Mario Kart 8... Peaceful Reflections.

LIKE HELL PEACEFUL REFLECTIONS!

For any of you that have had the "pleasure" of playing any of the Mario Kart games with me you know that peaceful may be the absolute last term to come to mind. Every blue shell sent my way is a personal attack no matter your position and every banana peel I stray into was left there with the singular purpose of me running it over. In my twisted mind no one is racing to win, they are all just racing to make me lose. No other game in history has ever made me rage the way Mario Kart has... but thats exactly why I love it.

I can play a lot games and enjoy myself, but it takes a special kind of game to make me FEEL something. I got a little emotional the first time I beat Kingdom Hearts for instance and I was absolutely giddy with terrified excitement the first time I played Resident Evil 4. Mario Kart makes me angry... it brings out a competitive spark in me that I thought was long gone. Mario Kart 8 is the worst offender of all time.

Something that seems to have been tweaked (at least in my opinion) is the AI's racing ability. You still have your slackers in each race but for the most part the AI does a much better job of keeping up. In all of the other Mario Kart games it seemed you could build a lead and have nary a care in the world on each and every course. It may be my relative newness to these courses but I feel that even when I am racing near flawlessly I still have a pack of mushroom kingdom residents on my heels. Which of course makes the last lap all the more heart pounding or controller crushing depending on the outcome.

The game looks fabulous and all of the new features from the ZERO G tracks to the new items look better than cartoon characters have a right to. Even when I wasn't racing I found myself watching as my wife weaved her way through the courses. No details were ignored it would seem.

Racing in ZERO G is my favorite new feature by far.

Im not a huge fan of some of the new items. The Piranha Plant will usually hit one person and then it becomes a small boost in speed which doesn't equate to much more than creaming the one person in front of you with a red shell. I also wish the plant would eat incoming items on your tail, but unless i am doing something wrong that just isn't the case. The Boomerang Flower seems completely pointless most of the time. You would think something so large would hit a lot more often than it does. Its multiple uses and ability to hit air born targets can be used effectively enough though I suppose.

Then there is the "8." The 8 is an item that gives you 8 random items that circle around your kart. Sounds cool enough when you are falling in the pack but most of the time it left me and my wife wishing for a singular good item, timing the item usage is a pain when you should really be focused on racing well at that point.

Another thing that was very well done was the unlocking of characters. Rather than have very specific requirements for any particular character, each character is unlocked randomly after coming in first in each of the cups. I can see how it might be frustrating if there is a specific character you want but in the long run you get all of them so much quicker it shouldn't matter.

I haven't played much Battle Mode yet... because its not battle mode! At least not the way we all love and remember it. Bring back my dedicated battle courses otherwise I don't see myself playing much of this mode at all, its just more racing... with balloons. But who knows maybe it will grow on me.

My Verdict:  ••••••••••

Mario Kart 8 is almost everything you have to come to love about the franchise looking better than ever in gorgeous HD. New characters, new items and new ways to race just kick it up that extra notch while the changes to battle mode will leave some wishing for times gone by. Seemingly more intelligent AI is a welcome, albeit frustrating, addition. In the end Mario Kart 8 remains as satisfying as ever.