How do you follow a game as complete and extensive as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Nintendo is banking on the answer being: go bigger. Double the number of racers to 24. Increase the number of characters (60 in total). More weapons. And, most eye-catchingly, more exploration.
That’s not a term you’d associate with the closed circuit, three-lap formula that the series has perfected over the last three decades, but in Mario Kart World, the flagship launch title for the forthcoming Switch 2, Nintendo is tearing down the tyre barriers and offering players a Forza Horizon style open world. It’s not exactly a total reinvention of the wheel, but it’s as big a change to the format as any since the series began. Given physical copies of Mario Kart World will retail at £75 though, is it enough?
I got a chance to spend time playing the new game and my immediate impression was that it’s what you’d expect from a next-gen Mario Kart title. It’s familiar, incredibly polished, plays flawlessly no matter what carnage ensues and it looks awesome. As I hurtled through the courses, the temptation was to slow down and take in all the small, quirky details.
Presumably there will be an opportunity to do just that in the free roaming element of the game. I didn’t get much of a chance to explore this – it was essentially the lobby while we waited for 24 players to join. What I did get to experience were two modes. The first was Grand Prix. This is your traditional Mario Kart affair: start, three laps, finish. The slight tweak here is that rather than having closed circuit courses, these are sprints across the world map: you’ll be in Boo’s cinema one moment, a prehistoric jungle the next. I opted to play as the cow from Moo Moo Meadows, the internet-famous breakout star of the recent Nintendo Direct, driving a tractor called Big Horn.
As a seasoned Mario Kart player (to put it mildly), I found that it plays exactly as you’d expect. Muscle memory takes over: you skid (though it’s less agile than in MK8D, presumably to account for wider tracks); you throw shells at opponents; you scream in frustration when you get struck by lightning just as you were about to use a boost. The level design is beautiful and each track seems packed with alternate routes and little secrets. I can’t escape the feeling that the wider roads may mean the game loses some of its claustrophobic carnage, and that the emphasis will be on weapons rather than driving skill in this iteration of the series, but I can live with that. Regardless, I win my first race – I want that on record – and a glorious crown is bestowed upon my cow.
In my time with the game, I also had one race in Knockout Tour mode, Nintendo’s battle-royale-style take on the series. As you progress along the course you’ll encounter checkpoints on the horizon; when you cross these, the bottom four racers are blocked from continuing and drop out. This continues until the final stretch of track where the remaining four race to the podium. Not realising I would be racing 23 other journalists in the room with me, I opted for the comedy choice of racing as Wiggler in a pink cruiser, which, from a kart configuration standpoint, is a terrible choice. Had I realised the stakes I would have gone Wario/monster bike, but it’s my own fault for assuming it was a race that didn’t matter. They all matter.
Knockout Tour mode is exhilarating. If, like me, you believe you’ve achieved God-like status at MK8D and can run through each course in your sleep, if you’re used to cruising in first place without so much as a single banana to your name, then prepare yourself. In knockout mode you can drop from first to 24th in an instant.
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The solution is to embrace the carnage. Weapons feel more significant (I lost count of how many golden mushrooms, bullet bills and star powers I went through), skidding and handling less so, given the greater width of each track. Amid all the frenzied chaos, I had no idea how long the race lasted – I think somewhere between three minutes and three hours. Seeing the checkpoints and knowing I was only one horribly timed red shell away from dropping out prompted heart palpitations; clearing the checkpoints brought relief. It was a rush. I finished fifth, failing to qualify for the final section. This mark of shame aside, my initial impressions of knockout mode are that it’s an exciting reinvention of the format and there is a strong chance it’s about to become my entire personality.
