As someone who's been playing Mario Kart for a long time this game is a clear downgrade from its predecessors in multiple key aspects. It lacks the basic core aspects of what made all of the most successful MK games great that kept players coming back to them as long as they have. This is most hollow, scummy, corporately tone deaf, and overly casual oriented game in the whole series. An open world that is one of the most pointless, shallow, and non-rewarding open worlds in any video game I've ever seen which gets stale very quickly. Track layouts that are some of the worst in the series by far. Consisting of almost nothing but sections that are way too wide and turns that barely even present a real challenge to someoneโs driving ability. Flying and boating sections still feel pointless and non-engaging which are also way too wide. The amount of non-engaging wide open straightaways and baby mode level turns is very tone deaf racing game design especially for a Mario Kart game. In total this is probably the least engaging and most boring ultra casual feeling and frustrating overly chaotic racing game I have ever played when driving. The item system does not help that aspect either. Items have been becoming more of a problem with each Mario Kart game when it comes to completely removing the higher skill level the game could have when played in a more serious competitive way. Despite this they still never quite crossed the line of becoming a frustrating overbearing mess that removes higher competitive skill all together. The game has the most overly bloated and janky item system out of any other game in the series by far. It completely removes any higher level of skill in favor of only appealing to ultra casuals who don't play in any competitive way at all. Mechanically the game feels like a mess. It's very disjointed from its core track design with how boring and wide open many of the layouts are. The mechanics also lead to a lot of overly janky looking routes that kill any kind of flow racing through a track could have. Online mode is a big downgrade from the previous game and is without many key features the last game had that kept players coming back which is a huge issue. The battle mode is one of the worst in the series and a clear big downgrade from the last game. It doesn't work well with the games core mechanics and is boring to play feeling very stripped down. Worst of all Nintendo is now forcing players to play the game their way online with the recent update almost entirely picking intermission tracks. Those are one the thing most players of the series liked the least about this game. For a game that seems to want player expression on the surface Nintendo is now exposing that lie by making a deliberate scummy corporate decision to force players into playing the game a certain way. This tone deaf scummy corporate BS is very common for Nintendo. The games over reliance on chaos completely removes any higher level of skill. It kills any kind of competitive structure the game could have while also getting very frustrating and stale to play for any experienced player who liked the core of what made Mario Kart great. I would describe the game as an overly clustered mess of ideas with most them feeling very hollow. At the same time these ideas end up being very janky and boring when paired together. This ends up making the game basically an anti-racing game in all the worst ways. Not even close to worth the price tag.