Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Reviews
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit feels like a technology and toy that can work in the right conditions.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a gleefully successful experiment for Nintendo and Velan Studios...though some minor elements hold it back from exceeding expectations.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit does nearly everything it can to offer a commendably fun-filled AR racing experience. Although it has its inherent limitations, it's definitely a novel concept with a lot of promise, especially if you want to create your own real-life courses.
There's real magic at the heart of this brilliantly faithful AR take on Mario Kart, but a fair few caveats abound.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit feels like magic. It's expensive to play multiplayer, but if your imagination (and house) is big enough, there's plenty of fun on offer.
Nintendo earns a plus point for creativity with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit but the technical and gameplay limitations are shown a lot sooner than expected. If you have a extensive amount of free space in your apartment and good wifi you'll get some fun hours out of this innovative package.
Review in German | Read full review
Very well made proof of concept that Mario Kart can be fun to play in AR.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
It's one of the best applications of AR I've got my hands on and features some impressive tech. The kart is a joy to drive and responds as closely to the game as physically possible, with multiplayer adding even more fun into the mix. Mario Kart Live Home Circuit is a fantastic blend of mad Mario Kart action in your own home. It's awesome seeing your home from the shifted perspective while you are zag zagging through your coffee table and under the sofa while dishing out red shell revenge.
It’s interesting and innovative for sure, but what it brings in terms of magic and child-like wonderment, it loses something in the repetitive nature of each course being in the same space of your house over and over. While kids may be stoked to let their imagination run wild with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, I think most adults will enjoy the novelty for a few races, show their friends and family, but ultimately go back to the more feature-packed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The question is, beyond the real-world factors of space to play, how much are you willing to pay for that Nintendo Magic?
While the tech used for Mario Kart Live is undeniably impressive, most people will get more out of the £100 required to play it by getting Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a few years of Switch Online instead. The way tracks are created in game limits the designs you can create, and you’re out of luck if your house has a limited amount of useable space, or flooring that isn’t completely flat. Still, there’s fun to be had for at least a few hours before the novelty wears off, and it’s hard not to enjoy seeing Mario speed around track you have made. There’s potential, just not enough for this to be worth it for most Mario Kart fans (though cats certainly seem to love it).
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a unique experience that is really impressive at first glance. I enjoyed putting the courses together and exploring the variety of Grand Prix’s, but after a while, the experience does lose its charm much faster than normal Mario Kart experiences. I think this is in part due to the fact that there really is only so many ways I can set up four gates in my living room, the game gets stale because my ideas get stale. Some of the in-game obstacles that impact your RC cars steering, like the Chain-Chomp power-up and the high winds, often caused me to crash into living room objects or knock the gates out of place. This was incredibly annoying and really ruins the experience more than a badly timed Blue Shell. Moreover, the cost to play multiplayer is way too steep, keeping this ultimately a single-player experience for most families. While there is a nice amount of variety in courses, there really isn’t much to do after you master the 200cc difficulty – assuming you haven’t lost interest long before then.
Nintendo's augmented reality kart racer – which involves a miniature kart – works better as a creative toy than a traditional racing game
The package you get for $149.95 AUD RRP doesn’t include enough to sustain the amount of gameplay we expect from a game that expensive.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit brings back that sense of wonder we all felt when we cracked open our first video game and realised there was another world behind the screen. Only now that other world is in our living rooms.
A myriad of discernible properties that could be attached in waves of unimaginable facets, would deliver concepts unseen within this great medium. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is an essential for Switch owners who love the Super Mario franchise itself, and a must have for Mario Kart mainstays.
Mario Kart Live Home Circuit is fun, fun and more fun! Again, there's so much fun to be found in this game plus lot of track creating. However the game feels like you're racing in a virtual Mario Kart title but in the real-world and if you're looking for a game with some escapism to draw you in, Mario Kart Live Home is indeed that game.
If you can manage to find one, it should make for a fun gift for this holiday season. Even with some shortcomings, this is yet another innovative experience from the minds at Nintendo. With nearly endless options on courses and a cool use of technology, I look forward to seeing what some players come up with. As a game it might be somewhat lacking, but as a toy, this is surely going to be a hit.
There’s an undeniable thrill in exploring your house from a lowered viewpoint and while the racing itself is nothing new, the versatility of the experience means you don’t even have to pull out the gates to have a bit of fun or to give the kids a novel distraction.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is the most unique take on the series that since Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on GameCube. It's a blast to play, and it feels reminiscent of games like Wii Sports, where players will immediately want to show it off to family and friends. It's also a game that will really benefit those that have a lot of creativity and space. Home Circuit can still be enjoyed without a large setup, but players that want to really push the Kart and its software to its limits will want to give themselves plenty of room to do so. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit doesn't offer quite the same depth as options like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but it doesn't really have to. Players will get out of the game what they put into it, and it will be exciting to see the tracks people come up with when the game has been out a bit longer. Nintendo's latest offering is just another example of the company's penchant for offering experiences that gamers of all ages can bond over.
If Mario Kart Live Home Circuit plays well and feels fresh it also has some awkward limitations. First, the connection between the kart and your Switch is too short. Then, if you live in a small flat, it's complicated. Finally, if you plan to play with other people, you have to buy another complete set, as there are no individual karts for sale.
Review in French | Read full review