When I initially found out that we were getting a brand new Mario Kart with the launch of Switch 2, I was a little bit concerned. Not disappointed, definitely excited, but concerned all the same.
Mario Kart 8, you see, has become such an all-encompassing thing over the years, a sprawling collection of tracks and characters all brought together in a package that stands out for its no-nonsense focus on excellent karting action. And so it’s hard, or it was hard, to see how on earth Nintendo would or could elevate it in any meaningful way.
With Mario Kart World, the big gamble to attempt this necessary evolution is the open-world aspect. However, this addition breaks with the straightforward approach I so admire about past entries. I want to race first and foremost when I turn these games on. I want into a solo or multiplayer race as quickly as possible, in fact, and Mario Kart has always given me this, with Battle modes and side stuff out of the way, and the racing front and centre.
With the introduction of an open world, I feel like the series has been infiltrated to some extent by modern nonsense that it shouldn’t feel the need to kowtow to. The slick and precise aspects that I enjoy most have been sunk in a mire of clutter and noise that I don’t care for at all, that degrades and confuses the experience unnecessarily.
I’m not hating on Mario Kart World, let’s be clear. On the track, it’s an incredibly beautiful thing…But it’s a game I’ve stopped playing.
Now, I’m not hating on Mario Kart World, let’s be clear. On the track, it’s an incredibly beautiful thing, with racing that undoubtedly puts it up top as the best-feeling of the entire franchise. That’s worth your time, and then some. Of course it is, and I still rate it highly.
But it’s a game I’ve stopped playing. I stopped playing fairly quickly, in fact, because the busy-ness of the open world — the feeling of having unfinished business and things to be done and checked off which an open world brings — puts me off. It wears me down, and it makes me feel like I’m…not playing the game properly? I probably need to chill out, but I can’t; I’m a box-ticker and there are too many boxes needing wearily ticking.
Now, in this moment of very personal inner turmoil, as my worldview suddenly and irreversibly collapses under the weight of the knowledge that “maybe the new Mario Kart isn’t really my cup of tea”, who should present themselves as an unlikely hero? It could only be that wee guy. The wee blue hedgehog guy. From the movies. What’s his name? Ah, yes, Sanic. Sanic the Hedgehogs.
Skew-Whiffs Sonically Sorted
Not for one second — and as much as I love me some Sonic Racing Transformed — did I ever think that Team Sonic could bring it this good. But bring it this good is exactly what they’ve done.
If you’re like me, a connoisseur who appreciates the handling of a car in ways in which most humans simply cannot, you may have an issue with previous Sonic karting efforts. There’s always been something slightly off, something skew-whiff (like yer Eggman’s moustache), about the handling of the vehicles. It’s very slight — not game-ruining at all — but I’ve always felt a tankiness, a heaviness in the rear of the various karts that makes drifting, and switching directions whilst drifting, come off as a little undercooked and clunky compared to Mario’s perfect handling. It was an issue that meant this series could never top the Italian smart-arse in my mind. Until now.
With Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, you see, Team Sonic has finally resolved its handling woes. I can’t find fault with the mechanics or handling here at all. Furthermore, as you play, you begin to realise that what at first can seem like messy chaos when transferring from the measured, ‘opulent’ vibe of Mario’s races, is actually massively addictive, rewarding, and competitive karting that has Mario Kart World beaten all day long, thanks to those handling tweaks and a bunch of other things that make for races with bigger hooks to keep me engaged.
Now, before I dig in here, and for full transparency, as you’ll be aware, the Switch 1 version of Sonic Racing Crossworlds is the only available version at the moment, with the Switch 2 port due to drop around “Holiday 2025”. As a result, I purchased the PS5 version first off, and that’s where I’ve spent most of my time with the game, so it’s hardly surprising that I’m being dazzled a little by the fancy graphics, which Mario Kart World can’t really compete with. I’m taking this factor into account, be sure of it.
I’ve also picked the game up on Switch, where it doesn’t look quite as nice (still looks fair enough, mind) and targets 30fps, which, for me personally, is perfectly fine. Even with these concessions, though, it’s still beating MKW (and should do even more so when the Switch 2 edition drops) because it gives me races and an overall setup that keep me way more involved and interested.
Mini Motivations Make Motoring Magic
I’ve mentioned the open world not being my cup of tea, and that’s an obvious sort of criticism to make – it’s also a part of the game that’s very easy to ignore, so MKW can survive that impact, but there’s more to it than this. The real surprise has been that, on the track, Sonic is also doing more for me this time out, too.
