Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii feels highly reactionary, as if Nintendo willfully sought to dumb down the driving mechanics in order to even the playing field for the masses. Bundling the game with the plastic Wii Wheel contraption reinforces that commitment to democratizing gameplay: Sure, nongamers will get a kick out of careening around the course via tilt controls and gesticulations, but you’ll find yourself haphazardly oversteering. The wheel isn’t necessarily your enemy, though. It’s solidly constructed and comfortable; players who stick with its motion-controlled driving for a few races will eventually acclimate to it. But of the game’s four control options, the Wii Remote-and-Nunchuk combo clearly works the best: It’s the only way to get both familiar analog stick steering and the freedom to easily put the crucial new trick system to use with the Wii-mote. Plus, this new split control setup feels perfectly suited for the newly added motorcycles, allowing you to make tight turns while launching weapons and landing tricks with ease.

Game Features:

• The Wii Wheel transforms the Wii Remote™ controller into a steering wheel that feels natural in anyone’s hands, while the Wii Remote and Nunchuk™ controller offer a classic control style for the Mario Kart veteran. In either configuration, players can perform speed-boosting tricks with a shake of the Wii Remote.

• Players can race as their favorite Nintendo character, or even as themselves! Mario Kart Wii lets players race with their personalized Mii™ characters. And racers will see other Mii characters they have created cheering from the sidelines on some race courses.

• Players can compete with up to three friends in their living room. Or challenge up to 11 opponents via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in the biggest Mario Kart race yet. All tracks and modes of play are available via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and players can visit the Mario Kart Channel to compete in tournaments, check rankings, see when their friends are playing and download ghost data.

• Cruise new tracks and arenas or tour classic courses from Super Mario Kart™, Mario Kart® 64, Mario Kart®: Super Circuit™, Mario Kart®: Double Dash!!™ and Mario Kart® DS. Tired of riding on four wheels? Bust out one of the new motorbikes for special tricks and techniques.

Characters

Nintendo favorites Mario™, Luigi™, Peach™, Yoshi®, Donkey Kong®, Wario™, Bowser™ and Toad™, plus a host of new faces-including your own! Get into the game and put your Mii™ character behind the wheel.

Special Powers/Weapons/Moves/Features

Whether racing around an obstacle-filled track or battling in an arena, drifting and tossing items are the keys to Mario Kart success. Players can shake the Wii Remote while launching off a ramp to pull off a trick that will temporarily boost their speed. When riding a bike, players can gain additional speed by flicking the Wii Remote up and popping a wheelie

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection:

Keeping in the tradition of Mario Kart, Nintendo has pushed multiplayer racingeven further utilizing the Wii’s built in Wi-Fi Connection. There are two options for races and battles over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection: up to 12 people via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection or up to 10 people via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection with two people playing locally.

More Reviews:

Undoubtingly, Nintendo has really showed more muscle within their games for the Wii this past year. With games that really stretched beyond the imagination for fans like Super Mario Galaxy, which re-defined Mario alone in adventures, and the battle smashing action of Super Smash Brothers Brawl that dominated fans hearts all around the worls, Nintendo really shows what it takes to make great video games. But, that also can be said with the Mario Kart series, which finally makes it debut on the Wii. But, following the innovation that Mario Kart DS had from the Nintendo DS wasn’t so easy, largely because it was the first DS handheld title to use the Wi-Fi online gaming to an outrageous excitement for gamers all around the world. Now, it is time for the Wii to take that on and race to the checkered flag.

Mario Kart Wii for the Nintendo Wii, brings in all that fast-paced excitement racers have wanted and even more. The game adds a whole lot of new and exciting features to use. You can now race as many as 12 racers online through the online gaming, and bring the action over the top, and use that skill and excitement on over 40 different tracks: 10 battle tracks and 32 exciting race tracks that are both new and featured from the earlier Mario Kart games like D.K. Jungle Highway and Sherbet Land from Mario Kart 64. The new tracks are also exciting that will have you racing and bouncing on top of mushrooms from the all-new Mushroom Gorge, and have you crusing the shopping malls and racing down fligts of escaltors with the brand new Coconut Mall course, or racing across the tree trunks of the new Maple Leaf Highway. Every single track is great for beginners and die hard Mario Kart fans of all ages.

The gameplay also has a few new surprises, as you not just rave in karts, you also get to race on motorbikes too, bringing more action and variety to each of the players delight. There are also a few new power-ups here too including the Mega Mushroom, from the DS game New Super Mario Brothers, which makes your racer giant-sized, so you can squash your opponents on your way to the checkered flag, and the lightning cloud which shrinks you down to a tiny racer, so you squeeze underneath your opponents and take them by surprise. There also are a few new characters here to unlock in the game as well. You can choose to race with the classics like Mario, Yoshi, Bowser and Luigi, and 6 hidden characters to unlock and master like Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy, Funky Kong and Diddy Kong from Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and even Bowser Bones (the skeleton Bowser boss from New Super Mario Brothers.)

Mario Kart Wii has the potential to be a great game, but because of two very ill-conceived aspects, is virtually unplayable and unenjoyable.

Unbalanced gameplay is what prevents me from rating this higher than one star. One item in particular is the blue shell, first introduced in the Nintendo 64 Mario Kart, then reformulated in the Gamecube Double Dash!! iteration to its present form, is an item that, when released, flies over all players to bomb the one in first place. When in first place, you cannot defend yourself against it unless you have in your possession a mushroom you use at the exact moment, but receiving a mushroom in first place is extremely rare. If this sounds like punishing good players, then you would be right. What makes this especially egregious is that the item is used by the computer in 1-player mode, particularly as the lone human player is nearing the finish line after being in first place for the majority of the race.

The other aspect that seems ill-conceived is the driver ranking, ranging from C, B, A, *, **, ***. This allegedly rates your driving skill. What is ridiculous is that to get a ***, the highest ranking, you must be in first place the vast majority of the races, win every race, and avoid wiping out on items. Some races I have received a rank of ** for winning every race but one with huge leads over the rest of the pack. Other times, I have received a rank of C, despite winning every race, including several where I led the race, only to go from first to last in the final lap due to a blue shell and other unavoidable items randomly generated by the computer. In my opinion, the greater “driving skill” and rank comes from those who are so good they can win a race despite being “sent to the back” with less than half a lap to go.

Overall, the game has great courses (for the most part), great character roster, and a great variety of karts and bikes. On paper, this looks like a great game.

But video games should be fun, and when one is not fun because the computer “cheats,” I cannot rank it highly.

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