How do you beat an experience that feels as complete as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? By doing something completely different, like Mario Kart World. For the first time in the series’ history, Nintendo’s fan-favourite kart racer is going open world, ripping up the franchise’s rule book, opening up its gameplay to a chaotic 24 players per race, and introducing Knockout Tour – a nailbiting new elimination mode.
It’s certainly a gamble. Ask any Mario Kart veteran what their favourite course is, and you’ll likely get a long list (Maple Treeway, DK Mountain and Waluigi Pinball, if you wanted to know). But then ask whether those courses were already among the 96 available in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and you’ll likely hear an answer in the affirmative. So what next? With a roster that comprehensive, simply adding more seems out of the question. Instead, Mario Kart World essentially removes the concept of bespoke tracks altogether.
Of course, areas of the game’s ginormous world have names and themes, though several seem to share biomes. Some even take inspiration from familiar tracks in the past. But all are now part of a cohesive open world, and are driven between in the series’ classic Grand Prix mode, in the new Free Roam offering, and in Knockout Tour.
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While Grand Prix introduces the concept, and guides you through a smattering of other small changes (more on those in a moment), it is Knockout Tour which really sells the open world idea. Through six different courses, with a lap of each played, the game’s 24 starting players are whittled down as you quickly move from one area to the next – down to 20 racers, then 16, then 12, eight, and finally to four for the final stretch. It’s a concept that – dare I say it – feels inspired by battle royale ideas, and a fight for survival as numbers dwindle. But whatever its origins, it is absolutely brilliant.