For the first month or so following the Switch 2’s release, I was addicted to Mario Kart World. Whenever I tried to get other things done, I would always somehow fall back into playing more Mario Kart (not that I actually had anything important to do—I was on summer break). Of course, this game had some big shoes to fill after Mario Kart 8. I was really concerned when I heard that this game was going to have an open world. Normally “open world” is really just the developers’ code word for “we didn’t really work on gameplay or story because we spent all of our time on the world, and we’re hoping you don’t notice.” This game, though, for the most part pulls it off, and it’s awesome!

While the game plays relatively similar to Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart World has a very different vibe. While Mario Kart 8 had this clean, futuristic vibe, Mario Kart World has this more… dirty vibe? Maybe it’s western? I’m not totally sure how to describe it but it’s very cool. I was pretty sad that they removed the anti-gravity courses from 8, but the courses in World are still very cool, my favorite ones being Toad’s Factory and Faraway Oasis. The courses themselves aren’t as important in this game, though, because you’ll spend most of your time racing across the highways and off-roads between the various courses (contrary to popular belief, they are not called “intermissions”. All of the courses are connected in one big map, but this game doesn’t fall into most of the pitfalls that most “open world” games do because you still select the races from a menu and have to stay on the track (unless you are using the free roam mode, but I’ll talk about that later). Something that really adds to this game’s atmosphere is this game’s absolutely amazing soundtrack. It has some great originals, but also incorporates so many classic tunes from various Mario Brothers games (and even the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker theme is included, which made me so happy). I cannot emphasize enough how awesome the music in this game sounds. The cherry on top for this game’s vibes is the amount of little details that they incorporated into the world—you can tell that they put a lot of effort into making this game feel lived in.

The bulk of the gameplay is the eight cups and eight knockout tour rallies. The cups are interesting because there are still four races per cup, but only the first race laps. The other races are driving from where you just were to another course and racing one lap around that course. I don’t know why Nintendo didn’t just have you lap around the courses considering there are other modes where you can experience driving between courses, but it’s not that big of a deal once you get used to reading Lakitu’s signs directing you where to go. The biggest issue with the cups, though, is the fact that there are twenty-four racers the entire time, which makes it absolutely chaotic. The knockout tour solves this problem in such a cool way, though. The knockout tour is a mode where players drive across the map, through several courses and highways, and periodically you’ll hit a gate where if you aren’t in a certain place or higher, you’ll be knocked out of the tour. At first it was annoying to be knocked out, but it is super cool when you do make it to the later parts and there aren’t as many racers. I personally love the knockout tour, but I feel like just because the knockout tour has twenty-four racers, they still could have left the grand prix as twelve racers and it would have felt better.

This game also has some great extra modes you can play. Not only does this game have the normal versus, time trial, and battle modes that we all know and love from Mario Kart 8, Nintendo also added a free roam mode, where you can freely drive around the map. Similar to flying around WuHu Island in Wii Sports Resort, there are little collectibles to find scattered around the world (and even some little challenges to complete). I really wish Nintendo would add a way to play free roam multiplayer because currently the only way to free roam with friends is to start a wireless lobby. Interestingly, the battle mode got a downgrade, now only including Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. Personally, I was a really big fan of Renegade Roundup from Mario Kart 8, so hopefully they add it in a later update.

There are also some interesting changes to how things work on the road. The biggest change they made is probably the rail-riding, which is admittedly super cool. Some people have complained that rail-riding would make the game too easy because you don’t have to steer, but honestly it’s so hard to get on the rails that it makes up for it. They’ve added the leaf item, which launches you into the air and is supposed to help you get onto the railings, but in reality rarely works and just slows you down. On the topic of items, I’ve noticed that they nerfed the lightning bolt, so now you don’t stay small for more than a second or two. I also really like how they made it easier to slipstream, especially with there twenty-four racers. Aside from the fact that Lakitu takes your items now when you fall, I’d consider most of the gameplay changes to be improvements.

In the end, the most important point is that Mario Kart World is just really fun to play. It sets itself apart from previous Mario Kart Games without losing the key things that make Mario Kart so great. The game isn’t perfect (they need to add 200cc at some point), but it’s pretty awesome, and I think it’s great continuation of the Mario Kart Series. Also, Ice-cream Toadette is adorable. You should buy it with your Switch 2, though, because eighty bucks is too much.

8.5/10