When it comes to the family-friendly kart-racing subgenre, there’s no doubt that the Mario Kart series has continued to pretty well lead the way through each of its evolutions. While there have been other notable titles in the space over the years, they’ve either lacked the staying power or the overall oomph to establish themselves as more than a contender for the throne. There’s no question that while Mario Kart World marked an evolution of Nintendo’s franchise formula, for many it also came up short in a few key areas, overshadowed a bit by its own predecessor, and in theory opening the door for someone else to take the lead. While at the time of its release I had heard several outlets singing the praises of CrossWorlds as possibly being in line to take the crown, after my family and I spent some time with it I wouldn’t say we walked away convinced.

Now, that is by no means a dig at the level of effort being put on display by the talented folks at Team Sonic. On paper, there are actually a tremendous number of innovations both big and small that they’ve put into the game. Whatever you may think of the game’s tracks themselves, the ability to switch to another mid-race brings a completely new level of unpredictability to the table that I really appreciate. Another element that helps CrossWorlds stand out is the level of customization you’re able to pursue and achieve, tuning your ride and choosing what are essentially perks that will help bend the odds a little further in your favor by hopefully giving a boost to your preferred style of play. Finally, there’s the almost Smash Bros-like approach the game has towards featured racers from all over, whether characters from Sega’s own titles, to the likes of Pac-Man, Spongebob, and even the recent addition of Mega Man as well. When compared to the anemic post-launch support Nintendo has given all of the people who bought Mario Kart World, Sega definitely gets the edge in that regard.

All that said, at some point no amount of special features or cameo characters can compensate for gameplay that doesn’t quite deliver the same satisfying consistency and level of quality racing fans are looking for. The primary issue my family and I had with our time racing was what too often felt like visual chaos. There’s no doubt that this varied pretty wildly, depending on the track we were playing on, but there were simply too many times where it felt like we were racing “on vibes” rather than effectively making our way around the track. Even on the Switch 2, the inconsistent performance played a part in this, as it would feel like the system simply couldn’t keep up with the action. But beyond that, whether the issue was with specific power-ups, confusing sections of tracks, or even sometimes modes in the Race Park that didn’t particularly make sense (with links between team cars that were a distraction), there’s an abundance of ideas on display in the game, but it feels like it could have benefitted from some editing and a greater emphasis on getting the base experience right.

Now, if you’re a huge Sega fan, or you’re thrilled with the degree of fan service they’ve thrown into the game with a wide variety of characters, vehicles, and special tracks, this may still feel like a decent value. I’d tend to argue that for the asking price you may find it all more satisfactory on another console, if you have access to one, but even if it is playable on the Switch and Switch 2, it still doesn’t feel ideal necessarily. All that said, no matter what you may think of the shortcomings of the big ideas and changes pushed by Mario Kart World, there’s still no question that at the end of the day it simply plays much better than this does overall on this system. Whether that’s in the form of the clarity of what’s happening at any given moment, what feels like better implemented controls, or just in terms of confident polish, CrossWorlds can be a decent time, but both Mario Kart options on the Switch 2 are still a better overall investment.