No Holds Barred Review: Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)

Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the No Holds Barred review of the latest game to join the Mario Kart franchise. I’m the Guardian, and this is Mario Kart 8.

            Now it was only a matter of time before Nintendo started to roll out the big guns in order to save the floundering WiiU system, and one has to admit that out of all of them Mario Kart is one of the biggest, but a question still remains. Is Mario Kart 8 a good game?

            Starting with the single player we see a new, shinier, interface and few changes here and there. For instance, Nintendo have done away with the “Coin Battle Mode” from 7 and instead elected for a “Vs Mode” that allows you to set up races with custom rules, not a bad idea if you want to learn the tracks though admittedly it seems a bit redundant for the single player side of the game as you would think that the ‘Time Trials Mode’ would suffice in that instance. The changes don’t just end there however as the old ‘Balloon Battle Mode’ has also changed and, in my opinion, not particularly for the better. Now historically, the balloon battle mode in Mario Kart has always taken place in an arena map of some kind and as many would testify, this was a good way of having things. Not for Nintendo though it seems a they have decided to do away with this in favour of dumping you into a normal track (from the racing modes) and sending you off from a random start point to hunt down your opponents which, if anything, has just turned the formally fast paced balloon battle mode into nothing more than a 3 minute slog as you try to hunt down opponents on a map that is just far too big and complex to warrant any fast paced action.

            Thankfully though this seems to be the only place that Nintendo has fiddled with in any big way as the ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘Time Trial’ modes play out just as they have always done. ‘Time Trial’ allows you to race and learn the courses while setting lap times to show off to your mates with and ‘Grand Prix’ allows for you to choose a kart and cup to race for, basically your standard racing game campaign mode, and just like always it’s still as fun as ever and if you fancy giving yourself a real challenge then you can crank the difficulty up to 150cc (hard) or, if you’ve unlocked it, 150cc Mirror (very hard).

            As for the graphics of the game, all I can say is that not only are the graphics stunning but there is also a massive leap in quality when compared to Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7 - though this is not surprising due to power differences of the WiiU compared Wii and 3DS. Also, from the looks of things, Nintendo have gone with a new, glossier, art style, for game and though at the same time; not only does it keep the classic Mario look and feel but also shows that the WiiU, though vastly underpowered compared to its competitors, can still make brilliant looking games, and that’s only counting the big stuff. Playing though the game, if you look past all the shiny stuff in the foreground, you can see that Nintendo has also put effort into all the little touches throughout the game as well such as weather, lighting and some particle effects, as well as adding spectators to stand by some of the tracks, watching the karts race. All in all, a very strong effort on Nintendo’s part and the art team for the game should be very pleased with themselves because of it.

            The graphics aren’t the only place that Mario Kart 8 amazes however as the sound work on the game is also just as staggering. With more orchestral scores than before and a limited use of Midi work Mario Kart 8 host’s one of the greatest sound tracks I have heard on a game to date, easily beating Child of Light by a solid margin. This level of quality is also upheld with the sound assets of the game…though if I’m truthfully honest I’m still unsure as to just how much of these assets have be recorded fresh for the game and how many are simply old assets being reused. Either way though the game still sounds great with each asset and soundtrack working brilliantly well with each track aspect of gameplay. Speaking of which…

            …The gameplay for Mario Kart 8 is just as strong as ever, if not a little more so and though I can’t make any firm statements as to the legitimacy it, to me it feels like Nintendo have tightened up the controls a little bit and made them more fluid, more immediate. Weather I’m imagining it or not though, the way the game controls is very nicely done and the implementation of the Arial, underwater and anti-gravity mechanics have also been done very well and flow seamlessly into the rest of the gameplay though I can’t help but feel that the anti-gravity sections don’t feel as impactful as they should have otherwise been as the game still plays out the same as if you are on a normal section of tack, minus the slight drift to the left or right when you’re driving on a wall that is, but other than that the gameplay is still strong, still a lot of fun and changed or not I still find myself loving every minute that I’m racing…well that is until a blue shell blows me up right on the finishing line and the reptilian gitt Bowser takes my first place position!!!...bloody blue shells...hate them.

