5/5 ★ – ItsNeon2401's review of Mario Kart World.

16 days ago, the first new mainline Nintendo-console Mario Kart released since literally half my life ago. As a recent college grad, my expectations going in were way different than they had been for Mario Kart 8 back when I was in elementary school. This is my first Mario Kart that I’ve been able to look at with a critical lens as both a gamer and now game developer and I have to say, this game is amazing. I’ve played for 8 days and already put in 50 hours. To start, the gameplay in this game is absolutely incredible. Its smooth like Mario Kart 8, but a little more slippery and hard to control, which in turn makes it more engaging to learn and adjust to. On top of that, the charge jump and rail grinding techniques add so much to how you have to look at courses. No longer is a wall just a wall, but now it functions as a possible alternate path to take. You have to consider the placement of railings and stage props and how grinding along them can alter your speed and positioning in races, and how that interacts with the current item battlefield. One of my biggest issues with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (and why I ultimately stopped enjoying anything under 200cc) is because of how basic and easy driving was, how much style over substance the gameplay and track design were, but Mario Kart World is quite the opposite. Every single inch of most tracks is packed with interesting decisions to make and chaos to avoid or harness to your advantage making use of the new abilities. Whistlestop Summit is one of the most prominent examples of this. In some cases its best to grind between the train rails and guard rails, and other times they take you wide so you have to just take the normal path. There’s multiple paths that intertwine that you should jump between for optimal racing, and there’s a grass shortcut that can be completely skipped by wall jumping between the cliff face and a pillar. Most retro tracks are also greatly altered to be more dynamic. Airship fortress has a rail jump across the road for optimal routing, Shy Guy Bazar has a new set of alternate roof routes which basically triples the amount of driving area there is, and Wario Stadium is even crazier than it was in N64. Rainbow Road in this game is more of a marathon-type course, with 5 completely distinct sections to it, and despite being a little more basic than most tracks, feels like an event when playing it. This game also has a ton of single player content. I spent 45 hours on it, from 3 starring cups and rallies, to unlocking costumes, to chasing the gargantuan amount of Peach medallions and ? panels, to completing an insane 300+ P Switch challenges that feel like more evolved versions of DS’ mission mode, all tied together by a giant open world. While its a little sad that costume unlocks are relegated to food items, it makes sense for casual consumers so they don’t have to engage in a large single player experience just to get costumes. What DOESN’T make sense though is how NPC characters are unlocked. You have to get the Kamek item to turn you into it in the right spot, but there’s a good chance that Kamek will instead turn you into one of the characters that’s available from the get go, so it becomes a huge grind to get characters. In my 50 hours of play I am still missing a few of them Visual presentation in this game is stellar too. It nails the cartoony aesthetic the Mario series usually sticks to instead of attempting the gritty realism Mario Kart 8 had a lot of. Filled with gorgeous lighting, pretty material design, and VFX that emphasize every bit of the game (even having some onomatopoeias for some effects) I would say that this is easily the ideal Mario artstyle. The music is also stellar in this game, I don’t think I’ve heard a single bad remix yet, and I’ve probably heard most of the soundtrack in my playtime. The OST is this fun mix of rock and jazz. Sound design is also fantastic, with most items having their own little quirky noises that lets you know what’s coming. My only gripe with it is the lack of the mega mushroom theme I do have a small list of complaints to end this otherwise glowing review with. Primarily, this game could do so much more with options with relatively little effort. Stuff like choosing how many laps you do at the end of an intermission, custom knockout routes, and even alternate course layouts as options would all be so easy because they’re mostly already there, just not available to choose. Changing NPC unlocks to be easier would go a long way, and some characters desperately need more costumes. It is criminal that DK and Pauline each only have 1 costume. Some fan favorite characters would also help liven the experience up for some people Overall, this game is amazing, and is just brought down a little bit by small glaring omissions. I can easily see myself sinking hundreds of hours into this over the next decade and not getting bored. Rank: A PS: item balance and 24 racers is great, the chaos really embodies what Mario Kart should be, but you’re no longer as much at the mercy of red shell RNG while in first