Mario Kart World review: Getting there is half the game
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I ended up buying a bundle unnecessarily because my brother found a bundle and I prefer physical. PM me if you're interested in buying the spare code I have.
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I'm very attached to my physical games, but I've done the same thing for Mario Kart World.
I realized games like Mario Kart, Splatoon, and Animal Crossing are perfect games to fire up in-between sessions of whatever meaty single-player game I'm playing through, and the ability to just load these games for a quick session is really enhanced when you don't need to get up and change cartridges.
In the end, games like Mario Kart and Splatoon are likely to get so many patches that the cartridge version will become somewhat vestigial anyway, so a digital download isn't a bad option.
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I actually agree with you one hundred percent. I'm sure it's because I'm 40 and stuck in my ways, but I, too, prefer Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64, and even that's with a caveat because Mario Kart 64 is when they started tinkering with the rubber-banding (it just became really obnoxious starting with Double Dash!!).
But, if I'm being honest, I'm that way when it comes to a lot of other games, too. I still yearn for the simple days of Halo 1 / 2 multiplayer, when everyone was on a (roughly) level playing field and the outcome of the game didn't depend on ranks and buffs and loadouts and whatever.
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Same. I kinda love it but also kinda miss the laps. I know you can do it in versus, but I feel like maybe the format should have been saved for knockout tour.
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I'm not sure I agree. It's been years since my wife sat down and played a game with me and she rolls into the cave a few times a night since launch for races. My kid loves it, and I'm already pushing 40 hours. If you just take me alone, my entertainment spend is $2 an hour. And I feel like I have at least another 40 in me. I'm not upset at the price.
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Thanks for mentioning the existence of this option! It sounds like a good segue between the novelty of the new and the muscle memory of the old (as in "all the way back to 1992 SNES MK" old!!).
I love games that let players customize or tailor the play experience to their preference, interest, and time (esp as a parent).
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Oh, I know MK64 had the blue shell. My friends and I would play with a rule that you couldn't use it. And yes, the original had lightning, and it was irritating then...
"Rail-grinding and wall-riding" sounds like more nonsense to me. I just want to drive a kart. Now get off my lawn etc. etc.
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jm_leviathan
Ars Scholae Palatinae
You can ignore the latter mechanics almost entirely, they're evidently intended as ancillary mechanics to expand the skill ceiling for the sweatiest of players to eke out minor gains. I've found a couple of collectibles in Free Roam mode that require a wall ride boost to reach, but there it's outside the pressure of a race and with the rewind feature available to instantly retry.
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jm_leviathan
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Much of the chaotic genius of Mario Kart lies in its ability to embrace such a broad spectrum of players and skill levels and allow them to have fun together, without eliminating the role of skill and the impetus to mastery. I think it's worth noting that Mario Kart World pushes the inclusivity of the series to new heights. Let us count the ways:
1. Free Roam mode allows players to explore the world and its mechanics at their own pace, devoid of the pressure of racing. Vibes of just chilling out in Mario 64.
2. The wide tracks and long horizons, particularly associated with the "intermission tracks" in GP or Knockout Tour, give players more time to see and react to what's coming next and freedom to pick their line of approach.
3. Dynamic difficulty. Rather than tying CPU difficulty to speed classes alone, anecdotal evidence suggests that the game features a dynamic difficulty system that is associated with player use of drifting, tricks, and perhaps other mechanics. For players lacking the knowledge, manual or cognitive dexterity to engage with those mid-level mechanics, CPU racers are more forgiving.
4. Auto-Hold Items behind. Unlike previous entries, characters will now automatically trail items like shells or bananas behind them as a defensive measure prior to use, rather than requiring a specific input to go do so. While for veterans this change requires some reprogramming of muscle memory, the previous system requiring manual input to trail items essentially added friction without depth.
5. Auto-Use Items. While MK8DX introduced auto-accelerate and smart steering features, MKW goes one step further by adding an accessibility option to auto-use items. For those lacking the knowledge, manual or cognitive dexterity to engage with item system in its standard form, this new feature allows those players to partake in one of the fundamental joys of the game. The system is somewhat intelligent (e.g. it won't use a Mushroom if doing so is going to send you flying off the track or into a wall) without being remotely competitive with manual item use.
Of all these features, only (2) has implications for the game's skill-ceiling. The new rail grinding and wall-riding mechanics, accessed via the new power jump feature, are evidently intended to serve more advanced players.
1. Free Roam mode allows players to explore the world and its mechanics at their own pace, devoid of the pressure of racing. Vibes of just chilling out in Mario 64.
