Mario Kart 8 review by Tyson
Overall
Buy
I thought I was done with the Mario Kart series after not enjoying Mario Kart Wii on the Wii. At first I didn’t plan on playing Mario Kart 8 but I am glad that I gave it a shot. Mario Kart 8 is definitely a step up from the previous Mario Kart games.
Gameplay
Mario Kart 8 follows the gameplay concepts from the previous Mario Kart games. You chose a Nintendo themed character and race on a Nintendo themed track with various items that you can pick up that can be used to help you or hinder other racers. Though where this game does seem to improve on the previous games is with the item usage. Majorly annoyning items like the first place homing Blue Shell don’t make an appearance as much as it used to and items aren’t as frantic as they were in the Wii version. Though items can screw you over at times such as a red shell hitting you at the worst possible moment. While the items can screw you over there are also times where getting an item like the Bullet Bill will help you overtake many racers.
Mario Kart games have always seemed to have unique and well designed racing courses. This game continues that trend with some excellently designed courses. One of my favoite courses has you starting out inside a plane and racing down a snow covered mountain. While another fun course has you racing around an airport with most of the track suspended in the air that has you hanglinding back onto the track below. Overall I found the courses to be fun and I liked how many courses had various different shortcuts that you could take.
The biggest downside to most Mario Kart games has been the A.I. The A.I. still seems to always be closely behind you no matter how well you drive. This means anytime you get hit by an item you always seem to be overtaken by several other racers which is annoyning. Nothing is worse then getting hit with an item right by the finish line and going from 1st to 4th place at the end of the race.
I was also suprised with how well the multiplayer was handled with this version. Online play is very smooth and doesn’t have the cheating that the Wii version had. Playing locally with a split screen plays very smooth as well. This is definitely one of the best multiplayer games on the Wii U.
Control
Mario Kart 8 allows you to use various different control schemes. You can use the Wii U game pad or pro controllers. You can also use the Wii controllers as well. Though the only real issue I had with the control setup is playing with Wii motion controls. I could never get a hang of it and I always seemed to over turn all the time but thankfully you never have to use this if you don’t want to.
Graphics
Wow just wow. I came away hugely impressed with Mario Kart 8’s graphics. The game is very colorful, runs in a high definition resolution, and has a very smooth framerate. Even in multiplayer the game runs at a good framerate. Mario Kart 8 is one of those games that shows off what the Wii U can do.
Sound
Mario Kart 8’s audio is by far the most disappointing aspect for me. I didn’t like the background music in many of the courses. It felt more Saturday Night Live and less Mario Kart to me. Though I did enjoy the character voices and item sound effects.