Mario Kart 8 - Review thread

narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
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I'm pretty sure Pink Gold is a color dawg
 
Ludicrous Speed said:
I think I can live with them new limitation. I'm getting Mario Kart 8 mostly for my wife, who loves the series. Whenever we play I smoke her so bad right off the bat and then just play defense for the rest of the race. This new change may actually improve her chances of beating me!
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Yes, I think that's definitely the idea. Haven't actually played the game since E3 last year though (and none of the changes had been implemented then), so I can't comment on how the balance actually feels in practice, but on paper I'm pretty happy with it. I've found myself getting bored with local play lately because of how much the game relies on the super-powered items to balance out the cheap defensive tactics, so I'm hoping the game's a bit more thrilling now.
 
Damn, Nintendo makes such beautiful games and always one generation behind in technology. I really wish they would just stop hanging back and go full in with the next system...
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
Damn, Nintendo makes such beautiful games and always one generation behind in technology. I really wish they would just stop hanging back and go full in with the next system...
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Why make us spend more/decrease profitability when they already get spectacular performance? That's what you call "overshooting the market," and Wii U is already suffering enough from that, thanks.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

Online peeps ain't scoping my Snoop Dogg Mii
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

Are they fucking serious?
Because I couldn't help myself, I laughed a little.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

Amazing. Toad & Toadette being human too, ahahaha.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

There has to always be one weirdly unnecessary demerit in a review, and this one takes the cake (so far). 8.8 is still a very good score, though, so it's not like they marked off an entire point for lack of diversity (but who really knows, I guess).
 
Can't you play as your Mii in Mario Kart 8? Doesn't that mean MK8 reflects the diversity of Nintendo's audience better than ever?
 
You know, there's something to the comment about the lack of diversity (not as a metric for a review, just in general). As the "everyman" franchise, Mario is surprisingly whitewashed. But then, I have to look at the cast of characters and wonder where the hell they'd find room.

Mario and Luigi are already Italian. Peach/Daisy could be some other race, but since people already find problems with them being stereotypical damsels in distress (symbolically objectified), I can see adding a racial dimension to their character being if anything even more problematic.

Same with the Toads, who are portrayed as a kind of servant class (and are already basically Arabian with their mushroom-top turbans and the rest of their outfits).

Wario and Waluigi are supposed to be somewhat villainous, so making them a different race wouldn't help, either.

The only character I can think of for whom this wouldn't be problematic in some way is Rosalina...And... that's it. There are no other human characters. (Even Mario Kart winds up having to add baby miniatures of existing characters to round out its lineup.)
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

First thought on reading this quote: " Hahaha, that's hilarious, now let's see what the actual review says"

Proceed to click on review. mfw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnC1_zVA3-g
 
LegendofLex said:
You know, there's something to the comment about the lack of diversity (not as a metric for a review, just in general). As the "everyman" franchise, Mario is surprisingly whitewashed.
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There's nothing to the comment. This is faux-concern. And you're not using "whitewash" properly.
 
LegendofLex said:
Why make us spend more/decrease profitability when they already get spectacular performance? That's what you call "overshooting the market," and Wii U is already suffering enough from that, thanks.
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Hypothetical thought. Wasn't trying to bring up market strategy into the topic, just that Nintendo has some serious talent. Calm down.....
 
reviews are hyping me up even more =D

Only real issue I am seeing the game getting dinged for is the lack of true battle mode maps/modes.

I really hope Nintendo has the capability to add them as a DLC pack later.
Would love for it to be free, but would gladly pay $10-15 for four high quality battle mode maps.


Regardless.... game looks fantastic! Cant wait to race everyone online.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

.
 
Gorgeous art-design. This does make me want a Wii U. If Microsoft shows us a new Zelda/Mario at E3, I'm picking up a Wii U by this Holiday season.

MK8 looks incredible.
 
shandy706 said:
Gorgeous art-design. This does make me want a Wii U. If Microsoft shows us a new Zelda/Mario at E3, I'm picking up a Wii U by this Holiday season.

MK8 looks incredible.
Click to expand...

