Mario Kart Tour de Overpriced Force

Despite its bumpy beginning, Mario Kart Tour has landed on mobile devices (iOS, Android) the free game offers a selection of unlockables and all the fun of Mario Kart, normally only available on Nintendo’s hardware, in the palm of your hand.

Before you reach for your controller, this game has been built from the ground up for touch controls. With no brakes or accelerator in sight, the game is geared towards steering and firing off power-ups. The whole gang is here. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and the rest of the Mario cast, all waiting to jump in and game.

Each part of the game is a cup where you will compete against other players around the world for first place glory. The game is incredibly easy to play, with each track offering a test of reflex and timing rather than pure driving skill.

The game is almost the same graphically as its bigger brother, with just a few tweaks here and there to allow for the modest graphical processing power of mobile devices. This does feel like a fully blown Mario Kart game rather than a lite handheld version, and Nintendo should be applauded for being able to bring this game outside of the Nintendo environment.

However...

That being said, Nintendo has added a feature called Gold Pass into the game - a feature that is horribly overpriced at £4.99 a month to play different versions and speeds of the game. That’s right, not only is Mario Kart Tour littered with costly micro-transactions for cosmetics and courses, there’s also a horribly overpriced subscription service for one game.

Normally I am an unapologetic fan of Nintendo, but these features left a bad taste in my mouth, considering Nintendo has avoided going down the loot box and micro-transaction route in the past, something EA and other software houses have come under fire for. So to see the elder statesman of the gaming world now indulging in this on a mobile platform is sad to see.

Overall, if you want a quick game of Mario Kart on the go, it’s worth the download. But if you really do love your Mario Kart, then the Switch version is the better option.