Recently, a new Mario Kart 8 trailer came out which shows some of the new courses and items. The items seem interesting enough, but I am mostly really excited about the courses. I love seeing the remakes (MOO MOO FARM–I have the theme for that course on my playlist) and it’s actually gotten me a bit more likely to get the game at launch.
Despite that, I’m still a bit apprehensive due to the reasons I haven’t been enjoying Mario Kart that much in the latest installations:
1. Winning in each difficulty wasn’t enough–you need to win and do a certain amount well as well. This is especially frustrating with character unlocking.
2. Drifting is something that originally wasn’t really needed to win the courses in single player which was good, as I’m awful at drifting. It was more for just your really hardcore friends. Unfortunately, this has become more and more common in just the normal gameplay (Similar to how Gen 3 in Pokemon started a whole area that you will have to pray for luck in order to complete it if you do not play competitively–I still don’t play competitively and as a completionist, those areas in each game since always ruin some of my gaming experience) which can be frustrating as no matter how hard I try, drifting and I are not meant to be.
3. Customization being stat based. “Look, you can customize your kart!” “but these parts are totally the best parts” there is truly no point in customization if you’re still forced to be a certain way to be the best/have any chance. Characters have always had stats, yes, but it still had a lot to do with how a person plays–a kart that gives you max in all 3 categories will obviously be better than one that’s rather low in everything due to being an easier to get kart.
I ended up not bothering to get all the characters and kart parts in 7 due to frustrations and it’s the first Mario Kart I didn’t complete so I’m hoping 8 won’t be like that.
I have no desire to play online–I’m more of a just with a few friends or by myself player. That said, I do hope the special Online challenges that they did on the Wii version make a return in this game. I was never particularly good at them, but I had SO much fun doing each one and seeing what they’d bring each week.