Leo Nikaido

Maybe I’m a stickler for nostalgia but MKW doesn’t feel like a canonical Mario Kart game, it feels like a random little side game, much like Tour (mobile game). The game does have beautiful graphics and feels very smooth to play, but this is to be expected on a new console. I appreciate that the developers have tried to ‘add’ something with the jumping/wall abilities and the open world aspect, but this feels ultimately pointless. I am unsure what the point is of the open world part aside from unlocking cosmetics. I noticed that the game seems to have taken a few steps backward in some areas though, the karts aren’t customisable like they were in MK8, and the selection of courses is extremely limited. I also found myself confused by the absence of the typical favourite courses that you’d expect to find on a Mario Kart game, instead there are overly busy, frankly dull tracks that feel like a bit of a chore to play. It seems like MKW would almost be more suited to children than appealing to a wider range of people like MK8 did. The soft rebrand and the menu screens all have a childish aura about them, and the game is ‘easier’ than MK8 in my opinion, it’s just more hectic with no real challenge. Overall, not for me, but maybe because I expected this to be more similar to the games that preceded it.