Mario Kart World Fully Embraces the Idea of ‘Games as a Place’

Summary

Mario Kart World features a seamless transition from menus to gameplay for a truly immersive experience.
Immersion in Mario Kart World extends to all game modes, integrating tracks directly into the world.
The world in Mario Kart World isn’t just a backdrop, but an integral part of the gameplay experience.

Mario Kart World is the biggest game in the series yet, and not just because of its scope. Yes, its unprecedented Free Roam mode and extensive roster of characters, costumes, collectibles, and vehicles all make it a large game in size, but it’s also the headlining launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2. That alone makes it a big deal for the Mario Kart series in general. At the core of all of this, though, is a renewed design philosophy Mario Kart World has adopted in order to be a truly immersive Mario Kart experience even the series’ veteran fans are unfamiliar with.

Immersion isn’t an unfamiliar characteristic to the racing genre of video games, as franchises like Forza have shown. However, it’s difficult to say that a racing series like Mario Kart has ever been what one would call “immersive,” although it certainly has its own idea of the concept. Mario Kart World, on the other hand, takes immersion to an entirely different level as it redefines what the word even means to the franchise. That same whimsy, arcade-style design, and larger-than-life character that’s always been there is still present in Mario Kart World, but the latest entry embraces the idea of “games as a place” in a way no installment before it has ever explored.

Mario Kart World Review

Mario Kart World is a gorgeous racing game with endless hours of fun to be had, though its defining new game mode doesn’t quite hit the mark.

How Mario Kart World Turns Its Tracks Into a Living World

The heartbeat of Mario Kart World is the same heartbeat the series has long fostered, where players compete in fun, high-octane races across a variety of tracks, all while using power-ups they find along the way to gain an advantage in either speeding themselves up or slowing their opponents down. That being said, the latest entry is, in all reality, named on account of its new Free Roam mode and world design. Whereas past entries have contained players on the tracks, Mario Kart World takes them to the open expanses beyond those tracks, where they can explore to their heart’s content.

While the idea is, in and of itself, an ambitious and exciting one, it’s not just the explorable portion of Mario Kart World that makes it an immersive experience, but the way it’s presented to the player. This begins with the main menu screen, which shows the last racer and vehicle players were using, zooming through the world. On this screen, players can enter Mario Kart World‘s Free Roam simply by pressing the Start button, but rather than going to a loading screen, the menu just quietly disappears, and players seamlessly take control of the racer that was already on the screen driving through the world.

Mario Kart World‘s enhanced visuals on the Nintendo Switch 2 help with immersion too, but they’re only half of it.

It’s simple and potentially overlooked and underappreciated design, but it’s effective for what Mario Kart World seemingly wants to accomplish. It’s clearly not so much concerned about getting players into the action as quickly as possible, but more concerned with immersing them in its world as quickly, efficiently, and as seamlessly as possible. Mario Kart World has truly created a world for players to discover and get lost in, even if it does still have that same whimsy and cartoonish fun the series has always been known for.

Grand Prix and Knockout Tour Aren’t Separate From the World

This design philosophy isn’t just present in Free Roam mode either, as it can be witnessed in Mario Kart World‘s Knockout Tour and Grand Prix modes as well. Rather than loading players into a separate instance for these races, every track in Mario Kart World is integrated directly into the world itself to maintain that immersion across all game modes. Knockout Tour is an especially excellent example of Mario Kart World‘s emphasis on providing an immersive experience, as it takes players through multiple interconnected tracks with no breaks in between them.

Mario Kart World has truly created a world for players to discover and get lost in, even if it does still have that same whimsy and cartoonish fun the series has always been known for.

By all accounts, Mario Kart World redefines what a Mario Kart game can be by making every mode, every race, and every moment a continuous, uninterrupted setting. In this, the world isn’t just a backdrop for the gameplay, but the gameplay itself. Whether players are zipping through Knockout Tour or entering Free Roam straight from the main menu, everything is designed to feel like one unified experience.