Pros: Great course design, wonderful control schemes, motorbikes included, online gameplay, lots of characters
Cons: Balance, sounds recycled and grating, battle mode changes, two player career gone, no graphical improvement
The Bottom Line: The Mario Kart experiences live on with the Nintendo Wii. The online gameplay and Wii Remote is incorporated well. Balance issues prevent this from being excellent.
The return of the insane craziness that is known as Mario Kart, this time on the Wii, has been met with great anticipation by those who may have only recently started following the series to those who have been playing the Red Shell craziness for the last 15 years. Even more intriguing was how Nintendo would incorporate their new control scheme, a main selling point of the Nintendo Wii, to the series. It is noteworthy that their effort across many control mechanisms was successful.
The Mario Kart series has been a main staple for nearly every Nintendo system, starting with the Super Nintendo to the recently released Mario Kart DS on the Nintendo DS. The first iteration, Super Mario Kart, was at first met with skepticism by those who wondered how a Kart game would be received. The premise that all of Nintendo's main stay Mario Bros. characters would race against one another, with the ability to throw weapons of various Nintendo lore (i.e. Red Shells, Banana Peels and Green Shells), ultimately was met with great critical acclaim and was one of the best selling games ever for the Super Nintendo. The hefty amount of software sold worldwide checked in at an astounding 8.5 million units. So it was almost inevitable that a sequel would be entirely necessary.
Here we are, 5 iterations hence, with improvements to the original game mechanics and much of the same old gameplay (good and bad). One of the big noticeable inclusions to the series, which has heckled some diehard fans, include the ability to race as a motorcycle along side with the Karts. Furthermore, the amount of racers included in each race has been raised to 12 from 8 and the weapons have also increased just as much. All the mainstays have returned from the past iterations, such as many of the fabled Mario Bros. characters (i.e. Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Mario, etc.) and some of the newer characters in the recent Mario iterations have also entered (i.e. all the baby characters and Rose from Super Mario Galaxy). Included with the ability to choose these characters are more stats to help a player sort through the many karts (or bikes) that each character has the ability to race. Gone are the light, medium and heavy weight classes by character, but in come the various karts that may or may not get easily pushed no matter the character.
To start with the first new inclusion is the ability to play on either a motorcycle or kart. The implementation on the single player side is, unfortunately, flawed in some instances. Starting with the 50cc class (the slowest and beginner type class), you are relegated to racing only with karts against other karts. While this allows the player to get used to the newer mechanics (i.e. sliding does not require wiggling to gain mini-turbos), it also makes for a problem when you are racing against the increased amount of computer opponents at the 100cc (moderate difficulty) with bikes only. The mechanics between the motorcycle and kart are different, with karts getting two mini-turbo boosts if you hold the skid long enough vs. with bikes getting only 1 per skid but also a wheelie giving you a mini-turbo boost as well. Jumping between the new classes is not as easy as it once was, and going to the fastest 150cc class (both karts and motorbikes included) has also had major caveats due to the increased amount of racers.
Many of us have grown accustomed to racing against 8 players in single player and less over multiplayer. The first major thing that should be noted is just because Nintendo included more characters per race (12) does not mean that they should have implemented this practice. The reason is that all of your AI opponents or even online opponents makes for a MUCH more chaotic race. Normally, skill will still assist you in gaining the top 6 places but now it comes down to a matter of luck in greater respects. The spiny blue shell returns, with many still complaining about its punishing aspects for those who are in 1st place. I will grant that the premise with the introduction on the Nintendo 64 was to help balance the playing field, but this turns out to be a game breaker when lots of others can throw these things at you. With multiple blue shells being tossed at you, sometimes at extremely inconvenient times, will cause those in first to drop to 4th or 5th (or worst in 150cc). I would normally advocate for more racers, so long as balance is allowed. Unfortunately, it seems that chaos now reigns in each race more so now than ever and veteran players or beginners alike will not like this aspect.
The weapons has been one of the main stays of the Mario Kart series. At first, you only had mushrooms (turbo boost), banana peels (slip out karts behind you), green shells (linear projectile), red shells (seeks out opponent ahead of you), feathers (ability to jump over a short distance) and Star Men (invincibility and ability to toss/stop other karts if touched). Now, there are plenty of weapons that can be used to your advantage or otherwise. The blue shell, known at first as the first place seeker, would normally stay on the ground and 'seek' out the first place opponent. Should you be caught by this spiny shell, you would be spun out or tossed aside no matter the place. Now, since the Gamecube series, the blue shell flies at incredibly fast speeds and solely affects the player in first place or those caught in the blast radius after the first place player is hit. This premise is extremely unfortunate, as it practically punishes players who normally take the lead for just being there. Even worst, there is no defense against this shell and players who tend to get it are in the bottom 6 places (6th to 12th). So it would behoove you to be in the top spot, but hang back until the player in first gets shelled (literally).
