Mario Kart, as a whole, is a pretty much perfect game, at least as a concept. Like many of my generation, I grew up playing Mario Kart Wii all the time, constantly smashing my family at it at any given opportunity. It is a very simple gameplay model that just works and it’s always a safe bet that you can have somebody round and they will be able to pick it up and play. It certainly helps that the characters from the Super Mario series are endlessly recognisable and loveable. Everybody has their favourite and will just stick as them, to regain that familiarity. I have not really played a Mario Kart properly since my days on the Wii and there is just something so nice and familiar about being able to select Yoshi on a bike, and I am transported straight back to playing it all them years ago. It is a comfy game and a comfy franchise but the domineering fact is that Mario Kart is, and always has been, tremendous fun. Winning or losing, it is always a thrilling time with friends, family and even just solo. So with all this in mind, where do you go with another installment to the franchise? There is already a massive selection of tracks and characters in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to make it the ultimate experience so what could a new game entirely offer? How do you improve a gameplay experience as thoroughly perfected throughout the years as this? Well Mario Kart World is a true showcase of Nintendo’s mastery of this franchise and above all, it is a hell of a lot of fun.

Most of the modern Mario Kart games have had some sort of gimmick that gives them a reason to release a new game. For the Wii game, the fact that you could actually steer with the wheel through motion controls was a selling point enough. 7 introduced the glide function to really change the verticality of tracks. 8 introduced the gravity walls that you could drive up meaning tracks could get crazier than ever. World does not have much flashy or transformative on a gameplay front. You can now grind on rails and use tricks to drive along walls for a short time period, which can make for some fun gameplay switch-ups, but that is not the element that will draw people in. The emphasis on what has changed is present in the title, specifically the ‘World‘ part. Instead of just being a static hub where you magically transport to each track on a whim, Nintendo have actually created a proper world full of tracks that you can drive around and explore. Each Grand Prix is 4 tracks as normal but part of each race is the journey to each track across the map, as well as the track itself. This offers a whole new approach to how races are played and selected but being able to drive around the world with no restaints is certainly one of the things that makes this the most unique Mario Kart yet.

The world you are given to explore is vast and bursting with colour, full to the brim with different biomes, challenges, collectables and easter eggs. You can jump into the map as any of the characters you have unlocked and explore to your heart’s content. The map you are given displays the world and shows geographically where each track is on the map and they act as fast travel points. All of the tracks within the open world have question mark panels hidden throughout them, that can be found by truly mastering the level. P switches are the same sort of thing, which act as mini time trials to truly test your skills. Some are much more difficult than others but the more difficult ones are brilliant for utilising the grind rails and wall riding mechanics to highlight routes you could not even see before. Although the actual reward you get for finishing these challenges is just a lame sticker, which can feel deflating, the true rewarding aspect is that these challenges make you appreciate the gameplay innovations made. The grinding and wall riding may seem like just a small thing at first but through doing these challenges, you will find there is much more depth to it than one might initially think. It reveals some crazy shortcuts you would not even think about, meaning there is a real incentive to try these and find new ways to shock your friends by bursting into the lead through a cheeky shortcut! The reward is the mastery of the course, in such a manner that just constantly racing through it will not be achieved.

Of course, the main point of examination in a Mario Kart game is its racing options and the tracks themselves. Starting with 32 characters, full of classic series characters and creatures, you can unlock up to 50 drivers, with lots of additional costumes, via many different means. This can be from completing cups and even just getting them during races. Combined with the 40 different karts, some to unlock and some already given, there is a huge amount of customisation that makes it feel consistently fresh everytime you rush into a new set of races. The sets of races in mind are the old VS Race and Grand Prix, but also the new Knockout Tour. With the 24 racers in each race, there is more carnage than ever before but none of that is more brutal than it is in this Knockout Tour. You start out with all 24 racers and there are six checkpoints, rather than laps, and at each one, the bottom four will be eliminated. With how quickly you can drop positions, especially on the ever-frantic 150cc, this can get frustrating but it is always fun. Countless times, I have been leading the pack throughout the race, only to be clattered by a barrage of power-ups, leaving me knocked out of the race. This makes that idea of mastering the tracks even more important and definitely more rewarding. Perhaps most rewarding of all is actually winning these Knockout Tours and the thrill of that is something Mario Kart has never reached before. The intense difficulty that this game brings, in all its race types, is great because it really forces you to tighten up your racing, nailing every corner and using shortcuts to you advantage.

Most importantly of all, Mario Kart World is really fun and is at its very best playing with others. I can definitely forsee many nights with friends playing this game, I’m sure coupled with some humiliating forfeits and chaotic drinking games. Still, even with its tight and enthralling gameplay and plentiful customisation options, the thing that will offer the most replayability is its VS Races. When playing with others, this will definitely be the best option because there is lots of possibilities to race with. Similar to the other games, you can choose random tracks, but instead, it will select a random route from track to track. Due to the geography of the map, each map has different entry and exit points, meaning not only will the routes to each track be different, the tracks will be to an extent. Selecting tracks also has lots of possibilities because you can either do standard laps of one track or do the journey from one track to another. Whilst there is not as many tracks as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (obviously because it is a decade old game with dlc), all tracks are infinitely more replayable. Considering the fact there are so many different ways to create and find shortcuts too, there is a fair amount you can get out of it.

So overall, there is a lot to love about Mario Kart World. Yes, the price tag is egregious at first glance, but when you truly think about how much you will get out of this, it is almost justified. More than anything, it has to be appreciated that Nintendo has found a way to innovate a gameplay formula that was already at its point of perfection. They could so easily have just released a Mario Kart game with some new tracks, some returning ones and just a new coat of paint; it would still sell immensely well, regardless of the price tag. But Nintendo have really made this feel like what a modern imagining of Mario Kart should be, full of flashy new stuff and still lovingly packed in with triggers to get the nostalgia juices flowing. The open world could have some more useful rewards to find, other than its reward of mastery, but other than that, this is extremely polished. If or when you get a Switch 2, if you love the series and have friends and family who love it too, this is an absolute no-brainer.