Are you disappointed with MK 8 reviews so far?

[hsrob]

Einsam_Delphin said:

hsrob said:
I would have loved if they had taken this as an opportunity to revive the Battle Mode but since it has been in decline is the N64 version I wasn't holding my breath.

N64 Battle Mode had much, much more depth than many people ever gave it credit for.

I really don't understand why people think MK64 had the best battle mode. You say it has a lot of depth, which is what exactly? Iirc it only has four different arenas, only one mode being Balloon battle, and didn't allow for AI opponents, meaning it was unplayable by yourself, and even when you have people with ya, the max amount of players is only four. MK8's battle mode is pretty much on par with this, except no arenas of course, but you can have AI opponent's, there's online play, and you've got options like teams or setting what items there'll be.

Don't get me wrong, these are all good things but lack of arenas is a pretty big omission.

What MK64 battle mode had going for it was that it did the simple things properly

1. The Arenas: Only a few, but impeccably designed and each requiring precise knowledge of the stages and unique tactics to be successful.

2. Weapon balance: all weapons had their uses both offensively and defensively, even the fake item boxes, that you had to learn and exploit.  The knowledge that if you fired a shell from just the right angle you could circumvent shell or banana defence that someone was employing, or conversely if they saw it coming in time they could change the angle of their drift to counter. Or that if you shot from above, with the right timing, there was no defence.

3. The fact that you only had three balloons: this was key (similar to the fact that stock matches were preferred over timed or other modes for the competitive Melee community), it didn't matter if you lost two balloons in the first five seconds.  If you had the skills and the patience you could camp, claw, hide your way to victory from there, even if it took 10-15 minutes.

On paper it didn't have much, but the interplay of the above elements in the hands of skilled players made it incredibly compelling.  For my mind they could have taken those elements, added a few more fiendishly clever arenas, AI opponent's,  online play, and additional item and team settings and you would have a game I would have bought even if there were no other modes.

Now I fully admit I haven't played MK8 so I'm willing to concede that it may excel with some of these elements but from what I've heard I'm not too hopeful.