Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

Carefully consider your options before you dive in, but for those of you who are up to the challenge, it actually does work far better than you'd expect it to.

There's real magic at the heart of this brilliantly faithful AR take on Mario Kart, but a fair few caveats abound.

Despite a content offering that risks running out in a short time, the great strength of the title lies in an unconventional approach to game design which, thanks to augmented reality, is able to make the world of video games interact with that of the games in a simple and intuitive way.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is obviously not a full-fledged Mario Kart game. What it does offer is a special experience that feels very familiar to Mario Kart fans while being incredibly ingenious at the same time.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit delivers remote-control racing like you've probably never seen before. Its augmented-reality features are brilliant and genuinely surprise with just how well they work, 'in hand'. Home Circuit is full of classic Nintendo charm from its out-the-box elements to its cheery software; it's extremely intuitive to use and offers troubleshooting advice if needed; and it does work in a small space, even if you'll absolutely get more from it, the bigger your home is. It's all the vroom your living room has ever needed - just be sure to keep the kart where you can see it.

Live Home Circuit is a great combination of a toy (a radio controlled kart) and an augmented reality game for Nintendo Switch, with some creative additions in the way we design each circuit.

This game is really for my 12-year-old nephew. He loves Lego and Minecraft and is a natural tinkerer, and would rise to the challenge of creating different courses in a limited, largely immutable space. That’s not to say an adult couldn’t also experiment, and I expect social media at Christmastime will be flooded with images of truly wacky course design. If you have a suitable space for it, and can tap into the latent power of your imagination, then Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will enjoy a decently long life in your household. Or, if you’re like me, someone whose creativity has been worn thin by the realities of being a bill-paying adult, the kart alone will deliver plenty of fun just from chasing around your pets.

The need to have a console and a kart for each of the players makes the multiplayer experience expensive and exclusive, and we really wonder how many will have the opportunity to share it with a friend or another family member. From this point of view, the ability to pass the console and take turns in Timed mode is just a meager sop.

From racing against the computer to taking on friends with their own karts to designing the perfect track to just exploring your place through the eyes of a tiny, kart-racing Mario, this is a toy in the best way: a portal to inventive, constantly changing play that’s fun no matter how you decide to interact with the platform. Your home is now Mario’s own set of challenges and opportunities, and that’s a jump I did not expect from the Mario Kart franchise. [Polygon Recommends]

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit provides a fresh and unique gaming experience, which feels hard to come by these days. The kart is cleverly designed and well put together, responding to every precise movement. Whilst the core gameplay might get a little repetitive, the technology has a bright future, and it's guaranteed to provide fun for the whole family.

A creative and novel way to spend time in whatever level of lockdown you’re currently engaged in.

Home Circuit is a game about trade-offs. No, you’re not getting a full-fledged Mario Kart experience with all kinds of inventive new power-ups and tracks. You’re also not getting a game you can easily play with friends. But in their stead, you get a racing game that’s really unlike anything else out there. At its best, Home Circuit seamlessly blends the idea of racing an RC car with a video game and does it while making the act of creation playful. I may not be able to play Home Circuit with my friends — but at least my cat can join in when she feels like making trouble.

This is an interesting toy, but as a game it’s definitely limited. We’re sure younger players will love it, although we would have liked to see a more ambitious take on the concept.