Review
Played on: Switch
Released: 2017
Released: 2017
Originally released: 2014 (Wii U)
Mario Kart 8 was originally released on the Wii U back in 2014, and is the first of what has become many Wii U ports to the Switch. A nice gesture of Nintendo, as the Wii U's moderate sales delivered some fantastic titles that deserve to be introduced to new Switch owners too. I only played MK8 briefly on a friend's Wii U, so I was glad to pick this up alongside my Switch purchase this year. After all, your Nintendo needs a Mario Kart!
Through the years I've played most of the main MK iterations: MK on the SNES, MK64 on N64, MK Double Dash on the GameCube and MK on Wii. The latter being a disappointment, read about that here, while I have a real soft spot for MK64, the version I've, without doubt, put most hours into. I also have fond memories of Double Dash, coop driving in one car is still a wonderful idea!
Through the years I've played most of the main MK iterations: MK on the SNES, MK64 on N64, MK Double Dash on the GameCube and MK on Wii. The latter being a disappointment, read about that here, while I have a real soft spot for MK64, the version I've, without doubt, put most hours into. I also have fond memories of Double Dash, coop driving in one car is still a wonderful idea!
This time though, alongside the handheld releases, arrived at Mario Kart's eight iteration. This deluxe version of MK8 is upgraded for Switch. Increasing the resolution from 720p to 1080p in docked mode, complete with all track DLC's from the Wii U version. There's a lot of content for value here.
MK8 mixes kart racing, anti-gravity hovering and hangglider gliding on it's generous amount of tracks. While I enjoy the hanggliding jumps, the anti-gravity stuff looks a bit gimmicky. I get how it's necessary to make MK8's insane track designs work though, often you're racing vertically, upside down or in cork screws.
It makes for some incredibly clever track designs, but adds nothing to the actual gameplay and seeing the car hover makes the feeling of actually cruising on tarmac a little weird for me. Nonetheless, switching from racing on wheels to anti-gravity is nothing you'll notice in the controls.
Like I mentioned, there are tons of tracks to race in this deluxe version, taking inspiration from typical Mario locations, old MK classics are remade too. Each track sports a colourful and beautiful design with a ton of small details along the track sides and in the backgrounds.
The charming visuals add to the track detail too, almost Pixar-like in animation cuteness and detail. All the characters you can choose and their animations when they hit someone, or crash, is high quality. Making replays running in slow motion hilarious. This combination of charming CGI-like characters and detailed fantasy worlds, further shows how great the visual artists at Nintendo are with limited hardware power. The end result is very pretty.
I really appreciate that it runs 60fps too, helping it keep the picture crisp and smooth. A high framerate is always positive for a racer with a lot of fast moving objects and keeping the controls tight and responsive. The 60fps is retained for the two player splitscreen, but drops to 30 if you're playing three or four players. Splitting the screen four times and dropping to 30 with all that track detail and effects going on though, makes for a little cluttered and limited view.
Like I mentioned, there are tons of tracks to race in this deluxe version, taking inspiration from typical Mario locations, old MK classics are remade too. Each track sports a colourful and beautiful design with a ton of small details along the track sides and in the backgrounds.
The charming visuals add to the track detail too, almost Pixar-like in animation cuteness and detail. All the characters you can choose and their animations when they hit someone, or crash, is high quality. Making replays running in slow motion hilarious. This combination of charming CGI-like characters and detailed fantasy worlds, further shows how great the visual artists at Nintendo are with limited hardware power. The end result is very pretty.
I really appreciate that it runs 60fps too, helping it keep the picture crisp and smooth. A high framerate is always positive for a racer with a lot of fast moving objects and keeping the controls tight and responsive. The 60fps is retained for the two player splitscreen, but drops to 30 if you're playing three or four players. Splitting the screen four times and dropping to 30 with all that track detail and effects going on though, makes for a little cluttered and limited view.
Although I feel this title is a must-buy for the system, especially as a title to bring out for multiplayer, I have issues with it. The first is related to the amount of weapons. There's just too many types, making them blend into a jumble of randomness. I felt MK64 had more strategy to it's distinct and minimalist weapon set. The wheel and chassis options complete with stupid stats seem like a meaningless idea pulled over from a simulator racer. Do we really need anything else but small, medium and large characters in a game where you're racing a koopa in moo-moo farm?
Battle mode is once again terrible. All the strategy and a feeling of competitive multiplayer deathmatch is taken away as you respawn infinitely and drive stupid circuit inspired arenas in a chaotic mess. Once again MK64's balance in battle was perfect with specific battle levels built for the purpose of battling. That a said, the cops and robbers mode works fairly well on the battle levels!
The main campaign progress feels a little checkbox orientated with little other incentive to complete them. Sure, you get a gold cup icon and car parts, but it's just ticking off a list of cups where you're forced to win every race within a cup to get a perfect run and it rapidly becomes repetitive. The 200cc option added to this deluxe version seems like a broken mess too, it runs too quickly compared to what the driving physics and tracks are designed for.
I'm left loving the visuals, the driving and the large amount of race circuits, cars and characters, but there are issues I have with the weaponry, the cheap A.I., the checkbox nature of the campaign and the broken battle mode. Like MK Wii, the lack of options hurt the game from making a deeper singleplayer and coop experience. There aren't even proper team racing options other than joining a red and blue team. Why?
Battle mode is once again terrible. All the strategy and a feeling of competitive multiplayer deathmatch is taken away as you respawn infinitely and drive stupid circuit inspired arenas in a chaotic mess. Once again MK64's balance in battle was perfect with specific battle levels built for the purpose of battling. That a said, the cops and robbers mode works fairly well on the battle levels!
The main campaign progress feels a little checkbox orientated with little other incentive to complete them. Sure, you get a gold cup icon and car parts, but it's just ticking off a list of cups where you're forced to win every race within a cup to get a perfect run and it rapidly becomes repetitive. The 200cc option added to this deluxe version seems like a broken mess too, it runs too quickly compared to what the driving physics and tracks are designed for.
I'm left loving the visuals, the driving and the large amount of race circuits, cars and characters, but there are issues I have with the weaponry, the cheap A.I., the checkbox nature of the campaign and the broken battle mode. Like MK Wii, the lack of options hurt the game from making a deeper singleplayer and coop experience. There aren't even proper team racing options other than joining a red and blue team. Why?
I'm complaining quite a bit here and don't get me wrong it's an excellent Mario Kart, it's just could go much further in making available options to tailor a better experience for the long haul. All we get are repetitive cups over and over in a grid, that have to be played five times over in 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, backwards, and if you want to punish yourself with a broken mess: 200cc. It's a shallow layout for such a high budget title.
I recommend it nevertheless, as it delivers in even better form what we expect and have gotten used to from a MK title, especially for multiplayer races. If you're happy with the simplified choices and copy paste layout, then MK8 will be wonderful.
