For my money, Mario Kart 8 is the best game in the series since that Super Nintendo classic, and one of the greatest arcade racers of all time. It holds that knife-edge balance between luck and skill better than any Mario Kart since the first, and locks the player into the zone with an exquisite stack of boost tricks that give you something new to think about every second and a half. It's also an audiovisual wonder: the most beautiful game of the new hardware generation to date, a game that lights up your synapses as it laughs off the Wii U's horsepower deficit in a riot of colour, brilliant animation and blistering performance; a game that evokes the dazzling, long-lost wow factor of the arcade.
But the best thing about Mario Kart 8 is that it is defiantly old-school and thrillingly modern all at once. It incorporates some of the best features of contemporary social gaming without jumping on any bandwagons that might lead it astray. It offers depth and customisation and a long tail of unlocks, but it doesn't put grind before purity. Online, it's competitive but friendly, with excellent ranking and matchmaking, a level playing field and - something previously thought impossible - a charming lobby. It's a game you keep playing again and again and again because you're having fun, not because you're working towards your next meta-goal. It's even got an add-on that's worth buying.
