The key launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2 is already the most controversial Mario Kart ever but is it a bad game or merely misunderstood?

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the very few games we’ve ever given a 10/10 score. That’s not something we regret either, especially after the extremely generous Booster Course DLC that made it the definitive version of the original Mario Kart formula. That does make it a very difficult act to follow but the idea of making the next game an open world title seemed an excellent new direction to take the series, and yet curiously that’s the only part of Mario Kart World that doesn’t entirely work.

Thanks to Nintendo not sending out review units of the Nintendo Switch 2 more than a day before launch we’ve previously only been able to do a review in progress of World, during which it became clear that it is not quite the game that many imagined. The open world is huge and incredibly well designed but it’s very poorly utilised, with lots of hidden secrets and yet nothing of substance to gain from them.

The open world also has surprisingly little impact on race modes, with the option to explore it separately reduced to an easily missed aside on the title screen or a brief time waster while you’re waiting for the online lobby to fill up. The open world has many positive elements, but it feels strangely underdeveloped for a Nintendo game, especially a vitally important launch title. Although the most curious thing is that this potentially fatal flaw doesn’t really matter.

How is Mario Kart World different from Mario Kart 8?

Everyone knows what Mario Kart is and how it works. Its simplicity is one of its core appeals and World is sensible enough not to mess with that, with its biggest new control addition being a charge jump that is quite hard to use, since you can’t steer while powering it up.

The new wall ride move – essentially wall running but in a car – is also tricky to pull off, and often needs a charge jump to begin, so this is definitely still a game of skill, no matter what you tell yourself between gritted teeth, when being blue-shelled right at the finish line.

There are a few new power-ups, with the golden shell that trails coins and the return of the jump-enhancing feather being amongst the most potent, but none of them are game-changers. What does make a massive difference though is the fact that there’s now 24 drivers on the track at once – twice as many as the previous maximum.

This works both online and off and completely changes the energy of the game, so that no matter where you are in the pack there’s always plenty of people around you. When the majority are all in one spot the absolute carnage of exploding bombs, shells, and other power-ups is a joy to behold – even if you come off the worse from it.

The greater number of racers has led to many, but not all, tracks being much wider than usual. Ignoring the fact that many power-ups have homing abilities, the game avoids the action becoming too spread out by adding neutral traffic to most tracks and various enemies that will target anyone that comes near, from giant Boom Booms spinning their arms to a truck firing Bullet Bills at you.

At the same time, there are a lot more shortcuts than previous Mario Kart tracks, from simple grind rails (everything from electricity pylons to train tracks) to cunningly hidden routes that you only notice when the impressively capable AI uses it, either by disappearing off track or suddenly appearing out of nowhere beside you.

The core gameplay hasn’t changed on a fundamental level – if it did it wouldn’t be Mario Kart anymore – but the differences are far more marked than any previous game, and certainly more so than the anti-gravity gimmick that Mario Kart 8 gave up on halfway through its DLC.

How does the open world work in Mario Kart World?

How all this interacts with the open world is not obvious at first. All of the tracks in World, whether they’re linear or looped, take place within a section of the open world but when you’re playing the traditional Grand Prix mode this is barely noticeable, except for a brief segue between one track and the next.

Grand Prix works exactly the same as ever, with four tracks to a cup and points awarded for where you rank, but the fact that so many of the tracks are linear point-to-point races gives it a very different feel. Point-to-point races aren’t new for Mario Kart but since there’s so many in World it makes everything feel very different. You’re no longer watching the same scenery going round time and again, with many tracks seeing major changes in backdrops and obstacles as they progress.

A lot of the tracks are named after classic ones but something like Choco Mountain is only similar to the original N64 version for a very brief section, while the rest of the course riffs on the idea with giant lakes of sticky chocolate and pumps that spray it into the air. Meanwhile, other brand new tracks only actually get to the landmark they’re named after in the final third or quarter of the race.