            My complaints about the exploding blue menaces aside however, we also see new plethora of track designs in the Original cup series (Mushroom, Fire Flower, Star and Special) as well as many redesigns of classic tracks in the Retro cup series (Shell, Banana, Leaf and Lighting) as well as 2 remixed of rainbow road and faster recovery when you those unfortunate moments of falling of the track during a race. Also, to top it all off we also have 6 new drivers joining the ranks (leaving us with 30 playable characters in all), though it should be known that you only start off with a handful of the classic Mario characters and unlock more as to play the games grand prix mode. And finally, to top it all off, 4 new items have been added to the game in the form of the boomerang flower, super horn, piranha plant and the one time item unique to Mario Kart 8 in the form of the ’8’ item that generates 8 different item at the same time – though I should stress that these items can only be used one at a time, they don’t all fire simultaneously…as fun as that would be to see.

            Also, in addition to all this, we see the return of the cart customization mechanic from Mario Kart 7 (3DS) that allows you to build your own karts and bikes before you enter the track select screen, in turn allowing you to make the best kart/bike you can (in conjunction to the stats of your chosen racer) before putting it to the test in one of the games online or offline modes. That being said however, much like the characters of the game, you are only given a small handful of parts to start off with an unlock more through collecting coins in the games online and offline modes. Also, mentioning the bikes, it seems that Nintendo have balanced the bikes a bit more since Mario Kart Wii as they don’t seem to be as overpowered as they used to be…though once again, this may just be my mind playing tracks on me so I recommend you take that point with a pinch of salt.

            Lastly, before I move onto my final thoughts and verdict of this game at any rate, we have the games multiplayer which, quite literally, plays out exactly like the games single player only you race and/or battle against friends and other living people instead of the games AI.

That being said though; I’m by no means giving the multiplayer a free pass as there are a couple of niggles that I believe should be pointed out. Firstly the servers seem to have a tendency to destabilise at times, dropping connection when transitioning between races and freezing the game for a moment or two when a new race starts. Secondly the matchmaking doesn’t seem particularly balanced at the moment and has a tendency to lead into instance where you’re pretty much in a trial by fire situation attempt to hold your own against some very experienced players – though admittedly, this can lead to some very fun races. So yes, the multiplayer is strong and a lot of fun to play

…now if only they hadn’t ruined balloon battle for me.

            And there we have it people. As for my final thoughts of the matter, Mario Kart 8 is a lot of fun with great graphics and a brilliant soundtrack and though I can’t be 100% sure on whether the gameplay has been re-balanced I can be certain that it’s been implemented exceedingly well and adds the overall strength of the game. The game modes are all good, both offline and online, and though I have my misgivings, as I’m sure many Mario Kart fans probably do, about the removal of the arena maps for the Balloon Battle mode I can also concede that it is far from bad and even though it’s not my particular cup of tea, I can still see many people having a great time with it in the online mode. Bottom line, if you have a WiiU and you like racing games, I can’t recommend this game enough. Would I recommend you rush out and buy a WiiU right this instant to play it however? Probably not as at this point in time I still believe that the WiiU’s library is still a touch to light and though there are some really good games out for it already, one of which you get free with every new copy of Mario Kart 8 you register with Nintendo by the way, I’d still recommend that you lay off the system for a little longer - or at least until nearer to Christmas when Nintendo releases the new Smash Bros.

            Lastly, in the instances that you wish to purchase this game, Mario Kart 8 is available from GAME and other leading retailers for £40 - £50 or from Amazon for £39, or your regional equivalent.

And with all that said and done it’s time for me to give my Final Verdict. I hereby give Mario Kart 8 a solid score of… 

7/10

(Great Game)

And with that Ladies and Gentlemen, all that’s left for me to say is a deep thank you to you all for reading. I’m the Guardian, stay safe out there and may we meet again.