[section_title title=Introduction]
Introduction
Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 1
Game: Mario Kart 8
Nintendo are responsible for single handedly saving gaming back in the 1980’s, but the last few years they’ve been a little lacklustre. The Wii U was disappointing at launch with the lack of first party games, and the fact Watch Dogs was delayed by months became a huge problem with the console. Recently though the console has picked up massively, with Bayonetta 2 releasing to a great reception, among other titles a little known franchise called Mario Kart released another game… The last game in the series of Kart games disappointed me massively, the fact you depended a lot on motion controls bothered me to no end and ruined the experience for me to the point where it was a game on the Wii I deserted almost at launch. Thankfully with Mario Kart 8 they’ve decided not to depend on motion controls, and to make use of the control pad for directing your kart, and with all that’s been added to the game this makes it a fantastic addition to the console’s catalogue!
I do find that there is a bit of a lack of maps for Mario Kart, even though there are 32 maps, there are 5 difficulty variations which go through the same maps every time. This does make it a little bit repetitive if you have a Wii U and it being one of the few games you have, the fun you have with the game though does cancel out the repetitiveness of it all. The good thing about the DLC for this game though is that each one gives you 3 new characters, 8 tracks, 4 vehicles and 2 cups each, only problem is the fact that there is only two current DLC packs available for Mario Kart 8. The base game does give you hours of fun though, both single player, multiplayer and with friends, me and my partner have spent the bulk of around 30+ hours playing this game so far and having a blast while doing so. It’s also worth pointing out there is a free DLC for Mario Kart 8 that is a Mercedes pack that gives 3 new vehicles, which isn’t the worst DLC given for free!
I would say that this game launched really well, mostly because single player is where a bunch of players would spend lots of their time to begin with. This is because there is a lot to get used to what with gameplay, maps, vehicles, items, etc. I would personally rank this right up there with other racing games, and I think I would even rank this higher than the other Mario Kart games, simply down to the fact that it plays smooth, and even adds some N64 & SNES maps!
