, which you can unlock just by playing through each of the game’s modes.
Mario Kart World isn’t all old news, though, with some new mechanics to either mess around with or dominate with. Firstly, wall-riding allows characters to ride along walls, either to get to higher places or access items that are otherwise out of reach. With rail-grinding, players can jump on certain rails on each track for an extra speed boost. Finally, there’s the charged jump, which is what you’ll rely on most. When driving in a straight line, you can hold the drift button (R or ZR) to gain up to three levels of charge, each of which can give you a significant leap at the cost of handling. This will help you reach new places on the track and gain the upper hand.
Even beyond these new mechanics, controls feel responsive and incredibly satisfying. There are plenty of assists for players of all ages and skill levels, and even some cool new items to take advantage of, like the hammers, used by the Hammer Bros. in most Mario games. This item throws out a line of hammers that can be used to hit and even obstruct an opponent’s path if thrown right. I love that most of these items are easy enough to use with the touch of a button ( L or ZL), even if it takes a certain amount of skill, timing and even luck to make them truly deadly.
The only issue I have with the items is a recurring one that the franchise as a whole is guilty of. While items are dealt at random, players are given more valuable and devastating items depending on their position and distance. While leading drivers are usually given a Banana Peel or a Green Shell at best, it’s incredibly frustrating when you’re hit with a Lightning Bolt or Golden Shell at the last possible turn on the last lap, watching three or four drivers get ahead of you.
Mario Kart World also adds Dash Food, or golden bags acquired at Yoshi’s drive-throughs, which grants you a certain ability and unlocks an alternate character costume. That being said, I have no idea how this works. It seems random, without any real correlation between the food you collect, the item you’re given or the costume you unlock. You’re generally going to want to grab them anyway, but there’s no real way to determine exactly what you’ll get.
There’s also a fair amount of rubber banding, where AI-controlled opponents tend to fly ahead of you at certain times, without much explanation. It’s never detrimental to the overall experience and only really happens regularly on higher-class races.
The Winner’s Circle
As far as variety is concerned, there’s plenty to do in Mario Kart World, whether you’re racing on your own or with friends, either locally or online.
There are eight Grand Prix cups to choose from, with an impressive lineup of 30 tracks and even some nice new spins on some older existing courses. The standard Grand Prix mode allows you to choose from one of those eight Grand Prix cups, each with its own four tracks. You’ll be able to choose between 50cc, 100cc and 150cc options, which determine the speed of your vehicle and general enemy difficulty. Mario Kart World even bumps the number of racers from 12 to a whopping 24, which only adds to the chaotic fun.
You’ll race through the first track normally with a certain number of circuit-based laps. But with each of the remaining three tracks, however, you’ll then have to race through the open world on a series of long roads, which account for two of the race’s three laps, before finishing with a final lap on a standard track. Initial trailers made it seem like you would end one race and immediately have to dash to the next track and keep your place, but with loading times in between each race, it loses a little steam.
It takes away from the feeling that you’re even in an open world, as the game simply pulls you through its tracks one by one. While it’s a fine addition to the overall package, it just doesn’t add much, given that this mode is accessed through the main menu. I wish it had incorporated the open world a little more, allowing you to explore the world and head to each of the Grand Prix locations, much like the Forza Horizon series.
The Knockout Tour is probably my favourite mode in Mario Kart World and takes the entire experience up a notch. You’ll be able to choose from eight rallies, consisting of a compilation of tracks from various environments and Grand Prix cups. In these races, you’re essentially gunning it from point A to B over a series of interconnected tracks that act like an endurance marathon of sorts. With up to 24 racers in the mix, it’s so much fun to have to maintain your position while each race progressively shrinks the pool of drivers able to proceed. If you finish behind a certain position, you’re out.
It’s not only the most engaging option for its chaotic fun, but also for its more nuanced structure that incorporates more of the open world. While you’re not free to drive anywhere here, you get the impression that there’s a huge interconnected world, full of secrets and shortcuts, the latter of which can be found in a few sports in each of these races. It’s also a massive shame that you can’t pair up with a few friends online to take on other racers around the world. You can only squad up in a private lobby where the remaining racers are bots.
Time Trials also make a return, where you’ll be able to choose any tracks across the map to set your records. Once again, I feel this is a missed opportunity, as you only get to pick your track via the map, instead of being able to drive around to each location yourself.
The VS Race mode allows you to team up with four friends locally or with up to eight players wirelessly and customise a range of settings to your liking. Be it the class, difficulty settings, course selection, race count and available items, you’ll be able to cater to all types of players, even if it feels geared towards more social situations where certain friends may prefer ceratin tracks, rules, items, or a combination of all that the standard Grand Prix cups don’t allow.
Finally, the Battle mode gives you two games to choose from, in the form of Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. Balloon Battle sees you attempting to pop a number of the opponent’s balloons by hitting them with items, while Coin Runners sees you attempting to collect the most amount of coins within a set time limit. They’re relatively basic and always better with friends, but do provide short bursts of fun.
The Open Road
The open world itself, unfortunately, feels like an afterthought. As I had mentioned earlier in this review, it could have been better implemented within the core game modes. It’s cool to transition straight from the main menu into the open world with the Free Roam mode by pressing the ‘+’ button, but it’s just too detached from everything else.
Once again, I feel like Mario Kart World could have taken a few notes from Forza Horizon, where the open world is simply the foundation of the experience itself.
There are things to do, though, like completing several challenges and collecting items. By driving over P Switches, you can take on certain Special Test or Skill missions, but there are only so many to complete. Given the fact that you’ll only be undertaking these out in the Free Roam mode, they’ll generally wear out their welcome after a few hours.
Look the Part
Mario Kart World looks as good as the franchise ever has, given the new hardware. The Nintendo Switch 2 allows Mario Kart World to run at 60 FPS in 1440p when docked and 1080p when in handheld mode. It’s not a massive jump, but it still looks super vibrant and polished, even if the frame rate can dive depending on the game mode.
Multiplayer modes, for example, seem to go one step further and cap the entire experience at 30 FPS. It’s an understandable choice given the extra grunt required, but it’s hard to know if the experience is capped because it can’t punch out a little more, or if Nintendo didn’t want to take that gamble. Either way, it’s still very consistent.
Final Thoughts
With new hardware to flex on, a range of single and multiplayer modes, new tracks, racers, and even mechaniacs, Mario Kart World is a solid iteration and a worthy follow-up to Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
That being said, I wish the open world were integrated a little better into the core experience, instead of feeling like a bit of an afterthought. There’s still stuff to do there, but it just feels so distant from everything else. But if this formula sticks around, the sky seems to be the limit for Nintendo.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Driving feels fantastic; Knockout Rally is a true standout; Slick visuals; Stable performance; Plenty of fun with friends
Lowlights: The open world feels a little lacklustre
Developer: Nintendo, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
Available: Now
Review conducted on Nintendo Switch 2 with a pre-release code provided by the publisher.