2. The wide tracks and long horizons, particularly associated with the "intermission tracks" in GP or Knockout Tour, give players more time to see and react to what's coming next and freedom to pick their line of approach.
3. Dynamic difficulty. Rather than tying CPU difficulty to speed classes alone, anecdotal evidence suggests that the game features a dynamic difficulty system that is associated with player use of drifting, tricks, and perhaps other mechanics. For players lacking the knowledge, manual or cognitive dexterity to engage with those mid-level mechanics, CPU racers are more forgiving.
4. Auto-Hold Items behind. Unlike previous entries, characters will now automatically trail items like shells or bananas behind them as a defensive measure prior to use, rather than requiring a specific input to go do so. While for veterans this change requires some reprogramming of muscle memory, the previous system requiring manual input to trail items essentially added friction without depth.
5. Auto-Use Items. While MK8DX introduced auto-accelerate and smart steering features, MKW goes one step further by adding an accessibility option to auto-use items. For those lacking the knowledge, manual or cognitive dexterity to engage with item system in its standard form, this new feature allows those players to partake in one of the fundamental joys of the game. The system is somewhat intelligent (e.g. it won't use a Mushroom if doing so is going to send you flying off the track or into a wall) without being remotely competitive with manual item use.
Of all these features, only (2) has implications for the game's skill-ceiling. The new rail grinding and wall-riding mechanics, accessed via the new power jump feature, are evidently intended to serve more advanced players.
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Played it with a friend recently. We used to have really intense and fun races at 200cc on MK8, around its tight twisty courses. MKW feels much looser in comparison. The courses are wider, I guess due to the 24 racers, and in addition to the straight bits, it makes the racing feel less focused. Your drifts don't need to be that accurate, and you can't counter steer those drifts in the same way (it kind of locks out).
The world and music are totally gorgeous, but I don't know if I understand the appeal of semi-aimlessly wandering around.
So, we were a bit disappointed, but I can totally see that for a family party or with new players, it's going to be a tonne of fun. The tropical storm of turtle shells goes some way to balancing out experienced MK players. Also, you can play as a cow!
Maybe, if I may be so bold, MK8 / MKW compares to Doom Eternal / Doom Dark Ages, in terms of their focused / more chilled attitudes. I only mention because people on the web seem to have strong opinions about which 'vibe' works for them!
The world and music are totally gorgeous, but I don't know if I understand the appeal of semi-aimlessly wandering around.
So, we were a bit disappointed, but I can totally see that for a family party or with new players, it's going to be a tonne of fun. The tropical storm of turtle shells goes some way to balancing out experienced MK players. Also, you can play as a cow!
Maybe, if I may be so bold, MK8 / MKW compares to Doom Eternal / Doom Dark Ages, in terms of their focused / more chilled attitudes. I only mention because people on the web seem to have strong opinions about which 'vibe' works for them!
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Now I'm just imagining a grimdark Super Mario Kart with an intro like Max Payne.
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Interesting.
I don't have a S2 but I do have 2 Forza Horizon games and from my time with them the free roam here sounds more interesting.
Unless I missed a ton of something in ForzaH. It's just 'try not to hit trees' outside of the pavement. There's nothing 'out' there.
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The choices they made for free roam mode are really interesting. The lack of a detailed map or a list of P-switches to check off is clearly meant to strongly discourage a completionist playstyle that’s so prevalent in open-world games. There’s no towers to climb to unlock new regions of the map, no endless checklists of collectibles and sidequests, no levelling or rewards. It almost shouldn’t work, but it totally does (at least for me). Reminds me of the design philosophy around Breath of the Wild, where you climb mountains just because you can and to look around from the top, not to get 100 points and check it off the list. The journey is the reward, and it’s a heck of a journey.
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If you want tighter courses, you can play in "VS" mode with either the "Open" option (allowing you to select a course after each race) or by using the "Connected" option then selecting "Random" at each course transition (giving you the same result, but with a random course selection after the first).
This will give you a traditional 3+ lap race on each course. The courses are much tighter once the "intermissions" are removed, and give a more traditional feel to the races.
The method for selecting this should be more obvious, but I guess Nintendo is pushing people towards the open world style.
However, after some initial hesitance, I'm personally quite happy with the non-track sections in the open-world racing. They really add variety. One thing I've also noticed is that it delivers an astonishing number of track combinations. Every track has quite a few roads leading into it, effectively delivering a different course for each. If you play a "VS" race with the connected sections (i.e. by using the "Random" option or "Connected" with an explicit track selection after each race), you could probably play for many dozens of races before seeing the same combination twice.
