As many of you know by now, Nintendo's got a new Mario Kart coming later this month. Today, they hosted an event and offered a demo of the game at various Gamestops. After going to two different Gamestops, selling a ton of games, and preordering MK8 and buying the new Kirby game, I was finally able to play the Mario Kart 8 demo. How was it? Well, I'll tell you.
The demo only allowed up to two players in a game. I did 3 multiplayer races, with other people in my groups competing in three others. The demo allowed the player to choose any of the characters that will be playable (Including Baby Rosalina, Pink Gold Peach, and the Koopalings). I chose Yoshi for my first two races, and decided to choose a new racer, Ludwig van Koopa, for my third race. There were eight tracks available, each being one that originated in Mario Kart 8. I raced on (Forgive me if I mess up the names) Sunshine Airport, Mario Stadium, and Mario Circuit. My controller of choice was the Gamepad for the first two races, but I was pushed to the Wii Remote/nunchuk for the third. Now then, enough about the technicalities, let's get on to the actual review, shall we?
As anyone would expect from a Mario Kart game, this one was fun. It's your standard drive, pick up an item, use item formula, but with a few more twists. The one that was marketed the most was anti-gravity. The anti-gravity was exactly the way they described it. It actually felt really fun switching to anti-grav mode and playing that way. The track actually turns with you, so you won't be confused, but you can still tell when you're, say, going straight down a wall. If you bump into other players, you'll both get a temporary speed boost. This can be used strategically, as I learned when Baby Rosalina used me as a bumper to propel herself forward, and make my boost worthless. It's a really interesting twist, since you never think to ram into your opponent's carts.
Next up is the items. Unfortunately, the only new items I managed to get were the Super Horn and the coin. The coin just gives you coins, no surprise there. I wasted my Super Horn, however, I could tell how useful it would be if used properly. The blast radius for it is really decent, and can be incredibly destructive if used properly. The other items all looked interesting, and I would have loved to use them, but I only really managed to nab shells.
The final important aspect of the gameplay would be the tracks. Mario Kart is known for its diverse and entertaining tracks, and these ones were no disappointment. Each track I played on felt significantly different from the others, and each had its own uniqueness. I drove along a plane in one, went straight up a stadium wall in another, and raced on a floating island in the last. Each track felt great in its own way, and I really had fun with all of them. Unfortunately, the demo limited the amount of laps in a race to 2, so I couldn't ride on each one more. I saw some of the others as well, and those all looked just as fun as the ones I'd raced on.
To wrap things up, I will say I'm incredibly excited for this game. I like the character selection (I've already got a new rival in the form of Lemmy Koopa), the anti-gravity really spices the traditional gameplay up, the new items are all fun to use, and the tracks are all fantastic. We've only got two weeks to go until the full game is released, and I'll be anxiously waiting every second of it to be able to play more of this amazing game. I recommend it to any Wii U owners, Mario fans, or racing game fans in general!
As many of you know by now, Nintendo's got a new Mario Kart coming later this month. Today, they hosted an event and offered a demo of the game at various Gamestops. After going to two different Gamestops, selling a ton of games, and preordering MK8 and buying the new Kirby game, I was finally able to play the Mario Kart 8 demo. How was it? Well, I'll tell you.
The demo only allowed up to two players in a game. I did 3 multiplayer races, with other people in my groups competing in three others. The demo allowed the player to choose any of the characters that will be playable (Including Baby Rosalina, Pink Gold Peach, and the Koopalings). I chose Yoshi for my first two races, and decided to choose a new racer, Ludwig van Koopa, for my third race. There were eight tracks available, each being one that originated in Mario Kart 8. I raced on (Forgive me if I mess up the names) Sunshine Airport, Mario Stadium, and Mario Circuit. My controller of choice was the Gamepad for the first two races, but I was pushed to the Wii Remote/nunchuk for the third. Now then, enough about the technicalities, let's get on to the actual review, shall we?
As anyone would expect from a Mario Kart game, this one was fun. It's your standard drive, pick up an item, use item formula, but with a few more twists. The one that was marketed the most was anti-gravity. The anti-gravity was exactly the way they described it. It actually felt really fun switching to anti-grav mode and playing that way. The track actually turns with you, so you won't be confused, but you can still tell when you're, say, going straight down a wall. If you bump into other players, you'll both get a temporary speed boost. This can be used strategically, as I learned when Baby Rosalina used me as a bumper to propel herself forward, and make my boost worthless. It's a really interesting twist, since you never think to ram into your opponent's carts.
Next up is the items. Unfortunately, the only new items I managed to get were the Super Horn and the coin. The coin just gives you coins, no surprise there. I wasted my Super Horn, however, I could tell how useful it would be if used properly. The blast radius for it is really decent, and can be incredibly destructive if used properly. The other items all looked interesting, and I would have loved to use them, but I only really managed to nab shells.
The final important aspect of the gameplay would be the tracks. Mario Kart is known for its diverse and entertaining tracks, and these ones were no disappointment. Each track I played on felt significantly different from the others, and each had its own uniqueness. I drove along a plane in one, went straight up a stadium wall in another, and raced on a floating island in the last. Each track felt great in its own way, and I really had fun with all of them. Unfortunately, the demo limited the amount of laps in a race to 2, so I couldn't ride on each one more. I saw some of the others as well, and those all looked just as fun as the ones I'd raced on.
To wrap things up, I will say I'm incredibly excited for this game. I like the character selection (I've already got a new rival in the form of Lemmy Koopa), the anti-gravity really spices the traditional gameplay up, the new items are all fun to use, and the tracks are all fantastic. We've only got two weeks to go until the full game is released, and I'll be anxiously waiting every second of it to be able to play more of this amazing game. I recommend it to any Wii U owners, Mario fans, or racing game fans in general!