So, yep, this review is a bit late, but given there was no communicated immediate plans for their “content roadmap”, i feel what i have to say now would have applied at launch and might apply despite future updates, but we’ll see about that, though i don’t plan to update the review as they add stuff either as part of DLC expansions or free software updates.
I mean, i also didn’t plan to keep reviewing Pirate Warriors 4 DLC as i did, so time will tell, but as of now they haven’t hinted or said anything about what they plan to do with the title in the future, so here we go.
That said, i did play a good chunk of the game at launch, then i came back after DK Bananza to dig into the “open world-free roam” mode, play some online matches occasionally, and trying to have the RNG grant me the other hidden characters like mah boi Fish Bone.
More on that later.
Being the long awaited mainline installment into the Mario Kart series (i’m trying to scrub my memory of Mario Kart Tour and his “pipe titillation gacha”), technically Mario Kart 9, but i guess Nintendo doesn’t feel like numbering them for now, yeah, expectations were high and not much was known about it aside rumors of the game having an open world, until it was releaved some months before the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, and then launched as THE launch game for the console, so much they make it a lot cheaper to get the digital copy included in the Switch 2 bundle, while the retail copy asked 90 bucks MSRP.
“Jesus”, indeed.
But indeed it does look stunning for a launch title, and a lot more beautiful to look at (better be if they wanna ask 90 bucks for it), compared to MK 8 decent but “plasticy” art style, music is also great, sporting a lot of amazing tunes, from new ones to excellent new versions of classic ones from the Mario series, and performance was pretty good on both docked and handheld mode.
FIY, i didn’t use Gamechat nor bought the camera attachments (even though the Piranha Plant one looks cool) so i won’t comment on these features, i can’t, same for how the free roam mode performs with online or local players joining in.
Not much to say, it does look the part, and sounds like it too.
Gameplay is excellent and offers both familiar and new systems, for example, while the antigravity from MK 8 is no more and you can’t select a paraglider, the kart automatically grows wings of sorts and goes into a flying module, which this time around lets you barrel roll and control better, almost like a limited version of the planes in Diddy Kong Racing (thankfully not Banjo Pilot).
A bit ambivalent about the underwater sections also being gone for more Wave Race style “over-water” handling, but i know i’m being peculiar as a fucker who likes water and underwater stuff in videogames, in general, and recent game design is kinda going away from those, apparently.
Water aside, the courses are even bigger than before (even though they would have to be anyway, since they doubled the racers from 12 to 24, even more full of ways to get around, thanks to the new rail grinding and charged jump, the latter being able to initiate a wall run, which can be used in combination with more items or scenario items functioning as improptu jump pads or trick ledges to find some space out of the kart karnage.
Speaking of which, the item selection has some gone, even if they stuck around since MK 7 and i thought would remain, like the Racoon tail, the Piranha plant (i do miss that one, even if its now a playable character), but there’s also plenty new and returning ones, like the Giant Shroom, the Feather (back from the original Super Mario Kart), brand new like the Coin Block or the Golden Shell, to spread even more coins around to you and others.
It’s indeed the mess it sounds like, even more with the expanded courses and doubled number of racers on the track, yet the rubberbanding works, even if you’re in the lead there’s no telling 100 % that someone isn’t gonna sneak up on you and catch up, even with the chaos its still better balanced than Mario Kart Wi, i can say that much, and if you’re going in expecting to play like – i dunno – Auto Modellista… you aren’t, you know you aren’t.
On top of the pretty big item selection given out via the usual “?” boxes (with two item slots kept from MK 8 Deluxe) you can also get snack lunches from snack bars/drive-in restaurants on the side of the road, which give out different amounts of speed boost (like The Mushroom) and can change the characters into one of its unlockable costumes, like giving Yoshi its happi/japanese festival get-up or give out “Sultan Wario”.
These can and will change depending on what specific food stuff item is and where you can get it from, some are regional, so to speak.
Controls are perfect as always, still i find it absurd they decided to make the turning assist option the default, it shouldn’t be, you should have the game immediatly have a pop up screen so you can decide immediatly (and later change in the option) if to have the drive assist feature on.
It is absurd because auto-acceleration and gyroscope controls are NOT on by default. Come on.
That minor gripe aside, let’s talk roster. It’s utter insanity, they were clearly having a laugh and dediced to say – what the hell – let’s include basically everything, from the Cow from Moo Moo Meadows, to the Smack Fishes, or have Goombas use the kart despite lacking any hands for steering, but then again the Crab one does fine as well, same goes for the limbless Snowman.
It’s a bit cheap though how – for example – Waluigi in his unlocked Centaur outfit counts as another slot on the roster, though it barely matters because the roster is already huge as is, though really it should be organized with a drop down window for the alternate costumes, doing it this way leds one to believe there are even MORE characters…. which is kinda correct.
A bit odd after years of MK 8 DX having no more Link, Isabelle or Inkling, i guess they could/will be DLC, but i can’t deny they did go insane and made you play as basically everything/everyone from the Mario series, and yes, DK with the new design also shared for Bananza looks good.
