Developer: Nintendo
Publisher:
Nintendo
Genre: Racer
Platforms: Wii
U
Age Rating: 3+
(PEGI)
When I got my Nintendo Wii U, I bought a copy of Sonic &
All Stars Racing Transformed to go with it. I’d learnt people involved in
making games such as Split/Second, Blur and one of my favourite racing games of
all time, Project Gotham Racing 4, had migrated to Sumo Digital after their old
studios had been unceremoniously shut down by Disney and Activision
respectively.
In Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, Sumo Digital
made a fantastic kart racer that was imaginative, balanced and varied which was
not only a lot of fun, but good enough to challenge the all-time master of the
kart racing genre; Mario Kart itself.
Mario Kart 8 has a lot to live up to, not least of all as
many people still need a reason to actually buy a Wii U. Can Mario Kart 8 live up
to the enormous challenge before it?
Some people come out with the same criticism every time.
‘Oh, it’s just the same old Mario Kart again’ they cry ‘Nintendo are out of
ideas and doomed!’ they continue to bark before going off to play the latest Call
of Duty, blissfully unaware of the irony.
Mario Kart 8 is very definitely Mario Kart. You don’t
expect staggering revolution from this series, but it never fails to add new
ideas while refining existing ones and, as always, Nintendo shows they’re the
masters of the craft.
There a significant change in Mario Kart 8, along with an
interesting addition that gives you extra to think about. First and most
importantly, while items play the usual huge role in the chaotic races, they’re
now slightly less vital as you can only ever hold one at a time. Gone are the
days of holding two bananas so you can lay a trap behind one set of item boxes
and still have something to defend yourself against a possible red shell. Now,
that item box trapping is an active risk as you’ll go without any defences until
the next set of items. Also, items such as triple shells and bananas have
larger vulnerable spots so you’re never completely safe.
The items themselves have undergone a lot of tweaking and
balancing as well, with a few unnecessary items such as the POW Block being
removed while a savoir to all those who hate the blue shell has been added in
the form of the Super Horn, which creates a shock wave around the user that
destroys everything. There’s also a Boomerang that you can use three times and
a portable Piranha Plant that’ll chomp anything nearby, including opponents,
hazards and even coins.
Coins make a return from Mario Kart 7, increasing your
speed slightly to a maximum of ten, but being dropped when hit by something or
falling off the track. What also makes a return are the gliders and underwater
racing, along with the big new addition in the form of anti-gravity racing.
When you drive over a line on the tracks, your wheels
re-orientate themselves ala Back to the Future and allow you to grip to
surfaces as they loop and warp around. For all intents and purposes, your
racing much as you were on normal wheels (or underwater, for that matter), but
while in anti-gravity mode you can gain additional boosts by either ramming
opponents or hitting what look like Pinball bummers to get a small boost. While
small, they add up over time and can be used to put an opponent in a bad
position or fly off the track.
Nintendo has developed some fantastic tracks to make use
of all the mechanics at their disposal. Like the previous few entries, there’s
sixteen brand new tracks, including the brilliant and sixteen retro tracks
which have all undergone renovations to look their best and, in some cases,
outclass their originals. The retro line up isn’t quite as strong as previous
entries in the series with a surprising number of Mario Kart 7 tracks, but they’re
all fantastically entertaining with standouts such as Yoshi Valley and Royal
Raceway from MK64 and Wario Stadium from MKDS, along with Melody Motorway from
MK7.
There are problems, mind, problems that Sonic & All
Stars Racing Transformed (refered to as SASRT from now on) doesn’t have. The
character roster is somewhat scatter brained in MK8, dropping characters such
as Birdo, Diddy Kong and King Boo in favour of the Kooperlings, Baby Rosalina and, for some
reason, a gold metal Peach. The battle mode has also been somewhat crippled by
the baffling absence of actual arenas with battle games taking place instead on
regular race tracks.
Also, disappointingly, there’s no separate mission mode
as there was in Mario Kart DS and is in SASRT, leaving you with just the Grand
Prix and Time Trail modes to keep your occupied outside of multiplayer.Throughout the single player grand prixs and time trails, you unlock additional characters and vehicle parts as the body/wheel/glider choice combination makes a return from MK7. The parts are unlocked purely at random so it can be annoying when you desperation want one of the motorbikes but keep getting different gliders. The AI seems to have been re-balanced for the grand prixs, still as devious as ever but not quite as cheap as the higher level AI racers in SASRT
Naturally enough, however, multiplayer is where the game
shines, both offline and online. Doing battle with your friends in local four
player games (sadly MK8 doesn’t do five players as SASRT does, instead leaving
the gamepad to duplicate the TV) while the silky smooth online mode supports
full twelve player races, though track selection is a bit awkward with three
randomly chosen tracks to pick from with a random option.
Groups and tournaments can be set up online with custom
rule sets, such as simple things like no items, bikes only and more. These
tournaments can be set to start at certain times and replay themselves over and
over.
Mario Kart 8’s final major feature is MKTV, which will
create and hold onto highlight reels of your last twelve races of any sort, as well as up to six favourites. These reels can
be between thirty and sixty seconds long and automatically re-jig themselves
depending on who you want them to focus on and what sort of action you want
before being uploaded to Miiverse and Youtube (see the video above for some of my own
shenanigans and skillz).
It’s a useful and fun little feature that lets you show
off your best moments, but it’s not quite as flexible as, say, GRiD 2’s replay
cutting feature that allows you to take any chunk of replay you want. It would
be nice to pick and choose your own bits or even upload the entire race, but
it’s not a deal breaker of any sort, especially as the reels can be changed at any time while you have them.
I usually leave graphics until last as they’re not the be
all and end all of a game, contrary to what some people think. That doesn’t
make them unimportant, however, and Mario Kart 8 delivers visual and audio
splendour in spades. The dazzling environments are packed with detail, such as
the town beneath the remake of the N64 Rainbow Road, the dancing Piranha Plants
in the Electrodrome and Shyguys working away in mines on Shyguy Falls, all the
time enjoying a jazzy soundtrack with brilliant renditions of existing tracks
and equally as good original pieces.
All in all, Nintendo’s done it again. It may have a few
flaws and odd omissions, but Mario Kart 8 remains at the top of the genre with
sublime handling, imaginative tracks and straight up fun. For all of you who’ve
been whining that there’s no reason to buy the Wii U, here it is. Stop
complaining and go and buy the damn thing.
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