Launched in 2020, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a racing and mixed reality game developed by Japanese giant game maker Nintendo for its latest gaming platform Nintendo Switch. As the fifteenth installment of the Mario Kart series, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit keeps many classic features of previous Mario Kart installments while developing several new components. In general, you may consider this game an enhanced and reality version of Mario Kart. In the game, you can use the kart’s camera to see through the entire racing round vision just like live streaming of a real kart driver in a real racing game, which is super cool. The VR experience of this game is so realistic that the game can even be used to train real racing drivers.

You can play either as Mario or as his younger brother Luigi, with their special karts. In the explore mode, you can drive around freely and collect as many items as possible, including mushrooms. And in the grand Prix mode, you will need to compete against opponents in a variety of cups and win different trophies. The time trial mode is one of my favorite modes, in which many things can be customized. You can change the speed of your karts, the number of laps from 3 to 7, the music that will be playing, and the environment that you will be playing in. In the time trial, you will have to complete the racing round as fast as possible to win the game. Mushrooms and coins can be collected under the time trial mode too to unlock new karts and outfits for characters. The custom racing mode can offer you even more freedom in how you would like to shape the game. Under this model, you are allowed to create courses under your own rules. You can customize almost everything from kart speed to several laps, from the music being played to the environment that you will play in. You can also collect items and coins to unlock new customization.

There are so many characters that you can choose from and unlock, including the basic Mario and Luigi, and many themed outfits for both. My favorite outfit for Mario is the explorer unit and space unit, and the football uniform and baseball uniform for Luigi. There is also a variety of karts and horns available to be unlocked. It is funny that you can drive a big scoop and landship in a racing game hahaha, it is just full of fantasy. If you are a loyal long-time Mario series fan, this game will highly likely not disappoint you as it remains what is important for Mario fans, and at the same time, leverage AR signature technology to further enhance the gaming experience. It is also a wonderful social networking place as you can compete with your friends in the game, as long as they also have a Nintendo switch.   

On the other hand, the AI opponents in this game are not competitive enough and you may feel bored quickly after some time as you are always the winner. Also, the AI opponents may not face the same physical limitation that your kart will be facing, which just makes me feel unfair. The AI opponents may just glide through obstacles or even ignore the track that you set out, which can be frustrating. But the good news is that the developers of the game have been updating the game and fixing bugs now and then, now let us just wait for the next update, and hopefully, they will enhance the AI opponents soon.

By Billy | Copyright © Character100 - All Rights Reserved