{"id":100839,"date":"2019-09-26T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/mobile\/mario_kart_tour"},"modified":"2019-09-26T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T19:00:00","slug":"review-mario-kart-tour-steer-around-the-gacha-for-a-fun-free-take-on-the-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/26\/review-mario-kart-tour-steer-around-the-gacha-for-a-fun-free-take-on-the-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mario Kart Tour &#8211; Steer Around The Gacha For A Fun, Free Take On The Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5ca3cb797815b\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5ca3cb797815b\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 1 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99530\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99530\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 1 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to say that Nintendo\u2019s forays into mobile gaming have been a bit of a mixed bag, partly because none of its fans can really agree on which of its efforts have struck the best balance between fun and funds. Originally reluctant to even get into mobile gaming in the first place, Nintendo has struggled to settle on a monetisation method that hasn\u2019t annoyed at least someone.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/super_mario_run\">Super Mario Run<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s \u2018one single payment to unlock everything\u2019 idea wasn\u2019t as successful as Nintendo had hoped. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/animal_crossing_pocket_camp\">Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp<\/a><\/strong> started well, but then added expensive fortune cookies and gardening tasks that were nearly impossible without spending money. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/dr_mario_world\">Dr. Mario World<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s energy system makes playing in small bursts a necessity for solo players (though the multiplayer is fantastic), and some were uncomfortable sharing their information in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/miitomo\">Miitomo<\/a><\/strong> (RIP) in general. And so on, and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>Step forward <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/mario_kart_tour\">Mario Kart Tour<\/a><\/strong>, Nintendo\u2019s seventh attempt at nailing mobile. This time, as well as the tried-and-tested gacha (i.e. loot box) system, it\u2019s also introducing <em>another<\/em> pay mechanic it hasn\u2019t tried before: a monthly subscription service. The game has only been available for a matter of hours and already social media is up in arms about this, but as is often the case, the level of outrage isn\u2019t proportionate to reality; the subscription service is indeed a bit rubbish, but it\u2019s absolutely possible to enjoy the game without it.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 2 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99532\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99532\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 2 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the basics first, though. Mario Kart Tour is based on the modern Mario Kart games and were it not for its insistence on being played in portrait mode (you can\u2019t turn the screen sideways for this one) you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking it was a straight mobile port of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wii\/mario_kart_wii\"><strong>Mario Kart Wii<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/3ds\/mario_kart_7\"><strong>7<\/strong><\/a>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/mario_kart_8_deluxe\">8<\/a><\/strong> or the like. Once you start playing it, though, it\u2019s immediately clear that this is a <em>very<\/em> different Mario Kart experience: for starters, its controls are very different to what you\u2019re used to.<\/p>\n<p>Your kart accelerates automatically, and is controlled by swiping your finger left or right. There are two variations on this: a beginner control scheme where swiping simply turns in that direction (essentially acting like an analogue stick), and an advanced one where swiping makes your kart hop and start powersliding in that direction. This means the advanced set-up is the only way to get speed boosts by sliding round corners, so naturally it\u2019s the best one to go for if you want the best chance of winning races.<\/p>\n<p>The only issue here is that the controls can take a little longer to get used to than other Mario Kart games. Because this advanced method uses power slides and nothing else, moving slightly left or right can be tricky since a power slide usually starts with the kart swinging out in the opposite direction. The result is a feel similar to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/n64\/mario_kart_64\">Mario Kart 64<\/a><\/strong> in a way, where the best way to collect something that\u2019s slightly to the right of you is by actually moving left. It\u2019s initially counter-intuitive (and one of the main reasons you may be seeing people online saying it controls terribly) but stick with it and after a couple of hours it becomes a lot easier to handle. It\u2019s never going to be as intuitive as a normal controller, of course, but it\u2019s passable enough to win races.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 3 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99529\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99529\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 3 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s worth pointing out that tucked away in the options is the ability to turn on gyro controls for devices that support them. You can even combine them with the advanced controls, meaning theoretically you could use the touchscreen for powerslides round corners then tilt your device to make smaller turns to collect items. We say \u201ctheoretically\u201d because in reality we tested the gyro controls on both a Google Pixel 2XL and a 2019 iPad Air and they were awful on both. Take our advice and stick with the touch controls until you get the hang of them.<\/p>\n<p>Not that you\u2019ll need to worry about competing against other players who\u2019ve adapted to the controls quicker than you, mind. Each race puts you against seven other \u2018human\u2019 opponents, which are based on real players and their actual profiles, but you aren\u2019t actually racing against them: you\u2019re racing against AI racers representing them. In many ways this is actually preferable, since it means you\u2019ll never have problems with lag, people dropping out or never being able to find a race.<\/p>\n<p>Racing against CPU opponents also ensures the three speed settings of 50cc, 100cc and 150cc have suitable AI difficulty too, meaning you can spend some time in 50cc getting used to the controls without having to worry about the possibility of experts dropping in there and smacking shells around. For those who crave such anarchy, Nintendo promises that an update is coming that includes proper online multiplayer, so we\u2019ll see how that goes when it arrives.