3.5/5 ★ – FancyFriday18's review of Mario Kart World.

I’ve now finished just about everything in Mario Kart, except for those annoying open world challenges that are a pain to keep track of. Overall, I’d say it’s a good, even great, entry in the series. But honestly, some of the choices made in the game’s design are baffling. Let’s break it down. First, the music is fantastic! But nothing really feels tied to a particular place. It’s almost like you’re listening to a random radio station instead of distinctive track themes. The main reason for this is you end up spending so much time outside the traditional race tracks, so there’s not really a chance for the music to give each area its own identity. Speaking of spending time outside the tracks, the highways connecting each course are a really clever idea, and I’ll give Nintendo credit for that. But they also create some problems. You end up on these highways for so long that they start to feel like the main attraction, instead of the actual tracks. Personally, I think the Grand Prix should stick to classic 3-lap races, and the Knockout Tour should be focused on the highway segments. That way, the Knockout Tour would feel more unique and interesting. (And seriously, how is there not a single Knockout track that uses Rainbow Road?) The open world itself is fun in small bursts. It fits perfectly with the Switch’s handheld nature, jump in, find a few collectibles, and hop out. But there’s something missing that keeps it from being truly amazing: there’s just no good way to keep track of what you’ve done or what’s left to find in each area. A checklist or some kind of guide for nearby collectibles would have made a huge difference. As it is, hunting them all down becomes a nightmare. I ended up watching YouTube videos to find the best ones and just went after those, which was a lot of fun, but trying to do everything just felt like a grind. Bottom line, It’s a great game, but there are just too many missteps that keep it from being nearly perfect.