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Nintendo’s Mario kart 8 launches onto the Wii U with beautiful graphics, awesome racing and new elements which make the game feel incredible. However its lack of new game modes and creative characters are disappointing to say the least.

Platforms

3 years after mario kart 7 on the 3ds, The Wii U is graced with one of the best mario kart games to date. Coming exclusively to the Wii U Mario Kart 8 has some of the best graphics the system has to offer and makes the Wii U a console you actually want to own. As the majority of Nintendo’s target audience are younger gamers, having a fun kart racer on their console compared to a serious racing game makes the console even more desirable.

Genre

Mario Kart 8 is an all out kart racer. The game features 8 base cups with 4 races in each cup. Additionally 4 more cups can be purchased in a bundle including for £12.Every track looks amazing and really appeals to fans of Nintendo games. Mission mode sadly doesn't return from Mario Kart DS however having multiple unlockable kart parts and characters can give players an incentive to keep playing the game after completing all of the cups.

Narrative

There is no clear storyline to Mario Kart 8, however all the tracks can provide a story for players. For example you could make up your own story of why the characters are driving around in a theme park. One feature which could have been a narrative styled game mode would have been mission modes returning. However the quality of the game outshines the fact that there is no story as the game is incredibly fun to play locally. The game is also a spin off of the Mario franchise which has a narrative for the characters in the game.

Characters

With 16 characters available at launch, 14 characters to be unlocked and 6 characters available through DLC. Many fan favourites return such as Mario, Bowser and Princess Peach. And the inclusion of some new characters is also nice however some characters such as the repeated baby characters and the koopa kids are annoying as some other characters from the mario franchise such as Nabbit would have been good additions to the game. The game however does boast the largest roster of characters in any Mario Kart Game. Unlike other karting games on the Wii U such as Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Transformed the game only features mario characters with the exception of Link, and the animal crossing villager and Isabelle, Whereas Sonic and sega all stars racing transformed features characters from multiple sega games.

Gameplay.

The racing is faster in Mario Kart 8 and feels smoother than ever. New items such as the boomerang, piranha plant, and the super horn all add to the chaos and change the way you play the game. There's nothing better than seeing the blue shell warning and destroying it with the super horn. However only one item can be held at once making item usage more tactical and risky. Flying and water sections return from Mario Kart 7, but the addition of the anti gravity section is what takes the cake this time. Once in an anti gravity section you are able to hit into opponents which will give both racers a speed boost. This can be used tactically to send opponents off the track or into obstacles.

All of the classic speed modes return including mirror, However with mario kart 8 a new speed class has been added. 200CC mode shifts gears and feels more like Wipeout than Mario Kart. It takes a lot more skill and racers have to know every ins and out of the course to get 1st place. Personally I love Big Blue on 200CC as it was built for going fast and feels great when you nail every corner.

 There are different aspects to Mario Kart 8. These being the local mode and the online mode. Local mode is awesome, you can race with two people at 60 fps and three or four player mode at 30fps. The online can be fun however there isn't any way of communicating through microphone to friends or others in the game.

Target Audience.

Like many games for the Wii U, Mario Kart 8’s initial demographic are younger players. The bright fun visuals and the easy to grasp gameplay make the game easy for anyone to enjoy. Like many other Mario Kart games, the game is definitely ok for children to play and parents know this. For many older fans however Mario Kart 8 takes some of the best aspects of previous Mario Kart games and includes some classic tracks which have been revamped with new features.

 Recommendation

Overall Mario Kart 8 is a fresh of breath air on the Wii U. Whilst there are some negatives to the game the positives definitely outway them.  The characters are fun and have great character animations. The tracks look beautiful and look more alive than ever. The new anti gravity features work very well however can feel overused in some occasions. I would give the gameplay a 5/5 as the gameplay is smooth, fast and enjoyable. I would give the online features a 3/5 as playing with friends can be annoying. And i would give the circuit designs a 5/5, Overall giving Mario Kart 8 a 4 out of 5.