Good news for you impatient types. It looks like a German reader has managed to get his hands on a copy of "Gamepro" early, and contained therein was what looks like the first official review of Mario Kart 8, and well ahead of the game's release at the end of this month. Redditor BlutGulasch was the reader in question, and shared key points of the review over at the Wii U sub-thread. If spoilers aren't an issue to you, feel free to read on, but if they are, make sure you stop right here.
Everything You Need to Know About Mario Kart 8's Courses
First and foremost, it seems as though the mag was quite impressed with the game, giving it a score of 90 percent. Without getting too spoiler-y, Blut wrote a few things the review included that you may find interesting:
- 30 characters - Yep, that much we knew. The roster includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, their respective infant versions, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Toad, Koopa Troopa, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Shy Guy, Metal Mario, Lakitu, and Bowser's kids Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig as playable racers. Pink Gold Peach, a counter character to Metal Mario, rounds out the roster.
- Coins being used to buy new Kart parts - I hope this is referring only to coins that are earned during gameplay, and not some sort of microtransaction. But in this day and age, it's hard to say for sure.
- music and graphics are amazing @ 60fps - great, the only problem is that when there's more than 2 players, the rate drops down to 30fps
- Battle mode (balloons) only on regular tracks! No arenas! - that's quite a switch. This was also critqued by the mag, writing that the tracks can be a bit too expansive for a proper battle. But on the plus side, those tracks were great for straightforward races, and the selection of tracks new and old was hailed as "big and diverse"
- blue shell are way too common (the guy wrote that he got sometimes 3-4 hits within one race - OK, looks like some cheap hits are rife in this game, but maybe this was just one player's experience. Definitely a nuisance for players used to leading the pack, but it could provide a means for tortioises to get a leg up on the hare. The review also said that the character voices get annoying fast, but let's be honest, that's something of a staple for anytime you race against Toad.
- there wasn't a verdict on online play, as it "could not be tested," so that portion remains to be seen.
Canada Gets a Really Cool Mario Kart 8 pre-Order Bonus, America Weeps
It's unfortunate that there wasn't much of an emphasis on any of the features, but 90 percent is quite impressive. Players will have to wait until the end of May when Mario Kart 8 releases on the Wii U to see if they agree with this review or not.
