Game review: Mario Kart 8

This game is a winner.

With 1.2 million units sold in the opening weekend, it's easy to see just how much pull one gaming franchise can have. Anything with the name Mario on it is keeping Nintendo's head above water. Despite the occasional Zelda title, there's really nothing else worth owning a Wii U for, let's be honest.

But any new Mario game to hit the shelves will be a sure-fire winner.

With Mario Kart 8, Nintendo have gone with what can be described as your quintessential Mario Kart experience. Favourite tracks from previous games join 16 new ones, all themed with well recognised Mario world environments.

Perhaps the biggest addition to Mario Kart 8 are the anti-gravity sections, where hitting a blue bar on the track will flip you upside down. This introduces you to otherwise unobtainable shortcuts that are in turn very hard to traverse successfully. You'll be looking for these blue bars on a regular basis.

There is also a Super Horn, which can be a game changer if you're lucky enough to have one at the right time (it's a rarity). The Super Horn can protect you from dreaded Blue Shell attacks. It's a wise move making it hard to get as its abuse would make the game too easy.

Mario Kart has always been about the local multiplayer and the game skips along with two players, but sadly four players locally or any multiplayer online isn't anywhere near as smooth.

That said, Mario Kart 8 is easily the pinnacle of the series to date and will no doubt be the last one on this generation of Nintendo's console.