I picked up Mario Kart Wii today with much anticipation since I have been a Mario Kart fan since it came out on the Super Nintendo. Mario Kart Wii is a great Nintendo game that I am sure you will enjoy immensely, but it isn’t as great as it could have been due to some things that Nintendo changed from the original formula and it’s mediocore-at-best online play.
First, the good. The graphics are shaper than its Gamecube predecesor, you can race motorcycles, you can perform mid-air tricks, it comes with a free wii-wheel, and you can race or battle online.
Next, the bad. The wii-wheel is a fun novelty once and then you pick up a gamecube controller and actually play the game. It’s not that racing with the wheel is bad, it’s just not accurate, you will have a hard time sliding in between two closely placed banana peels with the wii-wheel. Next, The play online takes a short eternity to get started. You have to watch a race before you can join it and the online load screens and the course selection both take much longer than they needed to.
As for using the gamecube controller or the wii-mote/nunchuck, Nintendo changed how you powerslide. Instead of waggling the joystick back and forth until you build up a boost, you have to hold a powersilde for a certain amount of time and when you exit the slide, your kart boosts; that’s ok and all, but powersliding feels totally diferent than the last three major installments of the game (DS, GCN, and N64). In order to maintain a slide that is going to get you around a corner, you have to waggle the joystick back and forth to aviod hitting a wall or going off course.
There are some new items in this game, the ones that stand out the most are the POW Block and the big mushroom. The POW block is like a red shell that you can’t aviod. It flies up and hits you, making you spin out. There’s not much strategy to it and it’s really annoying. The big mushroom makes you bigger and allows you to run over other racers, but it doesn’t let you speed up.
Personally, I liked Mario Kart: Double Dash the best and this game is pretty far from that game. The only thing the same is that the courses still are long and complex. But there is only one character per kart, items work more like the N64 version, and the racing is simpler and slower. Mario Kart Wii is a step backwards to Mario Kart 64 and that disapoints me.
Overall, if you like Mario Kart, you aren’t going to hate this game, but you may be a little disappointed. I’m giving it a C+.
2 Comments
April 29, 2008 at 2:15 PM
This games courses are bland, and was a huge disappointment for me. And the graphics haven’t exactly improved. Though it seems as though they have, they in fact have taken a step backwards, even if the lighting has improved.
May 8, 2008 at 12:59 AM
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