Mario Kart Tour is now officially available on mobile platforms and wow... bet Nintendo didn't expect this middling response to their most popular franchise, did they? Mario Kart Tour is their latest mobile venture, and it is kind of filled with various issues that really impact the game. Today, we're going over five things that we love about the game, along with five things that we most certainly don't. Without any further ado, let's get into it.
10 Don't Love: Controls
The controls for this game... they're pretty bad. While the game does allow for tilt controls, no way of controlling this game is very intuitive. The drifting feels horrible at first, and tilting doesn't give you any benefit at all. While both playstyles do start to get better as you play the game for a bit longer, there really isn't a great control scheme anywhere in this game. Hopefully, this is smoothed out or there are more options added in for players once this title gets an update, because controls are one of the most important parts of any game.
9 Love: The Course Design
One thing that you can say about this game is that Nintendo made sure to fit the title onto mobile phones. Each of the courses (both new and retro) feel perfectly fitted for play on mobile devices. They're not nearly as expansive as some of the console tracks can get, but that makes sense for this style of gameplay. Plus, most courses feature less than three laps, which is perfect for bite-sized play sessions. However, the courses are lacking in one major way...
8 Don't Love: The Graphics
They straight up ugly! The courses are really pretty bad looking. The thing about mobile phones is that they're pretty strong nowadays, and can certainly handle more than Nintendo is delivering. If it's a battery concern, just give us an option for quality level on the graphics. The environments are plain, and the character models are... not cute. Peach looks like a ghost that forgot how to blink and it's quite unsettling. Overall the graphics on Mario Kart Tour leave just about everything to be desired.
7 Love: Character Specific Items/Abilities
One nice thing about the game is the return of character-specific items and new abilities. These items and abilities allow for another layer of strategy when choosing who you'll be playing for the round. It also helps each character feel distinct from the next, which is not always the case with Mario Kart games. While not every single ability is completely different from one another, there are certainly enough distinct ones for you to find a character that you love amongst the roster.
6 Don't Love: Lack Of Luigi
Unfortunately, we won't be playing Mario Kart Tour for long because it committed a criminal offense and will be punished for it promptly. Luigi is nowhere to be found in the starting roster, showing just how little Nintendo cares about this poor green man. Sure, they could be waiting to add him in once Luigi's Mansion 3 rolls around, but no. You add a spooky variant or King Boo at that point. What you don't do is hold Luigi back from us at launch. Absolutely disgusting.
5 Love: Other Characters
However, the game seems promising in the roster we have now. We have that weirdo Peachette and Mayor Pauline, meaning that Nintendo is willing to be a bit weirder with the roster with the mobile game. The fact that there are already event characters means that Nintendo will be continuing to add new characters to the game as time goes on, which is nice to see. Still, the lack of Luigi is absolutely devastating.
4 Don't Love: No Multiplayer
For some reason, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, Nintendo decided to release this game without multiplayer, which will be coming in a patch on the 28th. What? Why not just release the full game on Saturday? Instead, you're delaying the most important part of any Mario Kart game and giving a bad impression of it to both hardcore Nintendo fans and the general public. Whoever thought that this was a good roll-out strategy for the app needs to have a firm talking to right now.
3 Don't Love: Always Online
As with all of Nintendo's mobile offerings, the game is always online. If multiplayer is going to be its own, separate section (as the menu would lead one to believe) of the game, then why do we need to be always online to play the game? To keep the microtransactions trucking along at full speed? The main mode has you facing off against bots, so this seems unnecessary. Whatever the reason is, it doesn't help an already sub-par game get any better.
2 Love: Extra Content
One nice thing about Mario Kart Tour is that it offers additional content outside of simple races that the series is usually known for. There is a challenge mode in the app filled with side quests to complete once you clear a certain amount of cups in the main game. While this isn't a huge section of the gameplay that has hours of content to play through, it is nice that Nintendo made sure that the game wasn't as barebones as could be, and allowed for players to have something to do when they're tired of racing for a bit.
1 Don't Love: The Microtransactions
Did you really expect anything less out of this game? Everywhere that you look in Mario Kart Tour, there are microtransactions. Whether it be the pipe that allows you to unlock new characters, the premium currency that you need in order to use it, passes that you (buy) use to play a coin rush minigame, the monthly subscription Gold Pass, the $20 New York set, it's simply relentless. The game is absolutely littered with different microtransactions everywhere you go. While this is somewhat expected as Nintendo continues in their mobile adventures, it is somewhat sad to see them fall to such tactics in order to monetize the game as much as possible. At least be a bit more tact about it.