Nelson Schneider's Game Review of Mario Kart 8

Like Infinity, 8 is a Never Ending Loop
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/25/14

Kart racing is really the only kind of racing videogame I enjoy. ‘Mario Kart’ is the granddaddy of the genre, bringing low-realism, antics-filled racing to the masses way back on the SNES. While the franchise has been hit-and miss, not to mention the copycats produced in emulation of the ‘Mario Kart’ style, I still find myself pining for a new entry in the series every few years or so. After “Mario Kart: Double Dash!!” and “Mario Kart Wii” blew away my expectations for the series, adding fun new mechanics and refining old mechanics to a razor edge, “Mario Kart 8” had some big shoes to fill.

Presentation
“Mario Kart 8” has a flawless presentation. The fully-polygonal graphics engine looks as sharp and clean as possible, plus everything is extremely well animated. The modern re-dos of older ‘Mario Kart’ tracks are especially welcome.

The soundtrack is likewise excellent. Character voices are as expected (though the fact that Rosalina (of “Super Mario Galaxy” fame) now sounds like a Valley Girl is a bit off-putting), and the soundtrack is a glorious blend of new tunes and remixes.

Story
“Mario Kart 8,” like every other game in the franchise – and indeed every other racing game in general – doesn’t have anything resembling an ongoing narrative. The game is about racing for racing’s sake. Of course, after 8 entries in the franchise, racing for racing’s sake is beginning to get a bit old. It would be nice if there was some kind of story mode that went beyond racing in a 4-track Grand Prix, but at this point in time, I don’t think Nintendo is concerned about actually improving their products anymore.

Gameplay
The main draw of the ‘Mario Kart’ franchise has always been the relatively laid-back pace of the 50cc difficulty races that gradually ramps up through the 100cc difficulty until it reaches a balls-to-the-wall fervor in the 150cc and Mirror Mode difficulties. In this respect, “Mario Kart 8” hasn’t changed in the slightest.

What has changed is several significant additions and omissions. Most of the additions aren’t exactly ‘new’ to ‘Mario Kart’ as a whole, but have never appeared on a non-handheld entry in the series until now. Specifically, the ability to customize a racer and actually see their stats as they change with character selection as well as vehicle type, chassis, tires, and glider. I thoroughly appreciated this new addition, as it allowed me to finally branch out from my series-spanning obsession with lightweight characters. For the first time in ‘Mario Kart’ history, I was able to find success and entertainment using characters from every weight class (even the heavyweights, whom I normally despise). “Mario Kart 8” actually expands the weight class selection a bit, including ‘babyweights,’ lightweights, mediumweights, cruiserweights, and heavyweights (plus metalized versions of Mario and Peach that get their own special ‘metalweight’ class).

Of course, the addition of the thoroughly handicapped ‘babyweight’ class means that an unhealthy amount of space in the character roster is clogged with worthless baby versions of other characters. Some other favorite characters, like Dry Bones and King Boo, are MIA in favor of adding the entire set of Koopalings.

Like its predecessor, “Mario Kart Wii,” “Mario Kart 8” allows for a variety of control schemes, including motion-based steering; traditional controller-style play on the GamePad, Classic Controller, or Pro Controller; and a motion-exempt take on the Wiimote+Nunchuck. I started playing “Mario Kart 8” using the GamePad, but later switched back to the Wiimote+Nunchuck simply because the latter is smaller and more ergonomic (plus the battery life is better). Unfortunately, in some weird balancing attempt, Nintendo removed the best feature of the Wiimote+Nunchuck interface, which was popping wheelies on bikes for a speed boost on straightaways. In “Mario Kart 8,” the only real difference between bikes, quads (essentially ATVs), and karts in the angle at which they drift (thus, I still found myself drawn exclusively to bikes, specifically The Comet).

