With nearly 70 million sales, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is easily the best-selling game on the original Nintendo Switch, which is why it was a no-brainer to bring a sequel to the newly released Nintendo Switch 2.
What’s far more difficult, however, is how you improve on such a universally beloved game, and one that boasts a staggering 96 courses once you factor in DLC.
In theory, Mario Kart World’s new open-world structure is exactly the sort of pivot the series needed to not only remain fresh, but also step out of the large shadow cast by its hugely successful predecessor.
The result is a colourful, chaotic and hugely entertaining racing game, albeit one that falters in one crucial department.
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Indeed, Mario Kart World’s open-world approach is arguably the game’s biggest strength and also its main weakness.
Perhaps unfairly, I was expecting an open-world driving experience more akin to something like Forza Horizon, where exploration is every bit as much fun as racing against the computer or completing missions.
Whether it’s the notifications you receive from discovering a new road, to the ability to start a race when you happen upon a circuit, the entire Forza Horizon experience feels like it revolves around the open-world. You’re constantly discovering new things, be it unlockable vehicles, speed challenges, destructible boards, and showcase events where the aim is to beat trains, plans and other vehicles to the finish line.
Mario Kart World’s open-world, on the other hand, feels empty and underbaked by comparison.
The closest thing in Mario Kart World are the P-Switch challenges, which are discoverable missions tasking players with getting from point A to point B within a time limit. The missions often showcase new gameplay features such as grinding, or power-ups like the returning Feather that lets players perform an air jump.
They’re undoubtedly a fun part of the open-world experience, but tend to be on the short side, lasting for seconds rather than minutes.
Outside of P-Switch missions, the open-world lets you discover new costumes and coins, but that’s about it.
The open-world element has lots of potential, but needs more content to make it a true selling point. We want more mini-games, more unlockables, the ability to create your own courses, quick races, and a more detailed map that highlights what you’ve unlocked and what else can be found.
The fact that Free-Roam is buried at the bottom of the main menu screen kind of sums up the underbaked nature of this potentially game-changing feature.
Despite my gripes with the open-world Free Roam mode, Mario Kart World is an otherwise excellent racing game that I’m genuinely having a lot of fun playing.
I really love the Knockout Tour mode, which can be played against the computer or online.
Racing non-stop across multiple courses, Knockout Tour begins with 24 racers, and culminates with four players and just one winner. The length of the courses and regular item placement means that despite losing four racers at every checkpoint, the action never subsides. You always feel like you’re in with a chance of making the cut-off point, even if you find yourself in last place with just a few corners to go.
Meanwhile, the increase to 24 players results in absolute chaos, something that really suits the power-up laden gameplay and versatile courses.
While I’ve never been a big fan of online multiplayer in the past, Knockout Tour has completely changed my tune and makes a Nintendo Switch Online subscription an essential purchase.
It helps that Mario Kart World has some excellent tracks, including personal favourites such as Boo Cinema, DK Spaceport and Dandelion Depths.
Nintendo has also been clever with some of the design elements, balancing the need for wider tracks (due to 24-person races) with lots of additional routes and shortcuts that take advantage of the open-world nature of the game.
The only slight drawback is that races are connected by stretches of road that lack the personality and tight design of more traditional circuits.
Atheistically, all of the courses are incredible, featuring so much background detail that’s it’s hard to know where to look.
It’s a graphically pleasing game, featuring Nintendo’s usual colourful visual style and charm, complemented by the increased power of the Nintendo Switch 2.
It also runs flawlessly, which is a remarkable achievement given the chaotic nature of the 24-person races.
All in all, Mario Kart World is a fine launch game and a smart evolution for a series that has been going strong since the early 1990s.
There’s definitely room for improvement, particularly in the open-world Free Roam mode, which has bags of potential but isn’t quite there at the time of writing.
Still, with lots of superb courses, a thrilling online mode and some seriously impressive visuals, Mario Kart World is a fine launch game that every Switch 2 owner should pick up.
VERDICT: 4/5