Mario Kart World
Image: Nintendo

Get ready to start your engine very soon because Mario Kart World is almost here! Yes, we're now literally hours out from the Switch 2 launch in some parts of the world and the "final previews" for the key launch title are now officially rolling in.

First up is our preview from the lovely Alex Olney who had high praise for the game's movement, which he believes will "blow players' minds" when they get a grip on them. Without going into any spoilers, here's what he had to say:

"It’s these new movement options specifically that makes the game feel utterly distinct from previous entries. Yes, the open world is the obvious selling point for the back of the box, but the freedom offered by the new mechanics are undoubtedly going to be the game’s real shining example."

IGN also took one last ride before launch and feels the new entry in Mario's racing series gets everything "completely right":

"The turning, drifting, and boosting all feels as tight as you’d hope, and the open-world design fully shines in this bold new take on the formula."

Metro also applauded the open-world design, describing it as a new beginning for the series:

"The open world is one of the best designed we’ve ever seen, whether for a racing game or not. But it may mean that while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the definitive version of the original Mario Kart formula, World is only the start of a new evolutionary path. Although in a way that’s even more exciting, as it means this new direction for the franchise has plenty to offer both now and in the future."

Eurogamer enjoyed the experience, but felt things got a little "wobbly" when you weren't racing:

"In fact, Mario Kart World's best moments are those that don't change at all, so much as just slightly enhance it... the big headline feature of Mario Kart World is, at least in just one still brief first encounter, a little underwhelming."

Vooks.net is also hoping there's more to the open-world aspect of the game:

"On paper, a free-roam, open-world Mario Kart sounds amazing. I mean, it worked for Zelda, right? The difference is, Zelda has purpose and story to drive you forward. Mario Kart doesn’t really have those—but we’ll have to wait and see if the missions and secrets scattered throughout the map are enough to fill that gap."

And TheSixthAxis called Mario Kart World a "bold new direction for this series, and yet one that remains familiar":

"You can still just race around tracks if you wish and ignore the open world races, or you can race point-to-point races that you won’t see within the main Grand Prix or Knockout Tour mode. And there’s also Battle Mode, which has the usual mix of of bespoke arenas and repurposed track sections to race through. This is also a lot of fun in split-screen, and if you have the Switch 2 camera set up and everyone’s mug on screen to highlight your human rivals, the competitiveness that everyone feels when playing Mario Kart shines through."

So that's the final round of previews for Mario Kart World, we'll see you back here when our full review goes live on the site.

Will you be getting this game on release or are you going to hold out for the reviews? Let us know in the comments.