Nintendo has never been a company to rest on its laurels. While it absolutely could have made a new Mario Kart game very similar to the roaring success of Mario Kart 8, that's not how that team does things. If it can innovate, it will, and that's why Mario Kart World is unlike any game in the series to date -- which when you think about it, is pretty impressive for the ninth game in any series.
The classic Grand Prix mode is very different this time around. Players do the traditional three laps on the first course, but then from the second race onwards, they race across the open world to reach the next track before finishing up with just a single lap on the new course. This mode is still fun, but it does lose something by having players drive along what are mostly long, wide and straight roads between the tracks. It's fair to say that most players who enjoy this series might have preferred the traditional three-lap formula.
That said, this new formula works wonders in the new Knockout Tour Mode. In this, you compete in one long race split into six stages, and at each checkpoint, the four players at the back of the pack (out of the increased 24-player limit) are eliminated until only four remain to compete for the crown.
Where Grand Prix feels weakened by this new formula, Knockout Tour is perfect for it, and players will have many a chaotic face-off as they fight to stay in the race. The higher player count makes everything more fun, especially if someone is in the middle of the pack where they can barely move for all the items being thrown around. It fills those wide, straight roads between tracks with exciting moments that Grand Prix lacks because everyone's trying to lead the race instead of just fighting for survival.
To go with the new world design, there are new racing mechanics in wall-riding and rail-grinding, both of which add to the chaotic fun. Rails are placed liberally around tracks and force you to carefully consider their placement, as grinding around the outside of a corner isn't always faster than drifting across the inside, but you can get boosts and jump from one rail to the next that people on the road can't.
Wall-riding works by holding down the drift button without pressing a direction. It takes a second to charge, so players need to plan in advance, but when they launch their kart will stick to pretty much any wall it comes into contact with -- including silly things like the side of NPC trucks in the street. Players also get a short boost for doing it, so they're rewarded for constantly taking the risky options. Plus, with the way tracks are designed, just about any wall can be used as a shortcut if you're skillful enough.
Track design is stronger than ever, which is why it's such a shame that Grand Prix mode only has players do one lap on most of them. As always, the returning tracks from older games are expertly adapted to the new mechanics, while the completely original tracks are masterfully designed.
There are tracks like Acorn Heights that fully exploit the new ideas to make for intense racing, while other tracks like Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road revel in the spectacle that comes with this game's all-out energetic and vibrant visual style that almost distracts from all of the tight turns one will need to focus on as they drift around them at supersonic speed.
It all comes together and makes the racing action better than ever, which is what makes Free Roam mode so disappointing by contrast. There were high hopes for this mode, which lets one explore the open world and all of the game's tracks as they please, with various collectibles and challenges to find along the way, but it's just not worth the effort.
There isn't much to do outside of aimlessly driving around a world players will already be completely familiar with if they've played all of the Grand Prix Cups, and the secrets aren't much to shout about either. Mirror Mode is the only major one, and they'll unlock that after collecting just ten out of the 100+ secrets out on the map, and there's nothing to justify one investing that sort of time.
Free Roam is just a side attraction, though, and while Grand Prix mode has lost a little of the magic, they'll still have a huge amount of fun racing across this game's world. All of the new additions are smash hits that make it stand out from other games in the series because that's what Nintendo does best. Mario Kart 8 is still completely playable on Nintendo Switch 2 if players prefer that style of gameplay. Mario Kart World does something unique, and aside from a couple of disappointing fumbles, it's a huge success.