Never played the original, so this is like a brand new game to me.
This game oozes personality. The stages are beautifully done, letting you feel like you're actually racing in these unique themed areas, rather than just a generic racetrack with a themed backdrop. The roster is varied and full of life.
The customisation stuff really adds life to everything, I especially love that the legendary skins give new podium animations (another little addition that adds to the games charm).
This game is well known for its pretty big skill gap compared to other kart racers. While I can respect that, I found that it clashed too much with the mechanics that still make this game, well, a kart racer. The constant item spam is still a thing, so the idea of thinking of this as competitive flies in your face (literally) when you get hit by 10 items in a row.
The drifting mechanic never felt good to me even after I got used to it. The amount on focus needed on it all race makes it feel less fun and more stressful to get the perfect timing constantly, forcing me to ignore the gorgeous levels. The drifting itself felt off to me, with the little jump needed to be done before drifting, so the timing was often off, I'd drift too late, turn too early throwing my angle off, or I'd turn too late after I landed and not end up drifting at all. There were certain times I wasn't even sure if I had managed to hit the drift, because the feedback for doing so is pretty subtle.
Single player mode is fine despite its simple plot, it's got some cutscenes that are fun. It's super short though, so they pad this out by making you do every track 4 times for 100% (6 times if the track is a boss race track!).
Online is bare bones as all heck. There's no kind of ranking or rating system, so every race is basically just a one-off and you move to the next one, never feeling like you're earning anything. The race also ends 20 seconds after first place crosses the finish line, and thanks to the immense skill gap this game has, a player in first can easily finish 30+ seconds ahead of everyone else, especially since the items in this game aren't great for catching up to anyone too far ahead. But if you're in the back with the others then the items will only make sure the person in first just gets a bigger and bigger lead.
An overall fun kart racer, but once you've done the short story, unless you really want to master this game via the time trial ghosts and relics, and are content playing single races online, there's not much to keep you drawn in.
This game oozes personality. The stages are beautifully done, letting you feel like you're actually racing in these unique themed areas, rather than just a generic racetrack with a themed backdrop. The roster is varied and full of life.
The customisation stuff really adds life to everything, I especially love that the legendary skins give new podium animations (another little addition that adds to the games charm).
This game is well known for its pretty big skill gap compared to other kart racers. While I can respect that, I found that it clashed too much with the mechanics that still make this game, well, a kart racer. The constant item spam is still a thing, so the idea of thinking of this as competitive flies in your face (literally) when you get hit by 10 items in a row.
The drifting mechanic never felt good to me even after I got used to it. The amount on focus needed on it all race makes it feel less fun and more stressful to get the perfect timing constantly, forcing me to ignore the gorgeous levels. The drifting itself felt off to me, with the little jump needed to be done before drifting, so the timing was often off, I'd drift too late, turn too early throwing my angle off, or I'd turn too late after I landed and not end up drifting at all. There were certain times I wasn't even sure if I had managed to hit the drift, because the feedback for doing so is pretty subtle.
Single player mode is fine despite its simple plot, it's got some cutscenes that are fun. It's super short though, so they pad this out by making you do every track 4 times for 100% (6 times if the track is a boss race track!).
Online is bare bones as all heck. There's no kind of ranking or rating system, so every race is basically just a one-off and you move to the next one, never feeling like you're earning anything. The race also ends 20 seconds after first place crosses the finish line, and thanks to the immense skill gap this game has, a player in first can easily finish 30+ seconds ahead of everyone else, especially since the items in this game aren't great for catching up to anyone too far ahead. But if you're in the back with the others then the items will only make sure the person in first just gets a bigger and bigger lead.
An overall fun kart racer, but once you've done the short story, unless you really want to master this game via the time trial ghosts and relics, and are content playing single races online, there's not much to keep you drawn in.