Okay, now that I've pretty much played through all of the 50CC-150CC of MK8, I feel I can finally offer up my most honest review of the game. We'll start with the basics.
Graphics: [tornado fang]ing gorgeous. Best looking MK game to date, as it should be. The handling is fantastic. The GamePad is very responsive and the karts handle like a dream. Nothing but praise on this end. What makes this even better is the balance regarding the vehicles. It's still early on and I have more vehicles to unlock, but unlike Mario Kart Wii, there is no overall superior kart or bike yet. Perhaps the Golden Parts will provide that, but I doubt it. Even with the Golden Parts, it shouldn't matter because of one thing they brought back from MK7; the item distribution. Here's where it gets interesting.
As you've no doubt heard people in here and people elsewhere talk about, coins are once again an item. I'll get to that in a bit, but first I'd like to talk about the one major change. You can no longer hold two items. There is no more dragging a shell behind you or having your shell shield surround you with another item being held in wait. At first I wasn't sure what to think of this, but after playing and playing I can honestly say that the game is better off with this format. It makes you question whether or not to hold onto your items, especially in first place. No more 3 Banana Peel drag with a green shell waiting. Suddenly, that one banana peel or one green shell is really important. First place is no longer secure from everything but lightning & blue shells, which brings me to the next factor of this; the super horn & the coin item.
Mario Kart 8 finally decided to give players a defense against the dreaded Blue Shell (still in it's much superior and more importantly FAIR form from MK7) with the Super Horn. There is no item you want more in 1st place than that. However, it's rare. This is where the gambling aspect comes in with the coins. Do you risk losing your Green Shell or Banana Peel, which is now your only shield against 2nd & 3rd place items, in order to chance getting the Super Horn to protect you from the Spike Shell? It's honestly really clever. The only issue with the coins is that they show up a bit too much, and in lower positions. Still, the key thing in all of this is that the items are, like MK7, once again fair, balanced, and adequately distributed.
Now for the courses. The new courses are pretty good. The music is pretty solid with the majority of them, and the hover aspect does indeed add some nice new variety with the tracks. I would say that my only issue with the new courses is that their are not enough "personal character" traits to them, cept for Bowser's Castle, arguably one of the best Bowser Castle courses in MK history, and Mario's Circuit. The new Rainbow Road is nice, but I don't think it tops the incredibly awesome one from MK7.
The retro courses have all been upgraded to MK8 courses pretty decently, with some exceptions. One of the exceptions is actually my biggest complaint with the game. Ahem...
MARIO KART 64 RAINBOW ROAD IS WAY TOO [tornado fang]ing SHORT!!!!
Don't get me wrong. The track looks absolutely gorgeous and I love the additions to the track like the flying train, the bouncing Chain Chomps and all of that. But for the love of everything, why is it so short, ESPECIALLY for a no-lap course? If you're going to shorten the track, then don't make it one and done like MK7's Rainbow Road. Keep it 3 laps like the original. I mean, for [tornado fang] sake, on 150CC I can be through the 2nd gate before the song has a chance to loop. Honestly, even though I doubt it, I hope this is something they can fix with an online update or something. If not, I'll be fine. Honestly though, that is my biggest flaw with the game thus far, and it's not a major one.
As for the A.I. in the game, I will say this...they are ruthless, but not cheap. The main problem with previous MK games from Double Dash onward was always the feeling of "[parasitic bomb] I'm in 1st, so I know the Blue Shell is coming" and that's really not there anymore since the Spike Shell is fair and doesn't knock you back as hard. HOWEVER, the A.I. now fucks you up with Green Shells. If you're behind someone, they'll shoot that [parasitic bomb] right at your face. Their aim is impeccable, plus with the limited defense you have in first now, green shells or red shells can potentially be your undoing. As ruthless as it is, I like it though. It's. Not. Cheap. It's nowhere near the levels of Spiny Shell flying at you frustration that you dealt with prior to MK7. I feel that this AI better prepares you for the level of combat you'll find with regular players.
Jumping back to the items, I'm happy with them with a couple exceptions. The first one I mentioned above, with the coins being given to you in like 7th-9th place. The Blooper has to go as well. It was ONLY useful in MK7 when it could cover the whole screen. Now it's back to being a waste of an item ala MKWii. Get rid of it and bring back the Ghost or Feather. The new items are pretty good. Super Horn is awesome, Piranha Plant is very awesome, and the Boomerang is also awesome. They improved the Fire Flower item immensely as well. However, like Hypershell said above, the Starman has been nerfed to the point of being overall useless.
So if you've made it this far, allow me to finish. Mario Kart 8 is a very well made Mario Kart game, and worth every penny if you're a MK fan. It is not even close to being the [tornado fang]ing unbalanced clutter that was Mario Kart Wii or Double Dash, and it is a better game all around than Mario Kart DS due to the items being balanced and well distributed. Overall though, I think Mario Kart 7 is still a superior game. Even with the new hover addition, the level designs were better in MK7, as well as the level music as well. The Retro Course selection was also better in MK7, and this is coming from someone who LOVES the fact that they included FOUR of his favorite MK64 tracks. The Kart Selection was also slightly better in MK7 as well. Not by much though, as MK8 managed to bring back the bikes & add ATVs, yet still keep everything balanced. Just in terms of designs, I think MK7 had a better selection looks wise.
But to the games testament, I like it. I really [tornado fang]ing like it a lot. This is the first console Mario Kart game I've been really happy with since Mario Kart 64. Mario Kart 8 brought over a big chunk of what I loved about Mario Kart 7, added in some nice new features and beautiful graphics, and they created one of the best Mario Kart games ever. While I have Mario Kart 64 on so very high a pedestal (seriously, it's my 2nd favorite game of all time), I doubt anything can touch that for me. And while I think Mario Kart 7 is behind MK64 in terms of the best MK games of all time, MK8 is right behind MK7. Nintendo did a great job with it. I'd tweak a couple things, yes. But those things do not bother me enough to make me not want to play the game. Mario Kart 8 is fantastic.
But seriously, for the love of [tornado fang]ing everything, can you please stop making Battle Mode worse and worse with EACH new game. Sigh.