Another console and another iteration of the Mario Kart series (the eight title, if you couldn't guess). With each new title Nintendo tweaks their last release; adding new elements and amending other aspects in the hopes of continuing the success the previous games have seen.

Mario Kart 8 primarily takes elements of Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii, offering players the chance to climb aboard karts or bikes that can transform as you traverse the air, water and up walls. The end result, or at least so far, is a mixed bag between a new experience and an iterative update.

To say Mario Kart 8 is 'just' a new Mario Kart game sounds like a complaint, but in fact after numerous releases this is what I have come to expect. The series has proven itself to be the finest in the go-karting sub-genre that has seen many imitators, some of which occasionally surpass Mario Kart titles but none have managed to outlive the series.

Mario Kart 8 feels just like Mario Kart Wii, with a few additions thrown in. You can play using either the Wii U GamePad, Wii Remote and Nunchuck or Wii Wheel (or the Wii Remote held horizontally), which means anyone that clung to the GameCube pad on Mario Kart Wii will have to adapt. If you are playing with the GamePad, you can choose to control the vehicle using either the gyroscope or the D-Pad or analogue stick while on-screen information is displayed on the GamePad rather than the TV.

Handling using either method on the GamePad takes a little getting used to, just as the Wii Remote did, but one race should really do it. The demo version we played started off on a rather plain course, which helped get to grip with things, although didn't do much in terms of showcasing Mario Kart 8 itself.

The courses that followed allowed you to fly, swim and hover and offered a much better insight into what to expect from the final product. Courses now have a variety of routes to follow, allowing for a more varied (and sometimes more isolated) playing experience. While shortcuts have always been a part of the franchise, this is the first time the courses have felt more open to explore.

When it was debuted at E3 2013, fans drooled over the game's graphics. Mario Kart 8 really does offer some great visuals that shows what five years, and a new piece of hardware, can do. The Boo House course, a haunted house affair, really showed just how the backgrounds and lighting effects have been ramped up to offer a rich visual experience.

From what we played, Mario Kart 8 doesn't feel like a big departure from previous titles, as much as it does a refinement. The final build may well contain a plethora of new racers, tracks and weapons to utilise, but for now we know that Nintendo will deliver another solid racing experience when Mario Kart 8 is launched in 2014.