So I've had the game for a solid week and some change and I think I've played enough now to have a decent grasp of what went right here and what went wrong.
Fortunately I would say we have more good than bad here by a long shot. As expected it's gorgeous, the amount of detail they put into each and every course is jaw dropping. The frame rate is as smooth as butter, I don't play a ton of different games and I've only played a few from non-Nintendo consoles so this was a very new feeling for me and I am loving every second of it. The music is fantastic, all of the courses are really well designed and a blast to play on, I'm surprised at how much the anti-gravity portions actually add to the experience. I never really played any thing online with the Wii, but I've heard in most cases that it was pretty laggy and just a bad experience in general. Online for Mario Kart 8 thankfully has no issues. I've been able to hop into an online group in less than a minute.
With all of that out of the way I'd like to discuss two areas that are slightly less desirable. First up is item distribution, with the new installment there has been a change in mechanics in that regard. In previous titles the item you would get was based upon what place you are in the race, the closer to last you are, the better the item you will get. Now it's based on your physical distance from the character in first. As a result I have experienced, and seen others experience being in last place and getting single mushrooms and single banana peels. I understand what they were going for here, but I think the algorithm is not quite doing the job as it's short changing those who need help the most. Breaking through the pack can be very hard to do in this game, without the proper tools to do so just because the leader isn't half a lap ahead of you can make things frustrating quickly if you don't make it into the top four right out of the gate.
The next thing, and the worst offender really is the lack of invincibility frames after being hit by an item. Being hit once is fine, it's perfectly fair and needed as a way to allow racers to catch up with one another. However, and I'm sure you can all attest to this, how many times have you been hit again and again and again in the same exact spot going from first to the lower third of the pack in an instant. Being able to be clobbered repeatedly with no chance for recovery is probably the most frustrating part of this game. I have literally gone from first to last three karts lengths from the finish line more than a couple of times because of this and there is no feeling more demoralizing. Fortunately it doesn't happen too often, but it sure get's my hackles rising when it does. Also the Power Star is worthless this time around sadly.
Other than those two gripes I don't have much else to say, I just 3-stared all of the 100cc cups and finally unlocked mirror mode yesterday. I also have 19 out of 32 staff ghosts down. Mount Wario was giving me some trouble so I let that sit for a bit. Don''t get me wrong this game is great, but the novelty is starting to wear a bit due to how much I have been playing so I'll still be working toward finishing all of the goals the game set's up, just not with the fervor I have been playing with this past week.
Happy Karting!
No comments:
Post a Comment