Mario Kart Tour – Review

It’s easy to see why Nintendo have opted to go down this route. Mobile games that offer in-game items for real cash tend to make much more money that traditional, pay-at-entry titles. I’m not even that opposed to including a store for premium items but here it is excessive and overwhelming.

The subscription model doesn’t make much sense, given that this is a light game that doesn’t have a huge amount of depth outside of its customisation options. £5 a month is far, far too high considering the competition, and that charge doesn’t even include the premium ‘rubies’ that’ll cost you extra. Younger kids could easily wind up spending hundreds upon hundreds on this game with not much to show for it. To me that feels greedy, and its constant interruption into regular play is not consumer friendly.

The controls are somewhat clunky and unresponsive, too. Players will automatically move forward in Mario Kart Tour and swipe either side to turn. You can’t move without drifting, however, making steering a difficult skill to get used to and one that’s far more limiting than any of the main games in the series. Reversing or veering off track is impossible, which results in shortcuts being almost non-existent and diminishing the need to learn each course off by heart. The races are fun but linear, and using premium items will most likely give you the edge over the competition.

A fun racer bogged down in transactions

Overall, Mario Kart Tour is probably best enjoyed as a standalone spinoff to the actual games. It won’t serve as a replacement for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, nor does it offer a solid enough control scheme to compete with any main series title. Where it does work well is in its visual appeal, progression system, and daily challenges, which are a great way to retain audience interest long-term (even if many of them cost real money).

It’s just a shame that Nintendo has bought into the heavy monetisation tactics that are used by so many companies in the mobile gaming industry. Apple’s new Arcade subscription is a deliberate attempt to tackle these kinds of practices – they’re damaging to consumer wallets and are unfair gambling systems. It’s particularly disappointing when you consider that Mario Kart is largely aimed at younger players, who likely won’t be as savvy when it comes to the controversy surrounding loot boxes.

If in-game content was cheaper and offered through a fairer system, I’d have a lot of love for Mario Kart Tour. As it stands it’s a relatively enjoyable but flawed free-to-play racer that could reach great heights if it drops all of the heavy paywalls surrounding so much of its content.

I won’t be turning off my Switch any time soon.