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 4 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99536\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99536\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 4 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The game\u2019s split into a series of \u2018tours\u2019, each of which is based on a real-world city and lasts for a number of weeks. The first is the New York Tour, which consists of 16 cups (each with four events). The aim isn\u2019t necessarily to win the races in these cups, but to hit a certain number of points. While finishing in first obviously nets you a healthy helping of points, you can also gain points for practically anything else: pulling off powerslides, hitting enemies with weapons, gliding in the air, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Each character, kart and glider also has their own points value, which are added to the points you get during the race. On top of this, each race has favoured characters, karts and gliders, and if you choose any of those you\u2019ll get extra weapon slots or points multipliers. It\u2019s a good way of making sure the player doesn\u2019t just use the same character over and over again&#8230; though obviously they have to get extra characters first.<\/p>\n<p>This is where Mario Kart Tour is going to divide opinion. As with many free-to-play mobile games, Mario Kart Tour has a pair of currencies: in this case, it\u2019s coins and rubies. Coins are collected through normal play and can be used to buy specific characters, karts and gliders in the daily shop (the ones available change every day). These items are generally quite expensive, though, so you\u2019ll need to save up your coins to be able to afford them.<\/p>\n<p>Rubies, meanwhile, are the premium currency and can either be bought with real money or earned in-game at a slower rate than coins (you\u2019ll get some rubies for things like levelling up, completing the occasional cup, as a part of daily login bonuses and the like). For 5 rubies you can use the pipe, which is the game\u2019s gacha\/loot box system. Pull the pipe and you\u2019ll win a random character, kart or glider, though the odds on you getting the exact one you want are fairly low.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 5 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99534\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99534\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 5 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>We\u2019ve already seen people citing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/09\/nintendo_reveals_rarity_of_character_and_kart_unlocks_in_mario_kart_tour\">the appearance rates for this mode<\/a>, but to be fair \u2013 and we aren\u2019t often fair when it comes to microtransactions \u2013 that\u2019s sort of the point of loot boxes. The game\u2019s launched with 47 possible things to unlock in a pipe, so you\u2019re already talking a little more than 2% chance of getting a specific one. Add to that the fact that some items are rarer than others and therefore some common items have a higher percentage (up to 5%) whereas others have a lower one (as low as 0.3% for the likes of Metal Mario and Peachette).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s rubbish to an extent, absolutely, but despite the outrage you may be seeing in some circles, it\u2019s no different to any other game with a loot box system; it\u2019s always nearly impossible to guarantee you\u2019ll get the exact thing you want. A more sensible way of looking at Mario Kart Tour\u2019s system is by splitting it into categories of rarity: you\u2019re looking at a 75% chance of getting a \u2018normal\u2019 item, a 21.5% chance of getting a \u2018super\u2019 one (these have gold backgrounds and are generally worth more points when racing) and a 3.5% chance of getting one of the few \u2018high-end\u2019 ones.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the Gold Pass subscription service, which will set you back \u00a34.99 a month. This one\u2019s a little harder to justify. Basically, as you hit certain star totals you\u2019ll unlock set rewards: some coins, a new character, some tokens to let you level up your kart\u2019s points value, that sort of thing. If you\u2019re subscribed to the Gold Pass, you get extra gifts on top of that: usually a few rubies or the occasional unique kart.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed left\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 6 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99533\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99533\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 6 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The Gold Pass also unlocks some unique challenges (i.e. achievements) \u2013 which grant you extra rubies if you clear them \u2013 as well as the 200cc mode, which is frankly close to unplayable with this control system and doesn\u2019t give you any extra points anyway. More than the gacha system, the Gold Pass is gaining a lot more controversy than it really should be, with some misunderstanding what it does and assuming this subscription service is necessary in some way. To be clear, it really isn\u2019t, and absolutely won\u2019t be of interest to 99% of the player base.<\/p>\n<p>Those are the two main sources of monetisation, then: rubies and the Gold Pass. Thankfully, there\u2019s no energy system here like there is in Dr Mario World or <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mobile\/fire_emblem_heroes\">Fire Emblem Heroes<\/a><\/strong>, meaning you can happily replay races over and over again as you try to earn the full five stars on each. An energy system here would have been an absolute deal-breaker, but by not having one Nintendo has ensured that those not willing to spend a single penny on the game won\u2019t ever feel the need to (as long as they can ignore the banners advertising the Gold Pass, obviously).<\/p>\n<p>We can already sense how the comments to this will go, and we completely understand that by saying Nintendo\u2019s mobile game isn\u2019t any more predatory than most other free-to-play mobile games over the past decade we\u2019re going to get hit with the \u2018Nintendo Defence Force\u2019 stuff. The reality is that everyone\u2019s mileage varies when it comes to mobile microtransactions: those who play mobile games regularly will have by now accepted that they\u2019re a necessary evil, and that this game in particular is nowhere near the worst example of it (not even among Nintendo\u2019s own mobile releases). Those who don\u2019t often dabble in mobile gaming, however, may be annoyed at the gacha system and the optional subscription service.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right\"><a title=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 7 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99531\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/99531\/300x.jpg\" alt=\"Mario Kart Tour Review - Screenshot 7 of 7\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Ultimately, given that the game\u2019s free-to-play, the best way to find out where your tolerance lies is to try it for yourself. Give it a couple of hours so you can adapt to its unwieldy control system, and if you\u2019re like us you\u2019ll find a competent little mobile version of Mario Kart which is made enjoyable by its complete lack of an energy system, which would have spun it out at the starting line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s fair to say that Nintendo\u2019s forays into mobile gaming have been a bit of a mixed bag, partly because none of its fans can really agree on which of its efforts have struck the best balance between fun and funds. Originally reluctant to even get into mobile gaming in the first place, Nintendo has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}