Other new items that have been included are the Giant Mushroom (grow larger and run over others), Cloud Lightning (tag others until the cloud drops the lightning bolt or be shrunk yourself), the squid (inks other opponents ahead of you), bomb-ombs (blows up ppl in a certain radius), multiple mushrooms and various multiples of the old weapons. A major flaw in this mechanic is that those who are in the lead tend to get items that are rarely useful, and those who in the last place to 7th place gain items that could literally turn everything around for their favor. I have personally caught back up from 12th place due to the aggressive item distribution for players who are in the latter places. This mechanic should have been corrected, or at least left to the original SNES method, where players in all places get the ability to get all items equally.
With that said, the gameplay is still fun... albeit frustrating. If you have been with the series from the start, you will still very much enjoy the ability to play with updated graphics and new gameplay mechanics. It is not to say that this is perfect, but you will still be able to jump in and get going without too much effort on your part. Newer players will enjoy the series just as much, with the ability to use multiple control setups to your liking (Wii Remote, Wii Remote + Nunchuck, classic controller, GCN controller or the new plastic wheel).
The graphics in the series have mainly stayed on the cartoonish side. As this series has long been known for that, and we are portraying the world of Super Mario Bros., I am personally not upset by this decision. In fact, the game has aged gracefully despite the nearly 2 decades that the game has been out. The disappointment in the graphics comes in with the fact that if you played this on the Gamecube, there really is no step up. It is more of a step sideways graphically, since the hardware is still not much better than the GCN.
A main issue arises with the sounds. Though many of the songs are actually enjoyable and the course layout equally as great, the various voiceovers can get on your nerves. Yoshi now sounds annoying more than any other, and Toad sounds too much like he has smoked too many 'shrooms (no pun intended). The sounds are also hold overs from the past games and really have shown no improvement of impact, and is hardly impressive when you consider that you've heard many of them before. It would have been nice to hear some new sounds, improve on the impact of the weapons or even switch things up just a little. However, you will not be surprised and be treated to no such difference.
It is with no surprise that Nintendo incorporated their new control scheme rather well. The ability to use your Wii Remote with the nunchuck or with the plastic wheel encasing now comes down to a matter of taste. I've found that the use of the wheel encasement turned out to be rather good, despite the fact that if you do not have this mounted... you will get tired. The use of the classic controllers will likely be a mainstay for those who have followed this series for a long time. Furthermore, the ability to perform various tricks depending on your control scheme is rather intuitive and is not unbalanced to favor one scheme or another. The controls, no matter the scheme, are responsive and definitely fun to use.
Now that the series has jumped onto a system capable of online play, the longevity has increased significantly. You are now able to race against 11 other opponents online, with a score being tabulated at the end of each race to indicate your skill (starting at 5000 base). Should you come in at the top places, your score will increase and vice versa. Equally impressive is how well the online play is, without any noticeable lag or slowdown due to latency issues. This game is a gem of an example of how online play should be incorporated, esp. for any racer.
Should you enjoy the single player or at home experience, there have been noticeable hic ups in execution. First of all, you are limited to single player career mode racing. This changed from the last iteration, where two players could race in career mode (offline) and against the many AI opponents. Though you can do a series of 4 races in versus mode and be scored accordingly, it would have been nice to have both players try this with their own unique license. Another disappointment is how battle mode has been changed, in my opinion for the worst. What used to be a 4 player balloon breaking fest is now a 2 vs. 2 mode, where you are scored as a team for your efforts. Why Nintendo decided to do this is unusual, given the great reception they have received regarding Battle Mode from the off. Hopefully in the next iteration, this will be corrected.
With a new iteration comes 16 new courses, 4 for each cup (Mushroom, Flower, Star and Special). Also, 16 classic courses return, 4 in each cup of their respective difficulties. The course designs in the new courses are actually wonderfully well played, through some recurring themes from the classic courses will be noticed. There is much more emphasis on each course to perform tricks for increased speed, and speed up arrows to allow you to jump off the walls and increase speed again. While nice, this changes the mechanic more from the familiar Mario Kart to a Trick heavy Mario Kart. One nice comment I will make to the course design is that the Rainbow Road, the long standing hardest course in the game, is definitely one of the best designed in the series.
Mario Kart has been around for 15 years, and aged gracefully. The mechanics and balance has changed for the worst, but not so much that it would hinder your enjoyment of the game (except at 150cc). If you have enjoyed this series, or are new to it, you will not be disappointed with the purchase of this game. I have personally enjoyed the series for 15 years, but really would have liked to see many improvements or at least more balance. Normally, a game like this would have garnered a strong recommendation due to the fun aspect. However, without these issues addressed, it turns out that there is more frustration involved and turns this more into a party racing game.
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