In terms of customizing the karts, Mario Kart World does take some streamlining choices even further, so now for example you can’t pick n mix parts, you choose a character, a vehicle, there’s no tyres type or handgliders (as said before the vehicles just morph into flying or water ski mode when needed).
It’s less of an issue and more of a deliberate choice to keep showing some stats of the karts, despite most fans knowing vehicles have secrets stats for specific off-road segments types, like on-water, flying, but i can’t deny its strange they even removed showing the “offroad handling” of the vehicles. Always find it kinda weird how the series had hidden stats for the karts, so not too happy with them going further in this direction, but honestly i’m nowhere good enough at competitive Mario Kart to argue that this is better than how some builds were too good to make people choose anything than those handful in competitive MK8/MK 8DLX, i wouldn’t know.
One issue on content is the unlockable karts/bikes, not in themselves, the game has the same amount of karts, quads and bikes as base MK 8 did (the Deluxe edition added 3), but in the way the game still handle unlocks like MK8, as in, for every 100 coins you unlock a random kart.
Which in itself its fine, but since the game now lets you keep 20 coins collected on the course instead of the previous 10 (which is fine since the courses and partecipants have doubled in size), it just takes 3000 coins to unlock all karts, a sum which you will amass easier than ever since coins can be found while doing “Free Roaming”, as in the open world mode.
It’s odd because you’d think they start asking for more coins after a while in order to unlock the remaining karts, but nope, so in 10/11 hours you will have unlocked all vehicles.
And here comes the Nintendo bullshit decision that they couldn’t help themselves to NOT do.
Doing the various cups and modes will serve to unlock most of the “main” characters, like Lakitu (the shunned one), as usual, but to unlock as playable the various Mario enemies or allies like the Charging Chucks (the american football guys from Super Mario World) or the dolphin, you will have to basically burn some offerings to the RNG gods.
You see, there’s this new item, the Kamek item, which basically transforms the racers into other ones, at random, and if you do get changed into a playable character you didn’t have (for example the Cataquack, those duck fucks from Super Mario Sunshine), you unlock it.
Problem is… well, problems ARE, there’s no guarantee you won’t be changed into another character you’ve already unlock, the Kamek item itself it’s rare to even get, AND it has to be cast on you by other players or the IA. Not that you’re even gonna see the item that much to begin with.
Apparently it’s not completely random and people are trying to figure out how to modify the odds in their favour (as some transformations are more likely on certain tracks and with certain racers, apparently) but as far as i understand, it’s just 90 % luck, i’ve gone lots of Cups where i didn’t even see a single Kamek item drop, period.
Yeah, even in a non-F2P game devoid of microtransactions, it feel like you’re doing gacha pulls, and it’s fuckin stupid. Even more so when we’ll get to talk properly about the big new feature, the Free Roam Mode… which is now.
Yeah, Mario Kart is also going open world…. but not necessarily in the way you might think.
The idea is indeed that you play in a interconnected open world where all the race tracks are also situated, with even the regular Cups using this idea as in you drive from and to the tracks that make the Cup/Trophy, and also in the highway and paths connecting these places together, same applies for Knockout Tour, which is basically a “battle royale” take on racing, meaning you take on 5-6 tracks in a single run, and you must be at least at the require placing when the next track ends and the new one begins, otherwise you’re eliminated and lose.
You can access “Free Roaming” from the start menù, and there you can explore at your leisure the world, the tracks themselves, take photos, and undertake the many mini-challenges peppered through the various area and activated by running over the classic Mario “P Switches”, collect coins, or try to find the collectables items, being Peach Coins and “?” panels hidden inside each area.
It’s good, but honestly it’s frustrating because it’s almost great, though to be clear, don’t expect this to be like The Crew or other open world car games, this is more … what it says on the tin, it’s a “free roam” mode where you can spend time either collecting stuff, honing your skills with the challenges (that do help you get comfortable with the new mechanics and hone your skills)or just take in the various details and architecture of the tracks since you’re not in a competitive race.
It’s fun, it is, but it also feel kinda barren, like i didn’t want a modern Ubisoft glut of content for content’s sake, but i can’t deny it feels like a missed opportunity to basically expand on the Diddy Kong Racing adventure feel/structure, like maybe having some quests and a storyline would have been nice and possible to implement.
And while the hands off approach that doesn’t want to constantly tutor or badger you into doing stuff is nice, it would have helped if the game said or gave some hints of why you should collect the Peach Coins, find the “?” Panels or do the challenges, maybe instead of doing that stupid Kamek RNG item shit it locked the special extra racers to the collectables it would easily be way more rewarding and give a bigger sense of purpose.
I do like finding the telescopes placed around and how it encourages you find out for yourself what’s actually in the various areas, since there are some things that can happen as a surprise, like some target “runaway-criminal” NPC drivers, some vehicles that let you momentarily control them (like the truck or marine vehicle) and smash everything you come in contact, Nabbits that you can then immediatly chase to run them over, pipes that act a secret way to access more secreted parts of the area, but giving out some kind of reward for doing these that’s not a sticker (some give you a sticker only the first time you do them, like the Nabbit spontaneous chases) … would have been better, it is that simple.
