The only other bright spot is the Kaiju Guide, a collection detailing the playable creatures as well as quite a few not featured. I adored seeing old stills from the films and, sure, there is a certain appeal to playing as a bunch of these guys. But the feeling fades before long. A love of the movies can only get you so far when the experience is this frustrating and hollow. What a letdown.
Barring the final, post-credits set of levels -- which is absolutely brutal -- it shouldn't take more than a few hours to get through Action Henk with decent rankings. Although the game doesn't outstay its welcome, that can be difficult to appreciate. I was left wanting more, particularly in terms of level variety, but the essence of the game is great.
Even the smallest accomplishments feel like massive victories, and once you experience that euphoria, you won't want to quit. Watch your ambition soar.
As with DLC Pack 1, Nintendo has shown what great downloadable content can look like and that it doesn't need to arrive on day one or even month one. While not every new track is memorable, there is a consistent quality here and a few of them represent Mario Kart at its best. It was a treat to see other Nintendo properties dip into the game last year and that novelty hasn't worn off yet. This is the future of the series. It has to be.
The rest of DLC Pack 1 isn't as consistently great as the core game, but it's all relative. By industry standards for post-release content, Nintendo is killing it. This is a must-buy for Mario Kart 8 players, and I'm hopeful the company will continue pulling in other franchises going forward. These packs can't just be a one-off experiment; the potential for cool crossovers is too high.
For the time being, however, this approach works -- Battlefield 4's multiplayer is strong enough to carry it. The single-player campaign isn't nearly the waste of time that it was in the last game, though it still ends up being an unnecessary inclusion. One can't help but wonder how much better Battlefield would be if DICE quit striving for back-of-the-box feature parity and concentrated its efforts entirely on multiplayer. I hope that day comes again.