Mario Kart World Opens Up to the Internet Age

That Knockout mode is just as exhilarating at home as it was at the April preview. This is the battle royale-ish multiplayer scrum that eliminates four races after every course until there’s only a final four left. Mario Kart’s long history of rubber banding can be a major factor here—I’ve had at least one race where I went from first place to elimination mere seconds away from the finish line—but the cycle of stress and relief makes Knockout the ideal way to play Mario Kart online. The stakes simply feel higher when you’re racing not for some meaningless trophy but for the right to keep racing. And with every Knockout race using six different tracks, it’s a quick way to get experience on all of the game’s courses.

World also expands Mario Kart’s scope by being an actual open world, one you can explore and roam throughout when you aren’t in a race. It fills that world out with various short missions to pursue and interactive elements—cars to dodge, ramps to stunt off of, wilding hordes of buffalo to charge into—and the kind of changing landscapes you find during actual cross-country drives. This has earned World many comparisons to the Forza Horizon series, but temper those expectations; as interesting as it can be to aimlessly drive across these vistas, this world is a little too empty and lifeless to really capture my attention. It might seem a little goofy how Horizon has ghost cars bearing your online friends’ user names racing through its streets, but that does add something alluring and palpable to that world; you won’t see other karts or characters while roaming in Mario Kart World, which makes it feel a little dead,  no matter how busy the environment gets. It also misses the radio stations from Horizon; driving through the countryside is always easier when the radio’s humming. Free roaming is a good idea and marks a real step forward for Mario Kart, but it’s not really fulfilling outside of an occasional change of pace.

Honestly, though, I’ve never been a massive Mario Kart fan. I prefer a plumber who runs and jumps, not races. No matter how popular it gets, Mario Kart will always feel like the spinoff it is to me. Mario Kart World is the most I’ve enjoyed one, though, and largely because of the open-ended challenge of a Knockout race. It also expands on my favorite thing about Mario Kart 8: just how adorable it all is. World’s roster is the most diverse selection of almost painfully cute racers yet. The early favorite, understandably, is Cow, a cow, whose celebrations after a victory might be the cutest thing ever seen in a videogame. Cows not the only critter to take the wheel, though; there’s a bee who seeks to be all business, a mole who totally looks like a teamster, and even Chargin’ Chuck, the football playing Koopa who flexes both biceps when you try to use an item without having one. Mixing and matching the game’s myriad weirdos with its garageful of motor vehicles is as deeply satisfying as any race.

It’s still early for Mario Kart World, of course. I’ve spent maybe five hours with it so far. I’m enjoying it more than I ever did Mario Kart 8, though, and I think it’s more tolerant attitude towards online play will make it similarly more popular with anybody who doesn’t have an easily accessible group of friends to play with in real life. It still can’t compare to any halfway decent Mario platformer, but more than ever I can see why this child has started to overshadow its parent.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, TV, travel, theme parks, wrestling, music, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.