The most confounding things removed from “Mario Kart 8” that existed in previous entries are an on-screen map, posted times for races, and Battle Mode specific arenas. While I don’t mourn the loss of Battle Mode arenas (considering I rarely touched that mode in any game outside the original “Super Mario Kart”) and the placement of Battle Mode encounters on normal racetracks, the other two omissions just feel like humongous oversights in a game that, despite its quirkiness is still a RACING game at its heart. The on-screen map, which once allowed all players in a local game to keep tabs on the locations of other racers and the layout of the track, has now migrated to the WiiU GamePad screen. Looking down at the screen on one’s lap while in the middle of a frantic race is just asking for disaster, so I honestly can’t say is ever came in handy and may as well have been completely removed for as little use as it served. Indeed, the only time the GamePad screen map ever saw use was when I was playing some single-player with a Wiimote+Nunchuck and had someone else pick-up the GamePad (it keeps doing its thing whether it is being used or not) and serve as a rally-style navigator by verbally keeping me appraised of the race’s condition. The lack of times displayed at the end of a Grand Prix makes it very difficult to tell how well the player is doing in comparison to the AI racers. While times are still displayed and recorded in Time Trial mode, they have always been an important metric of performance in EVERY mode.

What else has been added to the game? Not a whole lot! Well, at least not a whole lot of good. The tracks in “Mario Kart 8” are more physically impossible than in previous entries (as if physics even applies in the Mushroom Kingdom), thus ever track features at least one anti-grav section where the vehicles’ wheels change into magnetic hover-plates. Unfortunately, the vehicles’ handling also changes completely in these sections, not to mention the fact that bouncing into other racers can provide unpredictable speed BOOSTS instead of slowdowns on these segments of track. I really hated the different handling in the zero-g sections, and the fact that the ‘new’ Rainbow Road track is almost ALL anti-grav makes it one of the worst Rainbow Roads in the history of the franchise.

The GamePad also features a giant horn icon that is apparently designed for toddlers to mash, since honking the horn can also be accomplished by hitting the Use Item button without an item in reserve. Speaking of items, “Mario Kart 8” vehemently enforces the ‘one item at a time’ rule, preventing skilled players from dragging one item behind their vehicle to act as a shield while keeping another in reserve. Most of the power-up items are rehashes of older ones, with a few new additions. The Boomerang Flower provides three boomerangs to throw (which are horribly difficult to hit anything with), the Fire Flower provides a large number of fireballs (I counted 9) that can be lobbed in rapid succession, the Piranha Plant sits on the vehicle’s front bumper and attacks nearby enemies on its own while simultaneously providing lurching (unpredictable and useless) miniboosts with each lunge, and the Infinite 8, which provides a circle of 8 different ‘classic’ items that rotate around the vehicle and can be triggered by the player when they are in front of the vehicle.

The final item to make a return (after a mercifully long absence) is Coins, which both litter the tracks and can (far too frequently) appear from item boxes. In the SNES original, getting Coins from an item box yielded two of them, while in “Mario Kart 8” item box Coins are singular… plus they usually clutter up the item slots for players at the front of the pack, who probably already have their maximum capacity of 10 Coins and would much prefer a Banana or even one of the absent Fake Item Boxes. Of course, like they did in the original “Super Mario Kart,” Coins increase the player’s top speed ever so slightly, and are taken away in groups of three whenever a player is hit by an item or rescued from falling off the track. The only situation in which Coins aren’t completely annoying is in Time Trial mode, where collecting the maximum amount early in the race is a key strategy in defeating the Staff Ghosts.

Other than those changes, “Mario Kart 8” is the same old ‘Mario Kart’ we’ve been playing and replaying for 22 years now. Nintendo didn’t even bother to up the ante by including more (read: all) of the older tracks in the newest entry. Instead, we simply get 16 new tracks and a selection of 16 ‘classic’ tracks. After playing Kart Racing games like “ModNation Racers” (despite its horribly cheap and difficult AI), I can’t help but feel that “Mario Kart 8’s” lack of more ‘classic’ tracks and/or some kind of track designer/editor makes the game feel a bit light on content. Sure, replaying the same races over and over and over and over in order to score gold trophies AND get at least a One Star (out of a possible Three Stars) rating is time consuming, but I would much rather spend that same amount of time racing on new and different tracks with less outrageously-cheating AI competition.

Overall
“Mario Kart 8” is another solid entry in the storied progenitor of the Kart Racing genre. However, ‘solid’ is really all that can be said about it. While there are no particularly egregious flaws, the number of small omissions and undesirable changes, combined with an overall small amount of content (compared to other modern Kart Racing games) doesn’t help “Mario Kart 8” stand out as an exemplar of its franchise or its genre. WiiU owners will obviously want to grab a copy of this game in order to have something new to tide them over this summer.

Presentation: 5/5
Story: N/A
Gameplay: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5