So you're saying you won't be picking up a Wii U? I don't think it's gonna show up at the Xbox presser.
 
Berordn said:
There's a 2D platformer and a 3D platformer. That's two Mario platformers.

That's not much.
Click to expand...

True. I'd like a Mario game in the style of Galaxy games (doesn't literally have to be Galaxy 3 but something in vein of that) too. Then I think we have enough Mario platformers on Wii U. Before that I refuse to be satisfied.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

This is worst than the review that counted a point off 3D World for having Bowser as the antagonist.
 
I've taken a crude look over some of the lower scoring reviews, which were pretty much useless. But on Gamespot I've finally found what I was looking for and they made it sound like the balance is in the same vein as MK7 (item spam on 1st place possible but seldom). I hope this is true, since I was fearing this game would eventually return to the awful MKWii chaos and hence be a wasted entry despite the great visuals and concept.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

Hahaha, this has to be some of the dumbest shit I have ever read.
 
narton said:
Paste Magazine gives it an 8.8

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/mario-kart-8-review-wii-u.html

"The other notable omission is in the cast of characters’ diversity. After 30 years there are still zero Mario characters of color, a problem that Mario Kart 8 highlights by lining up all the characters on a single screen. When it comes to human characters, Mario Kart 8 is overwhelmingly white. Of the 29 drivers, 14 are human (including Toad and Toadette), and every single one of them is white. While it’d be atypical of Nintendo to introduce new characters into a Mario Kart game, it’s also where the deficit is the most obvious, and during play I found myself disappointed that Nintendo’s stable of characters so painfully fails to reflect the diversity of its audience."
Click to expand...

Just make a bunch of Miis of color and you're good to go.
 
Day one my friends and I are going to try our hand at streaming on twitch with this. So we'll just be playing this all night and it's going to be funky fresh.
 
Monty Mole said:
Holy crap, looks absolutely incredible. Just goes to show, it's not how much power you have, it's what you do with it.

Why oh why did I sell my Wii U back in March?
Click to expand...

Sorry to be harsh, but either because you're insane or a fool lol

I'd also be interested to hear what the regulars from the Latte discussion thread have to say about the power of the Wii U now that we're seeing a little more of what the Wii U is capable of.

Latte certainly seems to be throwing around A LOT of polys for a GPU that's only supposedly drawing 20-odd Watts and pushing 176GFlops, don't you think..?

I would be VERY interested to see if the same guy that had that expensive volt-meter could register if the Wii U is drawing more power whilst running this compared to running whatever game it was when he measured it before (sorry, my memory is failing me so can't remember the user or the game he was running at the time so apologies for that!). I know that he measured things at various stages anyway.
 
majik13 said:
I feel these early reviews will kill the hype a bit, why cant it release in the next few days, instead of 2 weeks?
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Yes, positive reviews all across the board that praise the game in almost every way imaginable kill the hype for a game that is just 14 days away
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
Damn, Nintendo makes such beautiful games and always one generation behind in technology. I really wish they would just stop hanging back and go full in with the next system...
Click to expand...

Casuals would not be picking up a Wii U for $399.

Its just the way it is.

Holiday $249 sweet spot.

I remember how fast them 3ds bundled with mk7 were selling.
 
BRocknRolla said:
Poster was saying that the game was being praised in "every way imaginable," not that it was killing hype in "every way imaginable."
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my bad, I need to learn to read. Still these reviews coming out just days before a release, instead of 2 wouldnt hurt the hype, I think it would only help it, as it would release during the main intial excitement. Now we all have to wait, as excitment dies down, and the freshness stales as other people continue to play it. It is not nearly a big deal, but I dont see what they gain by waiting another 2 weeks.

Edit: and "every way imaginable" is not entriely accurate, as there are obvious and pretty unanimous complaints about item balance, battle arenas, and roster.
 
The cast is disappointing. Nabbit, Dry Bones, Bowser Jr, Petey Piranha, etc would've better than those babies.

Maybe DLC is planned? Did Nintendo ever mention DLC or did they said there will be none?
 
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