There’s also lots of sections based on (but not in) water, which use physics clearly inspired by the classic Wave Race 64. These feel wonderful to race on, especially when you crest a wave and do a jump at the top for a little extra boost. Likewise, you no longer have a hang-glider attached but instead your kart sprouts wings when in the air and you can now glide much further.

The racing is absolutely top notch and even within the confines of Grand Prix feels very different to Mario Kart 8. Not necessarily better but while people will have their preferences for one or the other they really do feel like equals, doing similar but different things. And that’s quite an achievement for a 33-year-old franchise with a premise as straightforward as Mario Kart.

What is Knockout Tour in Mario Kart World?

Although Grand Prix is in every Mario Kart game the other main mode for World is brand new: Knockout Tour. This sees you racing across six consecutive tracks, but where you have to reach a certain position before being allowed to proceed to the next, or you’re out of the race. So, for example, if you don’t place in the top 20 in the first race that’s it, you’ve lost.

This is not only wonderfully tense and exciting (the first time you win is euphoric!) but it makes better use of the open world, in that you can actually see your progress across the map much more clearly. In terms of other modes, you’ve also got Time Trials and Battle, as well as a revamped VS Race. This allows for a lot more customisation than usual, including separating the difficulty of the AI from the speed class.

All of what we’ve described so far is fantastic, with the only real niggle being the strange way in which characters are unlocked, with new costumes linked to a new power-up that you collect from drive-ins on some tracks. New karts are unlocked simply by collecting coins, while generic background and enemy characters, from a Chargin’ Chuck to a dolphin, are only obtained when someone else happens to turn you into one when using the new Kamek power-up.

What’s wrong with the open world in Mario Kart World?

World has a distinct lack of satisfying unlockables and this is especially true of Free Roam mode. Despite the way it’s been used in-game, the open world is incredibly well designed. Just earlier, we were pootling about in Wario Stadium and there’s a whole roof area, with pipes and grind rails, that the race doesn’t even hint at. Every track is like that, with the open world filled with intricately designed layouts that you can only really appreciate when outside of a race.

The problem is, that while there are secrets to discover they only come in three forms: a ? panel, which you just drive over; a medallion, that you merely collect; and a P-switch, which activates a simple mission that half the time is collect eight blue coins but is sometimes something more unique, like an impromptu checkpoint race.

This is fine but quickly gets repetitive and is made far worse by the fact that the only reward for any of the three activities is a tiny little sticker that you can place on your kart but is often almost impossible to see. There are hundreds of these stickers, but you only have to look at the leaderboard in online mode, where the sticker is also displayed, to see that most people have never even used them and are still on the default.

Imagine if Nintendo had made the open world for Zelda: Breath Of The Wild but the only things you could do in it were the main story missions and looking for Koroks – and even then with only three different puzzles. It’s baffling that Nintendo has created such an amazing world and left it so underutilised, but there’s no story mode, no dialogue of any kind, and no complex missions.

Many have speculated that things like that will be added later via DLC but ignoring the fact that you’d have a better chance of predicting the lottery than you would second-guessing Nintendo, it’s hard to understand why they’ve left it in such a half-formed state at launch. If there is a firm plan to populate it over time then Nintendo really should’ve said, but they’ve done nothing of the sort.

All of which presents us with a problem, when it comes to scoring the game for review. Do you knock points from a game for something it doesn’t do, when the rest of it is so entertaining and unique? The open world isn’t broken and its relative emptiness isn’t a flaw, it’s just something that was originally assumed to be the main focus but is in reality merely a minor side feature.

Despite all its many positives, including excellent graphics and a stunning soundtrack – that includes seemingly endless numbers of classic Super Mario remixes – Mario Kart World is never going to enjoy the same unequivocally positive acclaim as its predecessors.

That’s perfectly understandable, but we can’t ignore the fact that we’ve enjoyed every moment of our time with the game, especially with the races but even including the open world. There’s much, much more that could be done with Mario Kart World but even if it doesn’t change one iota from now until the Switch 3, it’s still one of the best entries the series has ever seen.

Formats: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: £74.99 (physical) or £66.99 (digital)
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Release Date: 5th June 2025
Age Rating: 3

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