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Mario Kart 8. A Shell to Success or a Toad in the Hole?

2/6/2014

15 Comments

 
Picture
With a 20 year presence in our gaming world Mario Kart now makes it eighth appearance in the series and whilst it holds the eighth crown, the game is the first of its kind to be in full High Definition.

Is this game worth the hype though? The hype soon died for me as my delivery was almost two days late but as soon as the front door rattled, I ran down to greet that courier so quickly that no banana skin could have stopped me in my tracks. Having spent around six hours on the game, I am happy to report a pleasing experience.
Naturally, the environments within the tracks are as aesthetically pleasing as one could expect. The vibrancy of the green hills in Moo Moo Meadows, the radiant warmth of the yellow sand in Dry Dry Desert and the boastful coloured blocks donning Donut Plains 3 all helped to provide me a truly warming experience. And what better way to help us glide through these tracks than with a total of 30 playable characters, 14 of which must be unlocked. I noticed that each character has a completely unique feel. I started with Yoshi, as he has always been my favourite in the MK series. He felt somewhat 'average' in his speed, handling, cornering and general fierceness. I soon switched to Ludwig, one of the earlier unlockable characters. Ludwig completely improved my game with a MUCH quicker speed boost from the start line, higher agility and surprised me with his likability from the get go. YES.... that is important. Ludwig had a likability factor that created a more immersive experience as I continued to race through Twisted Mansions and Rainbow Road. My advice is to 'branch out' Branch out with your characters. I have been guilty, on previous Mario Kart Games, of sticking with the same character of which I now recognise as a bad decision if I was going to progress with Mario Kart.

Musical appeal?? Hmmmm.... This is an easy one. The music in Mario Kart 8 is less than tasteful. Allow me to paint a picture. Think back to 80s game show, The Generation Game,
The Price is Right and other shit like that. Remember? Now go and play Mario Kart 8 and you may notice that the music almost mirrors these shows. It is dated. It is disappointing. Does this take the edge off from the gameplay? In my opinion, yes it does. There are so many fantastic games that are defined and recongised by a strong soundtrack and this game IS NOT one of those games.

Which brings us on to the tracks. Most now know that there are 16 new tracks and 16 re-made tracks from previous Mario Kart games. I'll be blunt here: I prefer the re-made tracks. I almost screamed when I first started to drift around the cautious corners of the Donut Plains 3 from the Snes. As I continued to tear up the tarmac GBA Mario Circuit and the DS's Cheep Cheep Beach I realised something CRUCIAL. I am not playing Mario Kart 8 for a 'new' experience. I am LOVING and PLAYING Mario Kart 8 for the nostalgic experiences. I may be slammed here but hear me out..... I would love to see a FULL HD re-make of the first Mario Kart.

Multiplayer modes are a fantastic experience whether you are playing locally or against the fast fueled action from gamers worldwide. Typically, I have always found all multiplayer modes to provide a much faster platform in which to showcase your shell shoving accuracy. Jessica and I are safely addicted to Mario Kart Multplayer, not only on our Wii U but on our Nintendo 3DS handhelds too.

Overall, Mario Kart 8 is fun fueled experience and I would highly recommend gamers both old and new to give Mario and his friends a place on their gaming shelf.

Watch my unboxing of Mario Kart 8 on YouTube here.

Interested in buying this game? It helps to maintain this blog site if you purchase Mario Kart 8 here or by clicking the banner below.

15 Comments
Jessica
2/6/2014 10:50:50

Congratulations on your first official blog post!

Reply
JuicyGame Reviews
2/6/2014 10:52:42

Thanks Jessica :) I am really excited.

Reply
Jody
2/6/2014 11:58:34

Awesome review! - and congrats on the new site 😊 xxx

Reply
JuicyGameReviews
2/6/2014 12:02:21

Thanks Jody. Some local love going on right here. I appreciate the support :) I'm glad you're enjoying the game also :D xxx

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Steve Gashead66 (youtube) link
3/6/2014 07:03:37

Great idea Gem, Great review... ill be watching this space :)

Reply
James
3/6/2014 07:31:55

Great review it sounds like a fantastic game, My only concern would be have Nintendo reached a pinnacle when it comes to Mario Kart?
Where do they go from here? New ip maybe!

Reply
JuicyGameReviews
3/6/2014 09:24:39

Good question. I'd like them to re-make the first MK. A full HD remake :) :) As for the innovative side.... Who knows. I think it's timeless and will always sell. :)

Reply
xxcottonbrainxx (youtube)
3/6/2014 11:28:19

I have to say I also thought about the Generation game & the price is right when I heard the music. :D

Reply
lifespiller79
3/6/2014 11:32:15

What an awesome read! I believe you'll exceed your goal of 5k subs! This is just the start of something big!

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Paul (KingPepper)
4/6/2014 18:53:36

Enjoyed your review of Mario Kart 8, apart from one point, sorry to say, but can you please stop the swearing, as its totally un-necessary, and I am sure you will get far more followers if you stopped doing that.
Another thing I would like to see is a breakdown of the various areas of the games if possible, IE Graphics: 88, Audio: 48, Playability: 78, and Overall score out of 100.
Anyway you get the general idea, good luck in the future, will be looking forward to further videos as well as blogs / reviews.

Reply
JuicyGameReviews
5/6/2014 11:19:04

Paul, thanks for reading my blog. As far as structure goes I am not aiming for the kind of reviews that pick at individual sections of a game. IGN do a great job of structuring reviews that way and I prefer to have a more fluid approach. I am aiming to 'beef out' my reviews in a way that enables me to 'talk' to people as I would face to face. Anyone that wants to follow me, watch me and read my blogs will do so because they like my medium and they like me. Which brings me on to my choice of language. From time to time, I am going to swear. I totally appreciate anyone who decides not to follow me because I that. I respect their choices.
All the best and thank you for the feedback, Gemma :)

Reply
Raziel Quorzar
5/6/2014 16:09:11

Great blog Gemma & keep up with the swearing haha, its an honest way of reviewing something to me & telling it how it is. I'm pretty sure reviewers at IGN & such really want to say a certain game is a waste of fucking money & a pile of shit but they are not allowed to so instead they award it one or two stars, you keep it real & long may you continue

Reply
Dancentral link
5/6/2014 16:34:48

Fantastic review of Mario Kart 8 Gem, really enjoyed reading that. I'm always Yoshi too as he is my favourite character also. Shame to hear that the music isn't great but brilliant that there are loads of tracks from previous Mario Kart games in there too! Great blog site! :)

Reply
Paul :)
29/12/2014 01:42:31

Awesome review of a gem in the wii u collection. i liked the way you detailed some of the tracks you could tell that you are a fan of the series. I found that very same problem with yoshi, I switched to koopa troppa myself...can wait to read more of your wii u coverage :) :)......congrats on a great review :) :)...

Reply
MarioVsBalloons link
14/3/2025 09:19:03

I just bought a game console, so I might as well try Mario Kart 8

Reply



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