I first got to play Mario Kart 8 at Play Expo Manchester in October 2013 and I thought it was absolutely fantastic, still a lot has changed since then. The level they let us race around was Mario Circuit and since Play Expo they've redesigned a lot of that track, thrown in a bunch of new weapons and greatly improved the handling of the vehicles. Mario Kart 8's most distinguishing aspect however, is the newly introduced anti-gravity feature which has literally turned the series upside down.
When your vehicle crosses over a glowing blue strip you'll be able to race across walls and ceilings, offering a whole new dimension to Mario Kart and allowing for some sneaky yet inventive shortcuts. It is truly a sight to behold seeing anti-gravity in action for the first time, I even felt a little travel sick as the scenery twisted before my eyes, but it was still awesome and proved that Nintendo aren't afraid to be creative with their old franchises.
The game has 16 brand new tracks, plus redesigns of 16 retro favourites, and there's some memorable gems in amongst them. Mount Wario finds you and your rivals dropped from a plane and racing down a snow covered mountain, dashing through caves and ski-slopes, it's probably the best constructed track of any in the whole series. The track that caught my attention though, was Bowser's Castle. The castle of the dreaded King of Koopa's was always my treasured theme as a kid, and Nintendo left me in awe of the truly bonkers yet terrifying version that appears in Mario Kart 8. I'm not saying any more on that, I urge you to try it for yourself.
The biggest upset for many fans however, is the Battle mode. This was the main reason why I enjoy Mario Kart games because this is what sets them apart from other racing titles, but the battle mode in Mario Kart 8 feels cheap, lazy and tacked on. There are no dedicated arenas for battling in as Nintendo have simply recycled the tracks from the Grand Prix mode, which are nowhere near as enjoyable as having dedicated arena levels. It feels like a wasted opportunity as the battle mode could have really made use of the anti-gravity feature, a huge sphere-like structure would have been excellent where everyone could have had an apocalyptic green shell duel, but alas it's not there, so hopefully Nintendo will create some appropriate Battle Mode levels in an update.
The multiplayer however, is just as fun as ever with support for up to four players locally and twelve players online. Mario Kart 8 also includes a great tournament mode where you can compete with players across the globe. Caution: tournaments are extremely competitive and not for the faint of heart, unless you're prepared to be ruthless you'll be tasting the bittersweet red shell of defeat.
There's also the opportunity to share your glories, or failures, with the world using MKTV. At the end of each race you'll be shown a 30 second highlight reel that you can upload to Miiverse, Youtube or both. It's a nice little feature that's proving very popular with fans, you can find my first of many Mario Kart 8 highlights on my Youtube channel.
Mario Kart 8 is certainly a fine entry in the longstanding series, while providing a much needed boost to the Wii U's game catalogue. There's plenty of content available here to keep you and your friends entertained for hours...then again, after a few races and spiked shells you may not be friends for much longer, but it won't stop you from wanting to race just one more time.
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