MARIO KART TOUR - First Impression by Urizen

   I was going to type out this long, drawn out introduction for this. It would deal with the history of combat and fights to the death, eventually coming down to one of the most recent shows of strength. Who cares about all of that though! This is the new arena in which insults are thrown, blood is shed, egos are bruised. This is Mario Kart! Now as an app apparently.

   I had heard about the Mario Kart app a while ago actually. The idea of it confused me quite a bit.  Could it control well? Would it lag? Why does it exist? In the end though, I preregistered for the app and then completely forgot it existed until I received the notification an hour or so ago saying it was ready to install.  Then I did just that, immediately forgetting about it again as I played Yu-Gi-Oh. Finally though I can get into the game. 

   Given the way Nintendo is going, I can't help but wonder what they plan to do. With the Switch, they combined the handheld gaming with the console gaming. I figured that was that,  but then they released the Switch Lite, with it just being a fully handheld version of the Switch. It doesn't work as both a console and a handheld though.  It doesn't switch, why call it a Switch? It doesn't make sense.  I can only assume that the Switch Lite is like the 2DS, created as a result of some backlash. Ultimately, I’m wondering if the plan is for them to keep going with the hybrid consoles, but have mobile games take over for the handheld front. I’m no expert though, so I’m just going to play the game and hope for little to no microtransactions.

   Oh great, right off the bat you have to link a Nintendo account to play.  I hate trying to remember my log in for this.  I only use it once every four years. Why must i? Got it on my second try though, so not too bad at least.

   You start off with Lakitu telling you to fire off the pipe and get a driver. A little disappointed at the gacha mechanic in existing in the game,  but not surprised. My driver is Toadette. Yay? I’m suddenly wishing I was playing the Colonel Sanders Dating Sim. One day.

   The gameplay is a little odd. You drive automatically, using swipes left and right to steer. You then use swipes forward or backwards to throw items. You get two driving modes to choose from. The first was basic left and right turning for new players while the second was drifting. I chose drifting and regret it. I just drift into every wall I see. Have to switch back.

   Maybe it is because of the mode I chose,  but it also is having me tap to use an item instead of swipe. Weird. Each item block also appears to give you three items, rather than only one or two. This could just be a tutorial mechanic. I’m not sure. Apparently getting three of the same items grants you a frenzy. While this is happening, you appear to get the star power up and unlimited of the item you received for a short time.

   After the tutorial is done, we get Bowser! I’m okay with that. I look forward to seeing how many characters this game has. Also Lakitu says each tour only lasts two weeks, so a tour seems to be like an event. Right now we have the New York Tour in the Mario Cup. Exciting.

   Before each race, you get to choose your race, car and glider. Depending on which you use during a stage, you may perform better. I choose Bowser of course and get started. Also, looking at your character selection, it tells you how many items you get per box. That is a pretty weird mechanic honestly.

   After changing controls,  things feel a lot better. It still moves forward automatically, but you drag right and left to steer. I will say, things are much better, but it feels like you are moving at such a slow pace. I finished in first and was a bit surprised considering how slow I felt. I’m sure I can get used to it though.

   Finishing races gives you experience to level up with and coins which I assume will be used for the gacha and other things. Nothing out of the ordinary so let’s just move right along to race two at Cheep Cheep Lagoon. Beating the first race also unlocked 100CC so hopefully things feel a little faster now.

   Sadly they don’t feel much faster, but the game is growing on me. It seems like a pretty fun time. It is amusing though that the crowd around the track on Cheep Cheep Lagoon is so lifeless. They are there, but they just seem like still images that are edited to give the appearance of movement. It looks so ridiculous that I cant help but find it charming. The good news is, first place again which levels me up more. Wooo.

   With the third race and then the tutorial for rocket start, I have completed the first cup. I can’t wait to see how things go from here. Also apparently you get rubies which you use for the pipe to get new characters. This one I just did gave me Baby Mario. Can’t complain about that! I did it once more just to see, and I ended up with Koopa. That is a little more disappointing to me, but oh well. Just going to the DK cup.

   The first race at Dino Dino Jungle was a little harder, mainly due to the amount of ledges. I stayed in first place a good ninety five percent of the time though. Next is Toad Circuit. We had some blue shells and other special ability going this race, making things a bit more challenging, though overall still easy. Now we have Rock Rock Mountain. I love the repetition in Mario Kart's track names. How could you not? That race didn’t go that well. I dropped back to seventh place. I don’t know what happened, but it wasn’t a good time. I did go back and tried again, ending up back in first, though with a bit of difficulty. The final “race" of the cup was just a ring challenge. Drive through a certain number of rings before crossing the finish line to win. I wonder if all final races are challenges like this.

   I was going to try to finish the tour for this review, but truthfully, the tours are pretty long. So far it seems like ten cups are unlocked in addition to challenges I believe. It looks like as time goes on, more cups get unlocked, with maybe twelve more after the ones that are already available. I’m pretty impressed by the amount of content in this game. Besides the amount of races, there seems to be quite a few characters, karts and gliders. With the bonuses on each level depending on what combination you use, it allows for a mix up of characters rather than someone sticking solely to one, though doesn’t significantly punish you if you want to stick with a favorite. I think it is a nice touch.

   The graphics for the game look pretty decent all considered. We do have cases like the audience in Cheep Cheep Lagoon, but then other points throughout the level look really good. It obviously isn’t quite as good as the Wii U or Switch versions of Mario Kart, but it does look nice from what I have seen so far.

  Now at the end of the day,  this is a game. The most important thing is the gameplay. So how is it? Honestly, I had a lot of fun with it. While it feels very different, including feeling much slower, it is rather enjoyable.  It takes a little to get used to with the kart moving on it’s own, but once you get the hang of steering and other controls, it becomes just like normal Mario Kart. I like getting the special items back in the game as well. I have missed having them in the game, so I love seeing some of these again.

   If I had one complaint other than the speed, it would probably be the microtransactions. Some people don't mind them,  they just aren't my type of thing. Ultimately though, you don’t need to do them if you don’t want to. Going through the game, you can get the currency needed to buy racers and karts, if you want to speed up that process though and throw down some cash, then you’re able to. Do I think five dollars a month for a “Gold Pass" is a little much for mobile Mario Kart? Yeah,  but I also spend more on dumber things.

   At the end of the day, this app is just Mario Kart Lite. It is a toned down, more simplified version of the game we love.  That's not a bad thing though. How they changed the game works well for mobile devices.  Combine that with the addition of new items, mechanics and throwing in a variety of tracks from all Mario Kart games, and it makes it unique enough to be a really fun time.  With Pokemon  Masters, I downloaded it, played a bit,  wrote my review and haven't touched it since.  Mario Kart Tour already has had me go back multiple times as I’m writing to play more. It is a truly fun addition to the series that gets more and more enjoyable as you play. Stop wasting time, shift into gear and go download and give Mario Kart Tour a shot today.