My Mario Kart 8 review may be a little late to the game, but so it goes. I've dived pretty deeply into the game, and I can unequivocally say that it's fantastic. But it has a few big flaws, from Battle Mode to the user interface, that keep it from simply being the best Mario Kart game ever. It's still easily the standout game on Wii U right now, but it is by no means perfect. Let's dive in. In Part I, right here, we'll look at the basic gameplay, and the new items. Part 2 takes a look at Battle Mode and the game's tracks. Part 3 checks out online multiplayer--the best Nintendo has ever done--and Part 4 critiques the user interface and sums it all up. Alright, let's get started:
Mario Kart 8 Review: Gameplay
The gameplay in Mario Kart 8 is just about perfect. I'm talking about the core gameplay, the racing. It feels more natural than ever, and a slew of ease-of-use options make the game more fun for both new players and old. Power slides are easier for newbies, but the persistence of the waggle means that expertise and skill still matter. The variety of different vehicle types, which started with the Wii version, persists: we have karts, bikes, sports bikes, and ATVs, all of which are different enough to keep gameplay fresh (especially bikes).
Antigravity, one of the game's most touted features, is if anything actually a little underused, especially in the remade legacy tracks. And it doesn't change too much, really: it shows off the height of the Wii U's graphical capabilities, but it's not a fundamental gameplay change. Getting a mutual boost instead of a mutual slowdown from bumping into other players while in antigrav mode matters a lot at the higher levels, but it's a little bonus, not a change in the way Mario Kart works.
Gameplay does have a major flaw, though: in repeated multiplayer sessions, I've observed and been told that, compared to prior Mario Kart games, it is quite hard to catch up if you're behind. The item algorithm-on which more below-does not dole out enough long-range offensive items (i.e. red shells) and boosts, and once the pack gets pretty spread out by the last lap, falling behind is pretty much irreversible.
Mario Kart 8 Review: Items
Mario Kart 8 has always been all about items-it's not nearly as much fun without them-and Mario Kart 8 takes two steps forward and one step back in this regard. As alluded to above, one of the problems with Mario Kart 8 is the difficulty in catching up if you're behind. That's in part because the items you get when you are behind aren't terribly helpful. Red shells are back, of course, but in pretty scarce supply. The newer offensive items, the Piranha Plant and the Boomerang, are respectively short-range and hard to hit with. And the very powerful offensive and catch-up items like Bullet Bill and Lightning only show up when you're doing very badly indeed. Items like Ghosts and Decoys are also much missed, even if they aren't terribly useful in themselves.
Mario Kart 8 perhaps puts too much emphasis on racing skill, and not enough on taking advantage of items. This is a surprising criticism, perhaps: it is, after all, a racing game. But it's always been a game about fast-paced, frenetic action and quick turnarounds as much as the race itself. And that element has been partially lost in favor of straight racing, especially in multiplayer. It makes the game less forgiving for newbies, and I think that's a loss, but not a major one: the action is still frenetic and frantic enough that everyone will have a good time, but the best driver will still usually win most of the time.
Whether you think that's a good thing or not will definitely affect how you like Mario Kart 8, especially if you play a lot of local multiplayer.
Our Mario Kart 8 review will continue with Part 2, a discussion of the tracks and Battle Mode, Part 3, which looks at online multiplayer, and Part 4, which gets a little nitpicky on the UI.
