So now i've played all the tracks it's time for updated impressions, consider that since a lot of these tracks i've yet to play more than once my opinions on them are bound to change as I get to grips with both the gameplay itself as well as the track layouts.
And that they are sort of lacking but someone might get something out of this.
Spoilers for some track details of course.
Ocean View
A nice basic starting track, it's cool to see those rolling circular rocks turn up, they're really the only hazard on offer here which makes sense, it's only the first track after all.
Samba Studios
A fair amount of water in this one put in slimmer canal like sections as opposed to the wide open areas, pretty sure there were some dancing cactus men dancing in the middles of the roads as well which is a point absolutely worth noting.
Carrier Zone
It's simple in its layout but I like it quite a lot, first taste of the plane transformation here, it's sort of like an oval track but it mixes in all the vehicle types to keep it from feeling dull.
Dragon Canyon
Hopefully you've grasped the flight by this point because there are some more tricky obstacles to avoid in this one, unfortunately I have no experience with the source material so this stage just feels kind of "there" to me right now.
Temple Trouble
Yeah it's pretty Monkeyball like that's for sure with a lot of angular track layouts, obstacles and brief forks in the road, as such the water section feels pretty tame compared to the rest of the track but it's got this one giant whirlpool at least.
Galactic Parade
The colours fan in me loves this stage on concept alone, a visual feast but the track itself is actually pretty simple, the laser robots seen in Unleashed, Colours and Generations turn up on lap 3 to be a pain in the ass to first place, I judge this from my experience in this bit in both first and then second where I was free to watch 1st place get terrorized by lasers.
Oh and that Starlight Carnival Map theme before the race starts, delicious.
Seasonal Shrines
I like the visuals and the season switch but I don't know, I don't really get much of a Shinobi vibe from the stage itself, it's too pleasant for one thing. Then again half the time Shinobi spends in the future or in more technical focused areas anyway from the few entries i've played.
I guess i'm saying there could have been more in the way of conflict here, like don't know, the area coming under enemy attack at some point, flaming buildings. Ah well it's a good stage anyway, maybe I need to keep my eyes peeled.
Rouges Landing
Two points stick out to me here, one is when you can either go by boat or kart with the kart route being fairly trickier to navigate while the boat was more straightforward.
The other is Lap 3 where the track seems to just fall off the face of the earth and it's a kind of unfocused and open flight section for the remainder of the race, I lost this cup because I got hit by the twister for the first time right near the finish and then proceeded to drop 4 positions as my plane twirled around the open air mass with reversed controls that had me baffled. Not sure if I like flight sections that are too open.
Dream Valley
I felt like I was missing something here, the CPU just zoomed off while I lagged in the middle, flying through the rings seems to give small speed boosts but the return of a wide open flight zone sort of made things feel kind of boring. On lap 3 some bugger setup some wavy rock obstacles and ruined the lead i'd finally obtained, in absence of Nights knowledge i'll simply call him the boulder bugger for now.
Not a fan of this track at all right now, no kart sections for one thing.
Chilly Castle
Tight roads, tight turns and me spending a race with Sonic essentially eating the walls, I can't really pass a fair judgement on this track yet because I was too busy being awful at it.
The water section is another narrow area, so narrow routes is like the main idea behind this track design maybe?
Graffiti City
Ah, back to the good stuff for me, a very fast and kind of crazy track leaping across rooftops and what not, sort of gives me a Motorstorm Apocalypse vibe at times without the clutter and confusing route finding.
One of my preferred tracks right now, has a more enclosed flight section, as in the best type of flight section.
Sanctuary Falls
Those Egg Robos seem to just pop up out of nowhere, another track with a lot of flying which actually left me pretty glum at first because after Sonic Generations I was hoping to kart down areas like those seen in modern Sonic's stage, well luckily for me Lap 2 is just that, drifting up and down those spiral sections, huzzah!
Graveyard Gig
I don't really have much to say here, its layout isn't bad at all but nothing really sticks out to me at all.
Adders Lair
Lava replaces the wet stuff but it works the same, a pretty enjoyable and kind of long track, I don't like Golden Axe at all but it made for a good track at least.
Burning Depths
Oh damn the turns here were killing me, especially in the boat, i'm sure i'll like it more when I get a better handle on things but there were a lot of sharp turns that had me repeating my wall chomping days in the Billy Hatcher stage.
Race of Ages
Oh so there's the Bonanza Bros! well I guess that's something, just like how getting hit many times gave me the Edelweiss sticker, these are the closest i've come to the characters i've desired.
Well the track itself has a pretty intense flying section with plenty of obstacles to avoid, it's like an exercise for the eyes, almost like I was playing a evading section rail shooter all of a sudden.
All the
tracks from the previous game are noticeably drift happy, I did a lot better on these but I have to say, that death egg stage was underwhelming as hell, what's this generic lame ass music?! that ain't no death egg I remember!
Speaking of lame ass music, damn you Sonic Heroes, Casino Park sucks compared to Casino Night!
Outrun Bay DLC track.
It can feel very fast at times, split between land and sea, the sea section is very open and has some jumps scattered around, solid track.
Now as for the game itself.
- Sometimes tracks can be too busy visually leading to layout confusion.
- The Swarm item is interesting but a bit flawed, it's like this games blue shell in a way, throwing a bunch of wasps up ahead of first place so they have more obstacles to evade but the swarm can lay themselves out in such a way that getting hit is an inevitability and in rarer cases simply spawn on your face which is kind of annoying, nice idea though.
- Screw the twister, easy to use and reverses the victims controls, seems a tad excessive.
- Awards/titles popping up mid race for various feats makes all the little things you do feel that much more awesome as well as providing a way of telling you if your volley of thrown items were successful if you're not using the rear view.
- Kart sections are still the best, water sections I currently find the weakest as it seems the stricter turning leaves the basic layout for them relatively similar in each track, they could use more big waves.
- Flight sections are either a nice change or they feel a bit too long, like with the boat the track setups for Planes tend to be a bit samey at times. But more obstacles and the ability to barrel roll around to make darting evasions and steer back on track in swift succession make them stronger than the boats in my book.
- Even on normal difficulty it's not too uncommon to see one CPU racer steam off into first and then gain a massive lead while 2nd, 3rd and 4th all maul each other.
And it feels even wierder when low top speed characters pull this off, I call shenanigans!
So the hardest mode must be flat out horrifying I imagine.
- I still think the weapons could have done with a more sega touch, they feel generic. Even a lot of All Star moves seem kind of plain since they are all pretty similar in execution. The weapons themselves seem to be a mostly solid batch, the turbo boost which you have to detonate before you blow yourself up is a fun one if the stars align and you catch up to a group of racers and engulf them in a successful blast.
- How long until I unlock Eggman?!
Mario kart has alot to live up to after seeing most of the stages.
Mario Kart's track design is fine, it gets arguably better with each entry, i'd certainly say it needs to make some alterations to its core formula to freshen it up but track design isn't an issue in my books. The modern trend of shapeshifting stages are a nice gimmick but not every game needs them and something with as much mass appeal as Mario Kart would probably be best sticking to Grumble Volcano levels of terrain changing as to not bewilder the hell out of its more casual audience, just my thoughts though.
