Mario Kart Tour review: fun racing game begs for money

The latest Nintendo game is now available in the App Store. In our Mario Kart Tour review you can read whether this cheerful racer full of in-app purchases is worth it.

Mario Kart Tour review

Following Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, the next Nintendo game is now on the App Store. With Mario Kart Tour you choose a character and a kart and race towards the finish on colorful tracks.

If you expect that you can just enjoy playing Mario Kart with your favorite characters, then you’ll come home from a cold fair. Mario Kart Tour is only a small part of that game from the past. For the most part, it’s a gacha game where chance determines what you unlock. The in-app purchases are like bananas and shields around your ears.

Mario Kart with one finger

The races themselves are relatively short, but they really do feel like the familiar Mario Kart. Even while controlling the game with a single finger. Nintendo even offers an extra simple control for beginners, but for the real thing you turn on ‘drifting’ and you slide over the course.

For each race you choose a character, kart and glider. Here you can only choose from what you have unlocked via a chance system. At different races, certain characters and karts offer a bonus, forcing you to choose another character as well.

You also choose the speed of the race. The faster it is, the harder it gets. The reward is of course greater. You race against other players (multiplayer with friends will be added later) where you can thwart opponents by throwing objects. Think bananas and different colored shields. Yes, the blue shield is back too.

Opportunity

Although Mario Kart Tour is more skill-oriented compared to Fire Emblem Heroes (Nintendo’s other gacha game), there is still a lot of opportunity involved. No matter how well you drive, there’s little you can do against multiple targeted items from your opponents.

Still, the game is just really fun to play. The races are short, but even with just two laps a lot can happen. You can also get better by getting to know the jobs, to know exactly where the waar shortcuts sitting and how to take tricky turns.

In-app purchases

But the in-app purchases are always lurking. Most important are the characters, karts and gliders that you can shoot out of a pipe. You may use the pipe once for five rubies. You earn these rubies by playing, but you can also buy them. Ten rubies cost 6.99 euros. Since the character that shoots out of the pipe is random, you never know if you’ll get your favorite.

There is also a shop where you can buy some items daily with coins. You also earn these coins by playing, but you can also buy with rubies. With varying daily items and limited-time offers, Nintendo is putting extra pressure on spending.

And then there’s the Gold Pass, a subscription for more rewards and a stack of rubies. That costs 5.49 euros per month. Most disappointing that you need the Gold Pass to play the fastest mode. These 200cc races offer the biggest challenge, but are hidden behind a subscription. The fact that the Gold Pass costs more than a subscription for Apple Arcade makes it extra sour.

Conclusion Mario Kart Tour review

Mario Kart Tour is a really fun smartphone version of this well-known Nintendo series. The game plays nicely, with nice short races and especially a lot of things to unlock. The emphasis is only very much on making in-app purchases, where you don’t always know you’re getting. In addition, it is very unfortunate that the fastest mode is hidden behind a pricey subscription.

More games

There are many more games to play this month, because subscription service Apple Arcade is available with no less than seventy new games. You can already try these five Apple Arcade games. We will be popping up in the near future iPhoned even deeper into Apple Arcade. Sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss anything or download the iPhoned app.

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