REVIEW: Mario Kart Mobile runs out of gas

You see it all over teenage girls’ Snap stories. They’ve won their first Mario Kart Mobile game! Congrats! High-five! They think they’re fantastic, until マリオカートzooms past them, leaving them in the dust. As the infamous Nintendo game comes to the Apple store, teens are going crazy with the racing game, playing it every second they can. A lot of teens are slowing down on their gaming, and so am I for various reasons. I don’t think this game met the expectations it had set for itself. Come on, it’s Mario Kart, I think we all had our hopes up.

The hype died down so fast because the controls are confusing and the graphics aren’t too snazzy. Yeah, sure, I won my first game despite the poorly designed controls, but so did everyone else. Nintendo throws you into a match with bots to rig the game so that you get 1st place the first time you play, which defeats the purpose of it even being a game. We play games to reach objectives, and there is no objective if we automatically win the game. 

A good thing, however, is that you can play with your friends by adding their ID, which is enjoyable. An iconic racing game 

like this would not be the same without multiplayer options to play with friends. Personally, this game is only fun for me if I’m versing my friends because it makes it more competitive. Playing against bots can be pointless unless I don’t have wifi and can’t actually play the

 game with friends. But that factor doesn’t apply, considering we can’t even use the app without wifi. I know. A huge letdown. I think this app should support offline gaming because otherwise it’s usage is limited.

Overall this app isn’t something I’d get really into considering its flaws. I’d play it when bored though, as a pass time. I’d give it a “C” grade since its average and didn’t meet the expectations everyone held for it. Everyone had their hopes so high for something so simple.