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curl-6 on 25 May 2014
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Zekkyou said:
curl-6 said:

For all the  talk about "59fps" and "720p with no AA", they also said:

"Tracks are alive and bursting with colour and animation backed by an overhauled lighting solution and a smattering of excellent texture-work."

"Thankfully, the lacklustre image quality does little to spoil an otherwise magnificent visual package."

"This is all enhanced by a convincing combination of real-time and pre-baked shadows that even take occluded edges into account. Complimenting this is a vast array of dynamic light sources, such as headlights, item boxes, and special effects, made possible by what we suspect is a shift to a deferred rendering solution. Even in four-player split-screen we see dynamic lighting play a large role in defining the visual design while simultaneously highlighting detail in the texture work. It's really quite a treat for the eyes."

"The world is further enhanced by the same atmospheric glow we loved in Super Mario 3D World, lending an almost hyper-realistic look to the surroundings alongside smaller details including a more robust particle system and plenty of decal textures. You'll notice plumes of smoke encircling the tyres as you jam on the accelerator, dust and debris kicking up when you drive through dirt, and rising bubbles when submerged in water. Skid-marks and other decals also help give persistence to each lap around the track."

"The frequency and pattern of [the 59fps] problem suggests an internal timing issue, potentially related to Mario Kart TV, rather than one of performance."

"Mario Kart 8 is a beautiful game with just a few small flaws that blemish an otherwise faultless presentation."

Curl, you should include what they said about the 4 player split screen. The frame rate obviously drops from 60 to 30 for each person, but the inpact on playing is relatively small. To quote them exactly:

"--that the game's core mechanics are processing identically to the 60Hz single-player game, so while there will be an increase in input lag, this doesn't quite feel like the muggy 30fps racing games you may be accustomed to"

I wonder if the 4 player split screen may be the reason for the 720p/no AA? Even with the alternating 30fps parts of the screen, the total resources for rendering the 4 (and 2) player modes is likely quite a lot more than the single player. It's plausible that they perhaps wanted to use a consistent (though lackluster) IQ for all the modes rather than a scaling one. It would certainly be an odd choice to make, but not totally out of the question.

Just some food for thought o/

Good point man, I added it, thanks. :)

I do actually wonder if they optimized the graphics around splitscreen. The probably figured it would be foremost a multiplayer game and used that as the baseline.