Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo Wii U)

Popular with the person it was.bought for

This game has some nice features i.e. graphics and race tracks (thanks to the DLC) but theyre all ultimately undone by a diabolical item system. First of all the new items are not very well conceived. Previous Mario Kart games weapons worked on a kind of Rock, Paper, Scissors concept where all weapons had others that they were stronger than and those they were weaker than i.e the Giant Mushroom which crushed everything in its path except the Invincibility Star which couldnt be defeated but could be outraced by the golden mushroom etc. Also the Cloud was an ingenious concept that makes you go a little faster and able to shortcut over grass but ultimately will shrink you unless you bump into someone else to pass it on before it strikes. This clever weaponry interplay made previous Mario Karts utterly compelling. MK8s weapon system however is simplistic and arbitrary, the boomerang gives off no warning system, theres no defence against the plant nor the fireballs and the Crazy 8 is just a shambles. And making the utterly useless coin an item just rubs salt in its gaping wound. Only the Super Horn is a mildly interesting addition. Ultimately however its the inconsistency of weapon distribution that is its greatest downfall. Any Mario Kart game that gives someone in 2nd place a Bullet Bill and someone in 12th place a single mushroom is not worth seriously playing. This utter randomness in item distribution means that Mario Kart is much less a game of tactics and much more of luck as you can no longer make strategic decisions based on race position. This is the games fatal flaw which reduces it from one of white-knuckle thrill, intensity and excitement to one of chaos, frustration, and ultimately indifference. *********** Update - Nov 2015: Earlier this month I got too bored to play MK8 anymore. I was delighted to discover however that, despite Nintendo switching off their online server for Mario Kart Wii (in March 2014 to correspond with the release of MK8), a group of IT supernerds have been able to patch the game in order for it to be played online on a different server. It requires installing Homebrew on your Wii and loading the patch but its very simple and the instructions are all on YouTube (just search How to Play Wii online after WFC shutdown). I did it and it works perfectly. There is also already quite a large online community of MKWii racers so you shouldnt find yourself without a group of people to race against at any given time. So if theres any of you like me who has become utterly bored of MK8 and misses the thrill of the far superior MKWii, then I encourage you to do the same and come join the fun!

Excellent

Best mario kart ever. And you can play as link Best mario kart ever. Fun game

One of the few reasons to own a WiiU. Great alone or with friends.

Not a patch on the Wii version. Better graphics but theres a few things that let the game down.

Mariokart at its finest and continues to be the best party game ever. Amazing. Worth buying a wii u just to play this.

Fantastic game and arrived on time! I bought it as an anniversiary gift for my boyfriend as we could play it together :) both of us LOVE this game and with our busy lifestyles it fits right in as a quick game we can pick up and put down whenever we like. Our favourite part is the online races :) Theyre much more challenging as youre against other people instead of the computer AI which I find is too easy to beat even on the hardest settings/tracks, but online its a lot more fun and hard! Overall am a very happy player :)

yet another brilliant karting game starring mario

Theres nothing distinctively wrong with the game and it repairs most mario Kart gripes (especially if u fall off the track, Lakitu puts u back on track in 2 seconds, in Mario Kart 64, it can easily take over 10 seconds But it works both ways, theres no major thing that stands out the game, Double Dash has the gimmick of 2 drivers per cart In this game, theres the anti-gravity in each level which looks stunning but doesnt actually affect the gameplay much The HD especially in the replays is sooooooo satisfying Over all a solid game The DLC are worth it (8 levels so far, 8 more on the way, 1 level is the worst level in the whole game but the other 7 are great, ESPECIALLY the original Rainbow Road)