Mario Kart Tour 4+

Til alle jer der siger at i ikke kan spille det var fordi at det ikke var ude enndu. Det blev realesed klokken 11:00. Ellers er det mega sjovt og ret kreativt. Hvis der står at i ikke kan komme ind på grund en opdatering skal i bare vente for en opdatering eller vente nogle timer og gå ind i spillet igen.

Plejer ikke at lave anmeldelser, men dette spil har fået lidt hård kritik i pressen, og jeg er slet ikke enig.
Det er rigtigt at for penge kan man låse op for nye figurer hurtigere, og det kan også give fordele i spillet. Men spillet kan sagtens spilles uden og er temmeligt sjovt.

My first impression was filled with amazement. I’m actually able to play one of my all-time favorite franchises on my phone, anywhere at anytime! Not just that, but it’s updated with new courses constantly! Controls took a little getting used to, but that went over quickly and soon I was racing like the best of them at 150cc. It only took a few weeks for things to go downhill though.

Overall, Mario Kart Tour very much feels like a Mario Kart Game. It looks great, feels great once you get used to the controls, and as you cruise down the many tracks and pick up items to hurl at your opponents, you can’t help but get into it. That’s probably why my first impression was so good. Soon though, it started to crumble, as I realized what issues hides under the otherwise great exterior. Turns out this car has a few engine problems and oil leaks which takes out a lot of the fun in the game.

First, I started to weary at how repetitive the game started to feel. While there’s an insane amount of cups to race, they’re all filled with the same 10 or so tracks. On top of that, the cups change every month, meaning new tracks to play, but also that last month’s tracks and cups are no longer available, which I personally found to give me a sense of dread, as I saw all that progress go away to be replaced with a fresh list.

Then there’s the issue of the pay-to-win mechanic. It’s subtle, but it’s there. See, every track has characters, karts and gliders which will give you more of an edge if you equip them for that level. Characters give you more items when you pick up a box, karts gives you more points and gliders gives you extra time on your combos. This, along with your overall driving skills plays majorly into how many points you’re able to get per track, as new drivers may not have the slightest chance to complete everything in their cup list before it changes, due to not having the gear to gain the right bonuses, and not having the skills to pull it off without. These pieces of gear are either gained from the warp pipe (this game’s loot box system) or the shop, which has a new selection of random items for sale every day, provided you have the outrageous amount of coins needed to buy them, of which you can only gain a max of 300~ per day, unless you have a subscription (which I’ll come back to later). The warp pipe is filled with 200 items every season. Three of these are of the best rank, which is often what you need to have the best edge in races. The pipe costs rubies to use, which can be gained from completing challenges, sometimes as login bonuses, for completing some cups or otherwise through the use of real money. If you don’t have a subscription, you’ll miss out on a LOT of rubies as cup rewards. This leaves buying them for real money, which is quite expensive. For the cheapest offer, which is the price of what is usually the second-cheapest offer in other games, you can buy 3 rubies. You need 5 to use the warp pipe. Thus you gotta buy the game’s second-cheapest pack to use it if you don’t already have a couple of rubies laying around. Even then you’re not sure if the pipe will give you anything else than duplicates, which will give a small bonus to the item in question.

Then there’s the subscription service, which will run you quite a few bucks per month, depending on what country you live in. For this you get all your cup prizes and you’re able to play the 200cc difficulty. Yep, the game’s fastest mode is locked behind this subscription, which will need to be renewed every season, so every month. Personally I used the free month I got with the game and haven’t renewed it since, but I’m pretty bitter about not being able to play 200cc, as I’m a pretty good driver.

Overall, this leaves my verdict with quite some pros and cons, even if the cons has been filling most of this list. It’s not that they completely outweigh the pros, but they just take more space to explain. Overall the game can feel fun to play for the first couple of months, but loses most of its flair after that time, leaving you with a pretty dull experience. At least it has to me. It saddens me to see Nintendo having turned this beloved franchise into such a thing, trying to pull the cash out of your pockets. I enjoyed Super Mario Run for its offer for a one-time payment for the full experience, which Mario Kart Tour expects you to pay every month for its subscription.
What happened to Nintendo wanting to rid itself of microtransactions?

It’s like my father’s old Lincoln. A really great car on the surface, but it suffers from engine problems and it costs waaaaay too much to refuel, ultimately meaning we need to have it stashed away in a warehouse (that being the dusty corner of my phone).

- Jounzey: International Game Critic