It’s more Mario Kart.
There you go. Review complete. Wasn’t that easy?
Oh, you’re still here? Alright then I guess we can talk about it a little more.
Mario Kart has always been one of Nintendo’s most reliable titles. Other series’ like Smash Bros. and Zelda might squeeze out a release that fans are less than happy with but you don’t typically see a lot of people complaining about the latest Mario Kart.
Part of the series’ success stems from its accessibility paired with a well hidden layer of surprising depth. Anyone can pick up a Mario Kart game and play, but those who spend the extra time and energy can truly become masters. Mario Kart 8 carries on that tradition, and both old and new fans of the series will find it as simple as always to get started.
The first thing to point out about Mario Kart 8 is that it is stunning to look at. I’ve commented before how nicely Nintendo’s graphical style has bloomed with their first true HD system and Mario Kart is no exception to the rule. And of course not only does the game look every bit as good as something you would see on an Xbox One or a Playstation 4 but it also runs smooth as can be at all times. I have never at any point encountered any kind of graphical hitch or slowdown during my play. I don’t think this game could possibly be any more polished.
So how does it play? Well pretty much like all the Mario Karts before it, with a few new tweaks and adjustments. Probably the biggest change to the franchise is the addition of anti-gravity stretches of track. These areas in levels will allow your racer to climb up walls and even onto the ceiling in some levels. It makes for some trippy levels, and the feature has even been added to a lot of the returning retro levels.
Anti-gravity sections of track doesn’t change gameplay much, but it does look really cool.
As far as new tweaks to actual racing goes, that’s almost it. Mario Kart 7 certainly brought more to the series with hang gliders, custom vehicle parts, and underwater racing, and all of that returns here as well. It would have been nice to see a little more forward momentum but at the same time this is a Nintendo game we’re talking about.
Also returning is online play. I would say that online multiplayer in Mario Kart 8 is the best that it’s ever been in the series. Nintendo is still doing their best to make sure you interact with strangers as little as possible, but the online performance and matching system work great. You’ll never have to wait long to get absolutely destroyed by some dude in Japan.
One surprising feature is the inclusion of Mario Kart TV, which will allow you to view replays of yourself and other racers. You can rewind clips, play them in slow motion, and even upload them YouTube. I found it particularly helpful while I was still trying to figure out all the shortcuts sprinkled throughout the game’s levels.
The game does have a few potential mis-steps as well. One of the oddest choices in the game is the exclusion of arena levels for battle mode. Instead when you enter into a balloon battle you’ll simply play it out on a standard track, albeit with all the players starting in different spots and racing towards one another. It makes the mode much less chaotic and unfortunately takes some of the charm out of it. As a result I almost never found myself playing something that used to take up 50% of my multiplayer time with the series.
Other little changes irritated but didn’t destroy the experience all that much. While you can still hold the item button to trail a shell or banana behind you, the game will no longer let you pick up new items while you do so. The N64 edition of Rainbow Road is also castrated here, going from a grueling 3 lap race to a single lap around the track. These are the little things that keep me up at night.
Still though, all things considered this is another very solid entry in the series, and almost certainly worth picking up if you consider yourself a fan. 2014 is looking like the year Nintendo will finally make the Wii U a system that you have to own and Mario Kart 8 is spearheading the charge.
