Of all the new Mario titles on show at Nintendo’s hands-on event the one that caught my attention the most was Mario Kart 8. I’d started to fall out of love with the Mario Kart series with Double Dash, before finally writing it off with the release of Mario Kart Wii. To me the series had grown stale, desperately chasing after its glory days like a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, so I was genuinely interested in seeing what a current gen iteration could do to update the franchise. Once again it seemed like Nintendo where trying to rely on cheap gimmicks to make us part with our cash, and once again my cynicism was proved to be unfounded. Mario Kart 8 is shaping up great.
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Reviewed on: Wii U
• Release Date: April 2014
There were three tracks being demoed, all showing a great degree of variety and the imaginative design that the series is known for. The first I tried was the standard Mushroom Kingdom course, and even though the track was new the setting and backdrops gave it an air of familiarity that made me feel right at home, even after such a long break from the series. The next course I raced through was set in a city that was essentially what San Francisco would look like if it was moved to the Mushroom Kingdom; there were lots of hills, lots of cars, and plenty carnage. The final, and by far my favourite track on offer, was a Boo Mansion full of gravity defying short cuts and good old fashioned hazards to avoid. The game looks absolutely stunning, which is no surprise as it’s the first in the series to go HD, and believe me, the visuals and frame rate seriously benefit from the upgraded hardware.
There were twelve racers to chose from including Waluigi and Toadette who were both missing from Mario Kart 7. The return of these guys coupled with return of motor bikes, gliders, and underwater sections sees Mario Kart 8 shaping up to be a real ‘best of’, which is no bad thing for avid fans and new comers alike.
Why would anyone build a city like this?
Seeing as the Mario Kart games are always better when played with friends, I graciously asked the rep on hand to pick up a Wii remote and join me for some two player action. The default control setting was motion control, and so in the name of journalism I attempted a race. Flailing my hands around like a maniac didn’t pay off for me and I was left eating my rivals dust. Thankfully the control set up can be changed with the touch of an icon on the Wii U GamePad between races so for the rest of the demo I was back in the game. I’ve never been a fan of motion controls, and I probably never will be. It’s not that I think they’re bad, they’re just not for me.
Of course this wouldn’t be Mario Kart without a gimmick, which arrives this time round in the form of anti-gravity track. At certain points of the track the Kart’s wheels will turn up under the vehicle Back to the Future style and begin hovering above the track, making the vehicles race along walls and ceilings. The transition is incredibly smooth, and I didn’t notice it had happened until I saw pipes that were originally on the floor coming out of the ceiling, and other bits of scenery in places they really shouldn’t have been. The sensation was as cool as it was bizarre.
Where we’re going, we don’t need… Wait.
A real stand out part of the demo for me was a section during the haunted castle track that saw me racing upside down through a water filled corridor, before bursting out the other side and switching to the glider to return the right way up and gracefully land on the track beneath. It was a fantastic way of showing off several features at once, and if this is just a taste of what’s to come I honestly can’t wait to see what else Nintendo are going to do with these mechanics.
As someone who had abandoned the series several games ago, Mario Kart 8 really surprised me. The element of fun that had been missing for me since the N64 has returned, and even though the game is overflowing with recycled ideas it still manages to feel completely new and refreshing. With the abundance of cart racers on the market at the moment, many of which leave Mario Kart in the dust, Nintendo really have their work cut out for them to make this stand out from the crowd as a quality game and not something that just plays on nostalgia, and from the brief hands on I had with it it seems like they are doing exactly that.