Though, i’m not a fan of how some areas of the world are actually off limits, as in, obviously they gotta end but i feel they’re not always signposted well, sometimes a specific area in the distance (especially in the desertic zones) results in Lakitu bringing you back into boundaries,
If nothing else the P switch missions are fun in themselves, there are plenty to find which in itself it’s a reward for exploring and so is exploring, it’s nice to be able to simply go into the circuits and look at their design in a leasure mode sort of way , not just in a sense of “training” to learn them better, but also because they’re gorgeous, But yeah, one wonder what could have been to have a proper open world story mode of sorts, especially considering the insane MSRP it ask, which i can’t avoid factoring it, even though i would love not to.
Almost forgot, there is a new insane new feature, not in itself, but by virtue of even existing in a racing game, regardless: “rewind”.
i mean, it would be baffling if it was a complete way to erase mistakes (which it does) AND if it was allowed anywhere outside of free roam and single player modes, but obviously it doesn’t work for multiplayer.
I guess it’s a neat feature to learn shortcuts and practice tricks and various exploits and what you can get away by mixing the new grinding, wall running and items, it ‘s just weird to see a racing game that lets you rewind back time at all.
On the upside like the game doesn’t completely throw the good stuff that makes Mario Kart in the trash for the sake of having an open world, that feels secondary to providing a better and complete experience that builds on the fundamental bones of MK, and it do like that it’s a feature complete game in the modes repart, there’s no Mario Kart TV sharing or channels with replays yet (odd as the Photo Mode is there already, as expected of any modern videogame release) but there’s also NOT having to wait for the Deluxe version to have the classic Battle mode in, is in here at launch, alongside the other expected ones,
The tracks themselves could have gone for 36 tracks instead of the usual 32…. technically 31 as “ “trophy city” is used in more cups, but then again it’s big enough that it doesn’t actually matter being used thrice by the cups, as each “trip” into the city takes you through a different path/section that’s big enough to be a track on its own, same for Peach Stadium that’s technically used twice.
But it ultimately doesn’t matter , since many returning tracks are changed and expanded to notable degrees, they’re bigger and better than ever, nd this does feed into the circuits making the cup being actually interconnected parts of a single world (plus there’s also the classic “Big Donut” from MK 64 returning as a Battle Mode exclusive track, so the math cheks out).
Still, 4 more would have been a welcome bucking of MK traditions.
What is NOT here at launch is a stat screen, come on, even if just to keep track of the coins total and such, even MK 8 base had that.
Instead you basically have a strange (and very “Nintendo” way) to track progress; stickers.
They are basically a set of in-game trophies/achievements which you constantly get from doing P-Challenges, unlocking racers, finishing the cups for the first time, reaching coins thresholds, getting the collectables, amassing a certain amount of airtime, tricks totals, basically everything, and yes, you can use the stickers on the vehicles… well, sticker, silly as it sounds you can just pick 1 sticker.
Speaking of which, online has the same basic set up as MK8/MK8 DLX did, starting you at a default “score” of 3000 that goes up by winning or losing matches, which applies to all 3 modes (gran prix, knockout tour and battle mode), but even in single player you can tell how much more chaotic it is, just by virtue of having 24 racers instead of 12, so you can imagine how that could apply to Battle Mode, for example, and you’d be correct.
Also, while the new way the Grand Prix works if fine, some might want to also have a “Classic Grand Prix” version available where you just play 4 circuits/tracks back to back, and i get the sentiment, this new way is cool but it’s a bit weird how sometimes you do very few laps on the circuit you’re supposed to do and more in the filler middle roads interconnecting roads/sequences that bring you to that circuit in the first place, and some stages are so bigger and offer much more so you almost don’t notice you’re revisiting that, but some like Moo Moo Meadows are the same they ever were,
Actually, you can play “classic grand prix” in online mode and VS… or apparently you could by selecting Random in the course selection, but that has been deliberatly patched out, which is weird especially since Nintendo didn’t even say they were gonna add a “Classic” option for Grand Prixs.
Another thing also missing is the 200CC setting/difficulty, which isn’t technically a staple of the series since forever and was never planned to begin with, but that might be added as a simple software update, and at least there’s Mirror Mode.
Concluding, Mario Kart World looks and sounds amazing, it’s pretty good but isn’t great, thanks to a both fun yet kinda limited open world/free roaming mode that with a tad more effort could have been a full fledged huge story/adventure mode, expanding upon ideas from Diddy Kong Racing, but on the other hand it doesn’t sacrifice the core experience, which is stronger than ever thanks to some new mechanics that freshen up the formula and invite even more experimentation and weird tricks, while also offering the biggest MK roster ever (definitely for a base game release) with some gonzo picks. Its worth getting in the bundle or when it gets on sale, 90 bucks for its retail physical release is insane, it’s not THAT great to warrant getting a Switch 2 just for this.
And arguably nothing is if you have more pressing financial preoccupations.
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