Sonic Racing Crossworlds presents races which are split into an opening and final lap raced on the currently chosen course, with the middle lap seeing racers teleported to another track entirely. The racer in first position at the end of lap one gets to choose from either a random Crossworlds portal to any of the game’s circuits or one that’s been selected by the CPU in advance.
So, immediately on starting a race, you’ve got this well-observed gameplay loop where you focus on getting a nice boost start, just like Mario Kart, and then you careen around corners, drifting and shooting off the game’s fun assortment of items, with designs on being numero uno, so you get to choose where lap two occurs.
It creates a nice drive (no pun intended, I would never), a focus for the opening lap, which is then replaced by the fun of navigating whatever is thrown at you for lap two. It helps, as well, that the teleporting crossovers between worlds just look and feel cool to drive into, and they even managed to get all this tastiness looking and running okay on Switch. I’ve got high hopes for the Switch 2 upgrade.
There’s an excitement created by the switching of venues, then, and it’s enhanced further by excellent track design that cleverly digs down deep into Sega’s unique, arcade-heavy vibe. These are the sorts of circuits I expect to race on when I’m inside a huge moving arcade unit, pumping my coins in for another shot. You know the sort of thing, great big dinosaurs running into the screen one moment and jets taking off the next.
All of this is offset by the exact kind of cheesy arcade announcer I could listen to all day. It feels urgent and exciting, retro and modern all at once. Oh, and the soundtrack! I don’t have time or space here, but it’s a perfect accompaniment to that ’90s SEGA arcade vibe I’m harping on about. It just screams “VIDEO GAMES!!!” very loudly from every pore.
Drivin’ In A Tweaker’s Paradise
Sonic Racing: Crossworlds then goes on to dominate when it comes to customisation and strategising. You have licence cards that upgrade and unlock to give you a total of six slots, and these slots can be filled with unlockable boons and boosts. Kickstart your race in Monster Truck mode to crush everyone at the starting line, give yourself a trio of boosts to get going, or spend the spaces tweaking your speed, acceleration, power, and handling to give yourself an edge. There are loads of options.
These four categories are also how the myriad car parts, which can be freely mixed and matched, are organised to browse through. Sonic, as an example, starts the game with his signature fast blue car, firmly in the speed category. As you play, you earn tickets to spend on front and back parts that can be combined to mix up traits and create cool-looking vehicles. There are also custom jobs, paint sets, and a surprising variety of decals.
As a result of all of this, and only a few days after having picked the game up, I’ve already cleared every single stage and cup, and grabbed every red coin along the way. I haven’t even tried all the cups in Mario Kart World yet, and this is all the concrete proof that I need. I’m enjoying Crossworlds way, way more than World.
Oh, and I must mention, in Crossworlds’ cups, if I screw up in a race, I can pay a small fee to restart that race, rather than painfully replay the whole cup again. This is big news for angry people and/or anyone short on time. (I believe there is an overlap between these two groups of people.) More seriously, though, I can make actual progress thanks to this, which again keeps me committed to playing. I haven’t mentioned the online stuff, or the play park where you can do battle modes and races that tweak the rules, and that’s because I haven’t really touched that yet – certainly not enough to comment on.
But that’s the thing, even without comparing and contrasting every facet of these two games in-depth as we could do, Crossworlds easily wins out for me. There are no big, long, straight tracks to get bored on here, no being pulled out of the parts that excite and make you sweat to go complete a puzzle. I’ll take speedy and slick Crossworlds portal action over the rallies’ weirdly bland transitional phases and open world of Mario’s latest all day.
This Ain’t No Roster Imposter
In the interests of being fair, I will currently give Mario Kart World a win in its character roster. It’s very hard to beat Mario and co. However, this is something which may also change, as Crossworlds has a whole bunch of very silly DLC characters en route, each with their own vehicle parts to add to the mix.
So, you see, there is a future to look forward to for Sega racers. A future in which Ichiban Kasuga speeds around Kronos Island in SpongeBob SquarePants’ burger car. If that doesn’t get your pulse racing, you may well be dead.
Of course, everyone’s gonna have their favourite between these two, and we’ll see plenty more debate when the Switch 2 version eventually shows up, I’m sure. But what’s your favourite between the pair so far? Are you veering on the side of Mario and his open-world fanciness, or Sonic and his portals to other dimensions?
Have a favourite and want to let us know in more detail than a simple poll vote? Come down to the comments!
