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Mario Kart is still just as crazy and fun as ever! If you don't have a Wii U, this is another perfect game to buy to start you off before Smash Bros. 4.

Mario Kart 8's racing formula has remained for the most part unchanged from 7 with the ability to customize your karts with different bodies, wheels, and gliders but now with the bikes from Wii. The bikes have been seriously nerfed and balanced so that way the Karts, Bikes, and the new ATVs have their own advantages and disadvantages. Underwater and Gliding sections return and now the new Anti-Gravity function allows karts to scale vertical faces and bumping into opponents and certain terrain features will award karts with a small speed boost. While not exactly a big risk as was with Double Dash, the new feature proves to work well.

The tracks are gorgeous visually and are a ton of fun with the antigravity, glider, and underwater sections. The classic tracks have been given a Wii U update which makes ones from GBA and N64 look stylish and new. They also have been updated to have the numerous racing feature changes so you can effectively avoid the cars on the N64's Toad's Turnpike.

Several new items have been added including the Boomerang Flower which allows you to throw a boomerang forward, which will return back to the user twice before the third throw causes the boomerang to fly away. The Piranha Plant places a Piranha Plant in front of the user's kart which will automatically attack any karts in front of them as well as hazards and coins in front. Lastly is the Super Horn which can be used to spin out nearby opponents and destroy shells and other hazards including the dreaded Blue Shell.

For the most part I have very little complaints about the game. My two main gripes is the punishment you get the higher in rank you are during a race. The Coin Item, which awards a racer with two coins upon usage, becomes much more frequent the higher your rank is. In a few races I was right behind my opponent and I needed a shell or something to toss at them so I could overtake them, but I was given the coin and they sped away. Though the Blue Shells have been reduced in occurrence, it still hardly justifies when you're getting pelted with Red Shells which you cannot sufficiently defend against, effectively making Red Shells more dangerous than Blue Shells in my opinion. The other gripe I had was the battle mode which you battle on the race tracks rather than an arena. While it is not a huge deal, the whole fun of battle mode was slamming people on these arenas, not courses. I wish that they would have at least included the Arena on top of the Tracks.

Nonny's Rating: 8.5/10. Mario Kart 8 is fun as all of its past incarnations. As always, it's lots of fun to play by yourself and a riot with your friends! It's a must buy!