Mario Kart World - Review

Mario Kart has always been a comfort series, while each new entry got new tracks, there was a sense of familiarity to everything, that no matter the hardware, you were getting the same core experience. Mario Kart World sort of throws that out the window, along with a host of old school elements, but in its place comes a vast world to explore and a few big changes. But are these changes ones for good, or is the series now in a world of disappointment?

After the introduction video, Mario Kart World prompts you with a familiar menu, familiar if you are one of the 68 million people who bought Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that is. But that is really where the familiar ends and things begin to change. First up is the expanded roster, yes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser and the rest of the gang are present, but now there are more. In addition to characters that make sense like Koopa Troopa, given that Dry Bones has been around before, now there are characters like Pokey, Boo, Pianta and of course, Cow. Now don’t have a cow, as the changes keep on, well changing. For the past few games, players could select their kart type, then their wheels and glider, but no more. Instead, the karts are now locked in place, you are just choosing a style, checking the stats if you want and then you pick your cup. Part of me dislikes this lack of vehicle customisation, because it has been a staple of the series for the longest time, but another part appreciates one less thing to worry about.

While those changes are decent, where things really shake up is in the cups, yes, they have the same names, Mushroom, Fire Flower and so on, but that is about where things end. In past games, you would select your cup and complete a set number of laps around each of the circuits within, now that is not the case. The first track in a cup requires you to race as normal, but then the remaining ones have you driving there, then completing one lap of the new track. At first this sounds like a wonderful idea, giving players more to do than just racing around a track, but it also becomes a problem, but I will get to why in a moment. The other major new mode is the Knockout Tour, which is a battle royale type race where 24 players begin, but only one can be the winner. Between the new Grand Prix mode and Knockout Tour, the latter is the clear winner.

The reason why is that Knockout Tour lets you race from the very start of a series of tracks, all the way to the end. These races can last 10+ minutes and if you are playing solo in 150cc or online, can be pure chaos. As for Grand Prix, it feels like the poor mans version of Knockout Tour, yes you get to do 3 laps in the first course, but then the remaining just have you driving to the new venue and that is it. The two modes are quite similar, at least in a general sense, but one has loading times between the races and for no real gain. What is perhaps most egregious about all of this is that there is no traditional Grand Prix mode, which is honestly a major let down. There are some courses, like Wario Stadium that are great to race around, but in the current offerings, races just speed through it, not doing multiple laps of the track.

Thankfully, you can opt to do free roam around the track locations, so you can take your time discovering their secrets and what not, but that is not a great substitute for a proper race. The Free Roam does have a lot to do though, there are P-Switch challenges, which will test your skills by collecting coins, or dodging obstacles to hit a goal. You have Peach Coins around the place and no, they are not a meme coin and then there are question block pads, which reward you for driving over them. But again, we have a problem, completing all of these side objectives nets you a sticker, which you can then apply to your kart. The catch there though is that each kart can only have a single sticker. After around 15 hours with the game, I had nearly 200 and some of those came from collecting a set number of coins or even just hitting 100km of driving. I do understand what the developers were doing here, they wanted to give folks a reason to explore their world, and I do like the challenges, the problem is the rewards are not justified by the effort required at times, especially when some challenges are quite a bit harder than others.

While I am being picky, there are a few other things I would have loved to have seen added to the game, customisable controls for one. It bothers me that I still have to press A for go, when every racing game around, even other kart racers, have all moved to triggers. It also would have been amazing to be able to create custom cups, or Knockout Tours, I do understand the technological challenges, as the 30 tracks means some 27,000 combinations, but it would have been such a great addition to the series for those local races at least.

Taking the game online, for a race or battle mode, is just as much fun as past games have been and it is the ultimate way to get some humble pie in you, when someone else just smokes you. Knockout Tour online is best way to experience the game, because it is a fun mode and real players honestly make it frustrating, in the best way possible. Don’t get me wrong, the CPU players are now willing to get into the mix, they won’t just cruise behind you this time, but they don’t hold a candle to real people. Battle mode is going to be a take it or leave it mode for you, some of the matches I had there were good chaos and other times it felt like getting into the action was half the battle, pun intended. Online races are where you can do a traditional 3 lap race of a track, but is it not a guarantee.

Something that I have a hard time finding fault with are the visuals, which are some of the best in the series. This is not due to the game running in 4K or having HDR, but rather there is life to things here and that is not something we have seen before. Yes, past game had a few billboards around some tracks, but because the world is now, well a world, there is more continuity to things. Being able to race the Mario Bros. Circuit and see a sign for Conkdor Lights, then see that same sign elsewhere is fun. The game also embraces a little more fun with its character looks, yes Mario still looks like Mario, but now you can unlock outfits for them to race in. While I do like the way the game lets you unlock those outfits, by getting drive through in any mode, I really wish they were not all on the character select screen, a sub-menu for selecting a character outfit would be grand addition.

As with past Mario Kart games though, the tracks are the real stars and while yes, you don’t get to do laps of them like you used to, the free roam mode shows off how much is going on. Most tracks in past games, had a single shortcut, but here there are rails to grind on, walls to ride across and more traditional looking shortcuts. That means each time you scope out a track, you are going to discover more ways to get around it, which makes them feel grander than they were at a first glace. There is also something fun about driving from the top of a snow-covered mountain, down through muddy farmland and out to the sparkling ocean and sandy beaches. There are times when I noticed pop in on tress and other objects in the distance, but this usually only happened in Free Roam, due to how much slower things were moving.

Another area where the game shines is with the music, because almost every track is straight up bliss. There are times when the music kicks in from a track you might know, but then it changes in new and fun ways. Sometimes when I was in a Knockout Tour, hearing the music change from something fun to the course track, did feel a little forced, but I mostly ignored it, because the music was so good. What would I love to see, is that when a new music track begins to play, for the name to appear on the screen, like it does in almost every other racing game around. Something that bothers me is still the new voice of Mario, the characters that Kevin Afghani provides the voices for are not good and it bothers me that they are still going with the ‘good enough’ replacement for Charles Martinet. The other character voices are fine, most of my time was spent as Rosalina, simply because she is a quiet character, but Yoshi, Donkey Kong and even Koopa Troppa got some time in the drivers seat.

Mario Kart World is an incredible game, with Knockout Tour being the star of the show. The world itself makes all that possible and being able to freely explore it, does make for a great addition to the game. But sadly, while there is a lot of new to love, removing the traditional Grand Prix races for the new point to point style, feels like a downgrade in a big way. The Free Roam, as delightful as it is, doesn’t really offer any incentives to completing the challenges, single stickers are just not enough. Nintendo have taken a series that is almost 35 years old and given it a restoration that was long overdue, the problem is they stripped out what made the series special while they did so. There is little chance that if you already own a Nintendo Switch 2, that you don’t already own Mario Kart World and it is worth owning, I just wish some of the changes weren’t traded for the world.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Nintendo

The Pros

The large world is brimming with details and being able to take your time exploring is great fun

Knockout tour is the best kind of chaos, both offline and on…

The Cons

… but the new Grand Prix feels like a poor mans version of it, which is a shame

There are a host of things that should be in here, like customisable controls and with the upgrade to the core experience, it feels weird to be without them