When comparing Mario Kart 8 vs SpeedRunners, the Slant community recommends Mario Kart 8 for most people. In the question“What are the best multiplayer games for office downtime?” Mario Kart 8 is ranked 1st while SpeedRunners is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Mario Kart 8 is:
The game has multiple game modes, various vehicles, bunch of usable items, an array of tracks, lots of customization options and fun gameplay mechanics, including anti-gravity, gliding and underwater driving among many other features to keep the game fun.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Fun, varied gameplay
The game has multiple game modes, various vehicles, bunch of usable items, an array of tracks, lots of customization options and fun gameplay mechanics, including anti-gravity, gliding and underwater driving among many other features to keep the game fun.
Pro Up to 4 player split-screen
You can play all game modes locally with up to 4 players.
Pro Multiple game modes
There are 4 game modes in Mario Kart 8. There's Grand Prix, the main game mode where you compete in 12-player races using various items found in the level, Time Trial, where you fight against the clock, VS Race, where you can set up your own rules, and Battle, a variant on a typical race with 3 balloons added to each player, allowing you to pop your opponents balloons for points.
Pro Quick games
Races don't take too long (a typical race takes about 5 minutes) so you can play on your lunch break.
Pro Helps new players
While this makes it a worse competitive game, it makes it more accessible in the office for everyone to be able to play. A game where a few players can just dominate everyone else won't be fun for everyone, and will discourage people from playing in the first place.
Pro Supports up to 12 players online
In online mode you can compete with up to 11 other players.
Pro Glorious 60fps gameplay
The game runs at stable 60 fps with the exception of 4-player split screen, where the framerate is halved.
Pro Gives everyone a chance to win
The game is balances up in a way where it's naturally harder for the player in front to see upcoming obstacles, giving players behind great opportunities to get back ahead. This makes the game fun to keep playing in a group as you're unlikely to keep losing to the one over-competitive friend that tries too hard.
Pro Fun and intense races
SpeedRunners is an intense race around a 2d course. The camera follows the player in the lead, so if you get too far behind you will go off the screen and instantly die. To stay in the lead you will need to dodge obstacles, use a grappling hook to move faster and intelligently use power-ups.
Pro Easy to pick up and play but doesn't get boring
You can get up to speed in just a few minutes as the controls are very simple to learn, but the game still has plenty of depth, as mastering when to use different skills on different levels keeps it fresh.
Pro Interesting movement mechanics
The game has a freeing walljump mechanic as well as a grappling hook that can be used to swing across obstacles, pull towards ledges, etc. This makes for movements that are intuitive and fun as well as well controlled.
Pro Fun power-ups
The game includes powerups like homing rockets, freeze rays and magma balls that can quickly change the game and add a level of randomness to each match making for a unique experience every time.
Pro 4 Player simultaneous, combined local and online
There are 4 slots per game, and each slot can be filled with a local player, a bot, a friend over the internet, or a random internet stranger.
Pro Short matches
Matches are quick and only take a few minutes to play, so it's a great game to play on your lunch break, or when you just have a few minutes of free time. This also makes for a good game to play with friends that have limited time to play online.
Pro Level designer for extended gameplay
There is an included level designer so users can design their own levels making for endless playtime through inventing and playing ones own levels.
Cons
Con Difficult to play without a controller
Using a keyboard to play can be difficult as it is mainly designed around using a controller, so for those without a controller they may be handicapped playing against others that do.
Con Buggy
Like most Early Access games, bugs are to be expected. The game may crash to desktop and players may fall through the level, hopefully these get fixed before the full release.