So I got a chance to experience Mario Kart 8 and I decided to write up a little review of the game. With all the hype built up about this game I had really high expectations, but were they met? We’re about to find out.

First I’m going to talk about the things I really liked about the game. The anti-gravity was amazing and it added a lot to the tracks as a whole because there was more freedom of movement and the visuals of driving sideways and upside down just made the game so much more entertaining. The second thing I liked was the massive amount of unlockable kart options. There were so many Karts, Bikes, ATVs, Wheels, and Gliders to choose from to build your perfect kart and it made it so exciting to get as many coins as I could to unlock these kart pieces. The third thing was just how beautiful the tracks were. The visuals were amazing and even the tracks that were previously used in Mario Kart looked so much better. The fourth thing I liked was the new items which really added to the game, but most of all there was finally a way to block the blue shell which was so much fun to do.

Now for the cons. First of all I hated the character selection. A lot of Koopalings and Babies but no King Boo, no Dry Bones, and instead we got Baby Rosalina, all the Koopalings, and a metal Peach. I’m just happy they left the Mii character, but still it was sad seeing the list of characters. Also to add to it the fact that all you have to do is win a bunch of random courses to unlock the characters. It made it far too easy to unlock the characters. By the time I finished all the 100cc races I had every character. Honestly I don’t have good things to say about the playable characters. Second of all the game just felt so easy. Not only did I unlock so many things right away but I got three stars almost every time I completed a grand prix. Also the delay from falling off the map was way too short. The dangerous Rainbow Road became a tame little kitten because even if you did fall it didn’t matter much because you could quickly recover. Also it felt almost unneeded to do well in the game because there was little reward, but really not much effort was needed.

Overall the game is fun because it has the traditional Mario Kart elements that are always fun to play. The game graphics are beautiful and the anti-grav was a wonderful addition to the game; however, the character selection was pitiful and the game was easy and quick to unlock stuff so overall the gameplay is there, but the extras are not so if you enjoy all the Mario Kart games it’s not disappointing but if you like the unlockable stuff and the characters you will not be happy but overall for me Gameplay trumps unlockable so I still highly recommend the game.

Final Score: 8 out of 10