For some family and friend groups, Mario Kart is an institution – a foundational memory of competition, silliness, and fun that has endured for decades of new tracks, racers, and games. That reputation for entertainment is at no risk of being lost by the arrival of Mario Kart World, which offers tons of thrilling and bonkers courses, an intense awareness of adrenaline-fueled speed, and the best feeling controls to date. It’s also true that this new Mario Kart stumbles in some important ways as it tries to expand its scope, especially with a lackluster freeroam experience. Even with some missed opportunities to excel, the charm and vibrancy of the franchise holds up and ensures the Switch 2 launch includes an approachable and exciting racer that everyone can enjoy together.
Whether dashing through the Grand Prix or new endurance-style Knockout Tours, trying to win the day in a massive 24-player online scrum, or shouting at your family in a four-player local race down Rainbow Road, the driving of Mario Kart has never felt better. Physics are more nuanced and precise, including a much-improved approach to gliding and flight. Techniques like rocket start and drift are now even more core competencies than before, and new tricks like charge jump or rewind give you increased utility to navigate a course. Riding rails, charting shortcuts, and smart item usage (including fun additions like the hammer toss) are essential to have any chance in the cutthroat online races, but also in the elevated challenge of single-player races, which feel much more difficult now on higher CC settings.
Beyond the great driving feel, it’s the various courses that steal the show. Each location offers surprises, from sudden rocketing ascents to crashing down into a wave-wracked sea. The tracks exist as hotspots in a larger open world, so players are rewarded with greatly increased variety not only by racing the tracks, but the designated paths between the many linked destinations. The colorful characters and endless obstacles give you a real sense of touring across a Mario-themed landscape where all these unusual characters and monsters somehow coexist.
Graphics, audio, and production values are all also exceptionally high. The characters exhibit charming facial expressions, even if the cartoony vibe on some characters feels almost overexaggerated, and the game world is detailed and vast. A high frame rate and gorgeously detailed environments combine to lend a surprisingly intense perception of speed. Music in Mario Kart games has sometimes veered into annoyance, especially on those sped-up final laps, but I found the varied tunes of this installment to be toe-tapping and highly listenable.
Mario Kart World’s biggest innovation is, unfortunately, also its biggest letdown. The free roam option lets you dash about the open world, find some scattered one-off missions, and seek out hidden items. I quite like the interconnection between tracks and the intimation of a bigger game world, but the actual implementation of this open space is lacking. The large areas don’t feel curated to be a compelling open world. Too few activities pop up to justify the wandering. The map is only accessible from the frontend, so it’s easy to lose a sense of place. And rewards are profoundly lackluster and uninteresting, usually amounting to yet another sticker for the side of your kart. It’s all quite underwhelming, especially when stacked against numerous other open-world racers in the market that include more robust discovery and varied gameplay.
The other alternative to racing is also substandard. The “Battle” modes, Balloon Battle and Coin Runners, feel limited in depth and too clumsy to be enjoyable. After some hours trying to find the fun, I was happy to return to the race lines.
It’s those races that have always been the source of the real fun, and that remains the case here. I found far more joy playing solo than I have in prior Mario Kart installments, as the increased arsenal of tricks and compelling course designs demanded more focused attention. And multiplayer remains a chaotic and nail-biting good time. In all cases, you must accustom yourself to the wild and sometimes random swings between leading the pack in 1st place, and a sudden single blue shell that completely craters your win – it’s the nature of this particular beast, and that randomness might frustrate some players. Embrace that unruly element of luck, and Mario Kart World produces a lot of laughs and memorable moments.
While Mario Kart World doesn’t earn high marks across the board, it has it where it counts. As a launch title for Nintendo’s new system, this is a friendly and approachable release that will delight all members of the family, while also offering a high skill and knowledge ceiling for dedicated players who want to dig deep. And it’s just as maddening and hilarious as ever to hit your buddy with a shell and watch him spin out. At the end of the day, isn’t that the point?