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Mario Kart Tour Game Review

Mario Kart Tour is a 2019 kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for Android devices. It is the only game in the series made for mobile devices.

When this game was first released, it received mixed reviews. It still continues to be criticized for its microtransations when in reality this is far from the worst case of such practices. It’s an underappreciated game that is actually better than a couple of mainline Mario Kart entries.

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There is one significant aspect where this game differentiates itself from all of the mainline entries and that is the goal of each race – you do not have to be first place, but you have to achieve the necessary points for each race to gain all three Grand Stars for said race. If you finish in first three places, you will get additional points, but those aren’t crucial. What is more important is jumping through various ramps, using power-ups on other races, and gliding or boosting consistently. You also get additional points for the karts and drivers you use in each race that requires different drivers and karts to unlock full points.

I actually really liked this mechanic as it made the game more leisurely in pace and less frustrating. Not being obsessed with finishing first led to better tackling of these other elements in each race, which made the game more enjoyable for me personally. I just wished that the online multiplayer component was better utilized. You can race against other players, but only in a couple of tracks and it’s difficult to get first place there as it’s heavily reliant on the power of your karts and drivers. The battle mode where you have to pop other drivers’ balloons fared better and was fairer. The chaos that would erupt there was quite fun. I liked the multiplayer component and I appreciated the ranking system in single-player, but it should have included more options, such as rankings by regions etc.

I do not get the criticism that this game uses microtransations excessively. In actuality, this is a perfectly playable game for those of us who do not want to spend a single coin. There is just one speed mode (200cc) that has to be paid while all the others (50, 100 and 150cc) are all free. I played the 150cc mode and it was a lot of fun.

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Many driving mechanics being automatically utilized was a great choice as it made the game easier. The same should be said for the edges of the tracks being closed, basically making it impossible to fall off cliffs. If you hit the edges, you slow down, but you do not fall, which was such a wonderful choice that paid off significantly. The Frenzy mode is another new addition – this means that sometimes you get power-up items that last for a fixed amount of time and you can fire that one item constantly during that time span. This was a terrific idea and whenever I got one of those it changed the course of my playthrough for the better.

Mario Kart Tour introduces a new format called Tours. Tours are named after cities in the real world, Mario series characters, games or other themes. Each tour lasts for two weeks, it has twelve or more cups, and each cup consists of three races and one bonus challenge. Each race has only two laps, which led to pleasantly breezy play sessions. I really appreciated seeing some old favorites from previous games when it comes to the tracks and there are a bunch of these tracks. I was amazed how many tracks Nintendo actually included in this game. They were very well designed too, but because they were on the easier side of things, this meant that the level design did not play much of a difference.

Yes, there is a gacha mechanic here where you fire off a pipe and get items each day. These are randomized and can be duplicates. But there is also a shop where you can buy karts, drivers and gliders. These can be quite expensive in rubies, but coins are earned more easily, so I ended up using them for most of my purchases. There is a Coin Rush mode that allows you to earn more coins and that was a lovely addition.

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So yes, I actually really liked playing Mario Kart Tour, but there is the sense of repetition in its two-week cycle that seeps in after a month or so. I wished for more variety in gameplay modes and multiplayer options. The game also pretty much recycles the best tracks and characters from its predecessors, meaning that originality was in short supply here. Graphically, it looks quite polished and strong, especially in landscape mode, but it’s far from the best-looking entries in the series. The soundtrack is excellent, though, and some of the tracks were highly enjoyable. The game controls well, but it requires a very strong Internet connection, which was quite bothersome at times. I also wished that customization of karts and drivers mattered here as unfortunately the game picks them for you based on stats for each and every race.