mario kart world - 6/10
i hope nintendo sees a doctor for their open-world fever sometime soon
i just dont get why you would ever want to make a grand prix mode wherein a solid 2/3 of the grand prix is spent not racing on the actual maps themselves but scalectrix facsimiles of them where the only thing to do is drive in a straight goddamned line.
the worst part is? the maps fucking own when you play them in knockout tour! knockout tour shreds!
the open world is kinda meaningless to me due to ongoing fatigue with every series eventually moving to "x has went open world" for the last decade and change now, and mario kart does little to assuage those qualms; if anything, it intensifies them, because how are we at a point where it was decided that the last arcadey track-based kart racer in the mainstream market would benefit from this sort of design? was it just to boast the power of the switch 2?
the same issue that ive had with mario games for the last ten years echoes true in this one; it sure does look pretty but man im kinda bored to tears by it. and it sucks because it could have been so easily avoided too! the control in this game is so fucking good and just driving around feels great! driving in a straight line for two laps does not!
it is a technically stunning game with breathtaking visuals. it is a kinda mediocre kart racer. also holy shit what a ripoff of a character select screen. what pervert designed that shit.
site exclusive! ash's revised thoughts after a few months...
(this was written as of 2026-04-22)
yeah okay the tricks system bolsters the gameplay a little bit, but the straight-aways are still largely inexcusable. on an average track you have the choice of driving straight on the road, or doing a risky jump onto power lines to get the benefit of... not having to hold accelerate to go forward. again, in the tracks - amazing. truly nutty shortcuts are available to the player with the new movement, and it's nothing short of exhilerating to actually get to do it. it's just that as things currently are, that remains as a minority of the time in the main mode of the game. knockout tour rules okay still
