Review #5 - Mario Kart 8

Hello there!

Welcome to Hedgehog Reviews, where I, Thomas, review the latest and greatest Nintendo games, movies, and very rarely TV shows and comics series. Last month, in June, I reviewed Lego Marvel Super Heroes, for Wii U. It was a good month... 'June'-o what I mean? Today, I will be reviewing a game you've likely heard of. It's the latest instalment in what is probably the greatest videogame racing series ever... Mario Kart 8, also for Wii U!

Many of us are fond of our Mario Kart memories, even those who don't play videogames any more. Whether you remember overtaking the racer in second place just before the finish line, perfectly aiming a green shell at player two, or even discovering a hidden shortcut that none of your friends knew about, Mario Kart is a game series that played a big part in a lot of people's childhoods, gamers and non-gamers. I remember my first time playing a game in the series; I was about seven, and I was playing Mario Kart DS in Woolworths, a UK media store that unfortunately closed down several years ago... I loved Woolworths :'(. I remember the exact track I was playing: Yoshi Falls. Man, that music was catchy. It's not surprising that I have bought every game in the series that came out since, and have even managed to download some of the older ones that came out before that on my 3DS.

And now it's time for... Trivia Fact of the Month! 
The main games in the Mario Kart series so far are Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992), Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1996), Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA, 2001), Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Gamecube, 2003), Mario Kart DS (DS, 2005), Mario Kart Wii (Wii, 2008), Mario Kart 7 (3DS, 2011) and Mario Kart 8 (Wii U, 2014). There are also three Mario Kart arcade games, called Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005), Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007) and Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (2013). The arcade games, however, aren't very well known, and are not considered part of the main game series. 

Anyway, back to the present. Mario Kart 8 is an enthralling, beautiful, multiplayer-tastic game, mixing Formula One with the world of Super Mario; you'll find yourself skidding down (or up, depending on if you're in Anti-Gravity mode, which I'll get into later) a track full of shortcuts and loop-de-loops, when all of a sudden -- BOOM! -- a red shell hits the back of your vehicle. It truly does feel like you're participating in an actual race, but with an added dimension of fun and things that wouldn't actually happen in real life.

The five main game modes include Single Player,
Multiplayer, Online (One Player), Online (Two
Players) and Mario Kart TV.

The first big thing you'll notice about the game, and practically the first thing that was announced about it, is the new 'Anti-Gravity mode', more commonly known as 'Anti-Grav'. It really is a spectacular new feature, that allows the player to steer their vehicle up walls, and onto ceilings. The game actually allows you to skid along the ceiling of a level as you watch your friends racing below you. To be able to drive up walls and ceilings, you must enter Anti-Grav mode, which is extremely simple: just drive over a blue panel on the floor then go where you like. This new option adds a lot of choice as to where to go during levels, and can help you discover well-hidden shortcuts.

New items in the series include the Super Horn, which serves as a way to evade the long-hated blue shell (no more cursing loudly and hurling controllers at the TV) and can also defend against many other items too. The piranha plant item has a similar use as its role in Super Mario 3D World. It bites enemy racers that you pass, making them stumble for a moment, like in 3D World where it bites enemies when you get close to them. The coin item simply adds two extra coins to your total (more on that in a minute), whereas the Crazy Eight item gives you eight items all at once! It's a follow on to Mario Kart 7's 'Lucky Seven', which gave you seven items. The final new item is the Boomerang Flower, based on the item from Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World. It flies forward, hitting any racers in its path, then flies back towards you, again hitting any racers in its path, meaning there are lots of chances to hit other racers.

Bikes also return from the much-loved Mario
Kart Wii. 

Like MK7, MK8 allows you to unlock new vehicle parts (main bodies, wheels, and gliders) by collecting coins. Collecting these coins is simple; there are many coins scattered around courses. The maximum amount of coins you cab gather in one course is ten. You lose coins if you are hit. Getting a certain amount of coins altogether in the game will bag you a new vehicle part, which will always be random. If you want all vehicle parts, you're going to have to collect a LOT of coins.

The game hosts thirty-two tracks to race upon, as previous games in the series do. There are eight cups, each with four tracks, and the first four cups all contain new tracks, meaning there are a whole sixteen new courses to explore and familiarize yourself with. The other four cups all contain tracks from old games that everyone knows and loves, but have been modified and updated to include the new Anti-Grav feature. For example, a track from an old game in the series (Mario Kart DS) called Wario Stadium now has a section where you drive up a piece of track at a crazy angle. Wario Stadium now has an underwater and gliding section too; the previous game in the series, Mario Kart 7, added the ability to race underwater and through the air. The feature returns in this game, also adding to old tracks along with the Anti-Grav.

There is a very wide selection of characters to play as ranging from Waluigi, that creepy purple spider-like guy creep that my friend is scared of, to Donkey Kong (no Diddy Kong, sadly), to... Pink Gold Peach. I'll never understand why they added this character. Plus, for the first time ever, you can race as the Koopalings, Bowser's seven... children? They consist of Larry, Roy, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, Ludwig and Morton.

Time trials allows you to race against the ghosts of people who work at Nintendo. If you manage to beat them (which, by the way, is extremely hard) you are rewarded with a stamp you can add to posts on Miiverse. Online mode is also great allowing you and a friend to play against other players over the internet. You may end up in a match with people from England, America, Japan, and many other countries. Mario Kart TV lets you share you replays across the world, and you can even upload them to Youtube.

The game is just plane beautiful.

Like always, the music in the game is spectacular, and it was all recorded live. The courses returning from old games have remixed music, some of my favourites being Tick Tock Clock (MKDS) and Piranha Plant Pipeway (MK7). The new music is also as good; just check out Thwomp Ruins (which everyone agrees has a section that sounds a lot like the song Jump On It), Electrodrome and Cloudtop Cruise.

The graphics look beautiful, and being the first Mario Kart game in HD, everything is wonderful and shiny, like Super Mario 3D World. It's great to be able to watch replays of you and your friends racing in gorgeous HD, especially since the game adds the feature to speed up, slow down and rewind these replays, meaning that you can now see Daisy slip on that banana you threw in slow motion.

One of the only things about Mario Kart 8, and all Mario Kart games for me really, that deprives the game of being even better than it already is, is that for me Mario Kart gets a little boring after a while. Maybe it's because I've been playing it so much, but the games seem to get a bit stale and repetitive after a while. It's probably just me though, because my friends who have the game are still constantly playing it over 6 weeks after the game's release. It depends on how you feel about it, really.

Now, believe it or not, if you buy this game before the end of July 2014 (which I did) you can actually get a free game that would normally cost £40-£50! You can choose out of 10 games in the UK but only 4 in the US (Nintendo are being really kind to the UK lately). My friend recommended I choose a game called The Wonderful 101, so I did. I'm so glad I did. So, I'll be reviewing that next time, on September 15th (I'm not going to do an August review, because I want some time to rest and I don't want my writing to become boring and stale). Hope to see you then.

Goodbye for now.

Overall Score: 93% 

+ Lots of game modes 
+ Fantastic music and graphics 
+ Lots to collect 
- Game can feel a bit boring after a while