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From both my personal experience and what I've read online, the Switch 2 has been one of the easiest consoles in recent years to just walk into a store and buy without a pre-order at launch. I got mine on Friday after work on a whim.
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I agree, but how much of that is us just being old? Its hard to tell
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Between Clair Obscur and Mario Kart World, there's some serious contenders for soundtrack of the year.
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I've only played solo so far, but my initial impressions:
- Knockout Mode is great, doing an entire cup with no interruptions feels so good.
- Free Roam is a fun feature, though it seems there is only one kind of "thing" to find (the blue P-switches that activate challenges) so it feels a bit unfinished. I expect future iterations will flesh it out some more.
- As others already mentioned, the soundtrack is a total banger, and a real Smash-like nostalgia dive. And the seemless way songs blend into each other in Knockout and Free Roam is nothing short of amazing.
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By almost all accounts the Switch 2 was the most stocked console launch ever. For many, including myself, getting one entailed simply strolling into a store at some point during the day on Thursday or Friday, no preorders, no waiting in line. 3.5 million consoles were sold in four days, for comparison the original Switch sold 2.74 million in its first 29 days.
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Braking has almost no relevance, and obviously there's no gear shifting in Kart, but optimal lines are very important, and not just in time attack mode. It's how you overtake without items and how you pad your lead enough to absorb a blue shell when you're in front. That's why the dual item blocks tend to be placed off to the side: You can either get two items or you can follow the optimal line.
But with all the boost opportunities and diverging paths, finding the 'optimal line' is a lot harder in Kart than other racing games.
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The curmudgeon I want to say it is just a ripoff of Forza Horizon.
As a normal human I think it is awesome since Horizon is great and adding that free roam idea into MK is a great thing.
As a normal human I think it is awesome since Horizon is great and adding that free roam idea into MK is a great thing.
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Mario Kart still has a lot of racing and skill involved people who say Mario Kart is mostly luck either don't know what they're talking about or aren't very good. Obviously there's luck involved and randomness, that's where a lot of the fun comes from, but even purposely handicapping myself by using motion controls and not drifting I can still beat my casual family members most of the time.
I haven't checked if this game has it but MK8 had a mode that basically turned off the more random items and just left things like bananas and mushrooms. It's cool for a little bit to see if you really are better than someone because there's less randomness but it's definitely not as fun over a long period of time. Likewise Frantic Mode can be hilarious and crazy fun if you don't have any misgivings about losing and embrace the chaos.
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They sold 3.5 million Switches in four days at launch. Nintendo produced lots of stock. Pick a better retailer next time.
Also, for the love of god, some of you need to just grow up already. This is a thread about Mario Kart, not your tired whining about a million unrelated things that are either debunked or grossly overblown by people just looking to be outraged.
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Yeah, I walked into a Best Buy 3 days after the thing launched and just grabbed one no problem. I did check ahead in advance and the other location near me was sold out of the MK bundle but
still had plenty of base units. I had not bothered checking the local Walmarts or Gamestops, but I can't imagine they were hurting for units either.
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I can only guess they use the same technique every open world games uses to add a new section to the map: DLC Island. Just create a smaller landmass off to the side somewhere.
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Seems to be very regional, I checked a target, a best buy, a wal mart, and 3 gamestops last Saturday (boy did I build a dumb one way loop) and none had units. Guy at GameStop 2 said as far as he knew the only gamestops with remaining were in Manhattan.
On the plus side there was an Auntie Anne's in the mall that pretzel and lemonade hit like thor's hammer. Delicious.
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The recovery from attacks is much shorter, and some attacks like getting hit by a bullet bill barely slows you down. It makes it way less frustrating than MK8, but with the chaos and number of players it is not simple mechanics. It's still very fun for what it is.
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My family started playing Mario Kart when my 7yo niece started getting into video games. I would beat them so badly that I started coming up with ways to handicap myself to try and keep it interesting. I stopped drifting, I stopped using items defensively, I would even sit at the start of every race until I was in last place, but none of that helped. Eventually I learned that I could play one-handed using a single Joy-Con with motion controls and auto-accelerate. Doing that while playing on my phone with my other hand at least kept things interesting.
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Bad news. They could've made this game for Switch 1, and I bet it would've been just as good. But with them pushing the now more draconian DRM of the Switch 2 with it, I will not be buying this game. Just as I will not be buying a Switch 2.
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MK8DX was A$80 at launch and the Booster Course Pass was A$37.50. I've gotten way more than my $120 worth in the last 8 years even without the online play. I have no doubt MKW will last as long and provide enough enjoyment to more than justify the price.
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