How Are You Finding Mario Kart’s Open World?

Many of us have just wrapped up our second weekend with Mario Kart World, and by this point you’ve probably seen most of the Grand Prix mode and had your rear end handed to you various times in Knockout Tour (I swear, there’s no middle ground with that one – I either do really well or go out in the first two laps!), and are starting to explore Free Roam mode a little more.

‘Open-world Mario Kart’ sounded like a tasty drive-thru feast and while all of us here at Nintendo Life are love with the world itself and the way the tracks are seamlessly integrated across the regions, we’re up and down like a suspension bridge on whether the open-world experience is as fun as it could be.

We’re interested to get your thoughts, but first, let’s see where Team NL are after spending a definitely-not-unhealthy number of hours with the game in the 11 days since launch…

Hopping for more (Gavin Lane, editor)

I love the world itself, the tracks, and — despite popular opinion — the transitions between circuits that finish up with a lap or two on the course proper. There’s variety there, and I’m seriously impressed by how the devs mark out routes in such a way that I never, ever take a wrong turn. The terrain and track design is peerless.

Exploring the island, though, is a bit less engaging than I’d hoped from the company that gave us Breath of the Wild. There’s definitely an element of, ‘Oof, there’s another coin I need to screenshot for a guide’ that isn’t the typical play experience, but I’m struggling to enjoy exploring as much as racing.

I do think that this game is crying out for a MK64-style on-the-spot spin – so often I want to just 180 degrees, but no, it’s a slow arc…and then I accidentally hit a boost plate or something. Zeroing in on a specific spot on the map feels like trying to land a plane sometimes.

Same deal with the jump – right now, I’m just dying for a double jump because lining up a straight-line boost-hop thing, again, means I’ve got one approach and if I botch it (which I often do), I’ll need to go around for another pass. Yes, rewind is a lifesaver but at the moment, I feel like open-world exploration would be much more enjoyable if the controls were 20% more platformer.

Open to secrets (Alana Hagues, deputy editor)

It seems like I’m enjoying the open world more than most. Admittedly, a big part of that is because I’m going around finding all of the collectibles — I’m being forced to see just how the courses are interlinked, and how seasons and environments shift. It’s honestly a little bit staggering.

All those collectible items encourage you to interact with the world in ways you’ve never had to in Mario Kart before. Deviously-placed Peach Medallions on top of a building, and there’s no reasonable way up top? Time to find a pipe or a rail or something!

But I realise a lot of my enjoyment comes from either doing tricky challenges or simply taking a load off. I absolutely think that Free Roam needs something else to make it excellent and enjoyable for all. I’m sure others share this sentiment, but stickers being the only reward is bonkers. Why do I not get a themed kart for getting all the panels on one course? What is this highway other than a connecting road between Mario Circuit and Moo Moo Meadows? Why can’t I collect music tracks or something else?

Anyway, Free Roam is fun to me, but it’s not deep. I wish it were deeper.Though those miniature tributes to the SNES courses like Vanilla Lake and Choco Island are adorable.

Racing to find the point (Ollie Reynolds, staff writer)

Right now, exploring Mario Kart World via Free Roam is like being handed a giant bowl of delicious Lamb Jalfrezi with all the trimmings and being told I can’t eat it. It’s a truly stunning world; one that manages to outdo Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in almost every conceivable way, yet I find it utterly boring.

There are P Switch missions, yes, and Peach Medallions, all that good stuff, but the game is simply lacking any compelling reason or incentive to actually seek them out. I’m sorry, but I don’t care in the slightest about bloomin’ stickers.

Truth be told, if Nintendo had tied character unlocks to the open world, this would have gone a long way toward making Free Roam a compelling mode. Perhaps you spot Pianta cruising along in the distance and driving up to it triggers a spontaneous head-to-head race. Beat it and you unlock it. Simple!

Just little things like this could potentially transform the open world into an environment worth exploring. At the moment, despite being full of cool little references and easter eggs, it feels weirdly barren.

A pleasant pit-stop (Jim Norman, staff writer)

Perhaps I am something of an outlier here because I have been knee-deep in P Switch guides for the last week and a half, but I’m finding the open-world driving to be a nice bit of harmless fun — if a little intimidating with there being so much to do.

I totally agree with Ollie that every challenge feels a little aimless at the moment, and some kind of Metal Mario-style reward might motivate me to hit the big 100% sooner, but I’m enjoying hopping in for a spot of open-world cruisin’ when the stresses of Knockout Tour get too much.

You can barely drive for 10 seconds without spotting a handful of switchs, a coin, or a naughty Nabbit in need of pursuing, and it has been nice to drop in for five minutes here and there to cross a few of them off my list before hitting the track properly again. I’m enjoying the level of challenge most of the time, too (though anything too focused on Wall Riding can take a hike).

Do I wish there was a point to it all? Yeah, I do. Do I wish I could do more proper exploring with a partner in split screen? Absolutely. But as a first attempt for the series, it feels like a nice introduction to something different.

Good, but the map can do one (PJ O’Reilly, staff writer)

I’ve been finding the open world aspect a whole lot of fun, overall. It’s not reinventing anything, and it does feel primarily aimed at younger gamers — I mean, the whole game is, but you can really feel it here. But it’s easy-breezy and packed full of light puzzling fun with the underlying carrot of collectibles and outfits keeping you engaged.

However, and it is a big however for me, the map is absolutely awful. Why can’t I just pull it up and see where I am quickly? Why make it so hard? Yes, the mini-map is very detailed, but it’s too zoomed in for me, personally.

Aside from this gripe, though, yeah, it’s a good time that feels like it warrants its place in the package as a whole. Do I wish you could drive to a stadium and start a race directly that way? Yes, and I feel like they could do more with how free roam is utilised for multiple players, but this is still a nice diversion when racing for all those three-star golds gets a bit tiring.

So, that’s where we are – but what about you? Are you taken with the open-world ambition? Are you merrily picking up Peach coins and P-Switches, or are you jonesing for something more? Let us know in the poll below.