A few gripes...
with the front end:
- no profile view to track your play time, coin total, etc.
- no way to see which time trials you have beaten
- no HUD when playing without the Gamepad
with online:
- should be easier to play with friends than waiting for spaces in a room. ie. start room with friends and then wait for randoms to fill it
and then with the rebalancing:
- item distribution
- fire hopping
- limited character/vehicle combos compared to MK7
Total combos
Mario Kart Wii
= 324 different combinations
Mario Kart 7 (statistically different)
17 unique bodies
10 unique tyres
3 unique gliders
5 unique character classes
= 17*10*3*5 = 2,550 combinations
Mario Kart 7 (visually different)
17 different bodies
10 different tyres
7 different gliders
17 different characters
= 17*10*7*17 = 20,230 combinations
Mario Kart 8 (statistically different)
6 unique bodies
7 unique tyres
2 unique gliders
7 unique character classes
= 6*7*2*7 = 588 combinations
Mario Kart 8 (visually different)
30 different bodies
11 different gliders
18 different tyres
26 different characters
= 30*11*18*26 = 154,440 combinations
Personally I feel they set out with good intentionsto rebalance the gamebut they've not done a good job. Getting coins only in first is just annoying.
I'm feel that the handling changes were to make the handling model feel "HD" rather than the somewhat "2D" handling of the previous games. Mixed results for me. The game is too easy vs CPU, and too frantic with human players given the items available.
and some small details:
- loading screen (shadows are attached to vehicles when they should be "on the ground", wheels do not rotate/spin around, white areas of vehicles are transparent meaning you can see the background through them)