Let's-a-go! The Mario Kart app is here

By Laura Aish, Film & TV Digital Editor

Mamma mia, start your engines! Epigram reviews Nintendo's new Mario Kart mobile game.

Mario Kart Tour is the latest spin-off from Nintendo’s popular game Mario Kart and the company’s most recent venture into mobile gaming. It was released on September 19th 2019 for Android and iOS. As a PC and console gamer who loves racing games, I was excited to give this new Mario Kart a test drive on my mobile!

Firstly, to play the game you will need to sign up with a Nintendo account or link your game to a previously created one. Initially I had some difficulty linking my account, however I was eventually able to connect it after switching to the default browser on my phone for the linking up process.

Once you access the game, the menu is a little overwhelming and full of buttons and options. The racing style itself is simple and, with a bit of practice, easy to use. To guide your character whilst driving you must move your finger across the screen in the direction you would like them to go – there is a large arrow extending from your character to help you with this.

As you drive you can collect different items to help you as you race including banana skins to stop players behind you, objects for stopping players ahead of you and also a variety of other items to help increase your speed for a short period of time. Each race consists of eight real players and as you complete different races new themed ones will gradually become unlocked. Harder difficulties that increase the speed of the race also become available as you progress. In the beginning you start off with one character and more become unlocked as you complete races and earn more points. Levelling up specific items or characters in your inventory increase the amount of points you earn from each race. The game itself is free to play and there are optional in-app purchases available if you wish to fill your inventory more quickly.

Overall, Mario Kart Tour is simple to use and the gameplay is quick, convenient and enjoyable. As I mostly play on PC and console, I found that it was remarkably easy to use and to adapt to the controls. The graphics are good for a mobile game and the aesthetic is bright and fun. As you can currently play the game for free, it is definitely worth taking it out for a spin yourself!

Rating: 4/5

Featured Image credit: Epigram / Laura Aish

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