'Mario Kart Wii' is a blast
By Joseph Phung
Nintendo has been on a roll lately with their games. First, they release “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” in March and just recently their anticipated racer, “Mario Kart Wii” came out… causing productivity for Wii owners to slip even further.
“Mario Kart Wii” follows the same formula as the games before, as you’ll select a character and compete in several racing tournaments. This time around, motorbikes can be used in certain race classes, instead of the usual kart vehicles.
Motorbikes can perform wheelies for a slight speed boost, while karts can achieve a boost when drifting. Whatever vehicle you decide to use, though, taking control of them is easy, as the game utilizes the Wii Wheel, which is included inside the box. Yet other control schemes are available, too, like the GameCube controller, for example.
There are 32 courses to race in “Mario Kart Wii,” with half being new and the rest made up of old ones from the games before. Each course is well designed and still features items to use during the race, like Koopa turtle shells, along with new items like the Mega Mushroom, which makes your character large enough to flatten anyone that gets in the way.
While playing “Mario Kart Wii” alone is enjoyable, it’s even better online, as you can race with up to 11 other players worldwide with no lag issues. One annoyance with the online, though, is that when hosting a race with some friends, you can’t open it for other random players to join in. Hopefully, Nintendo can change this in the near future with a downloadable patch.
Another gripe with the game is that the process of adding random people to your friends list could have been simpler, as the only way to exchange the 12 digit friend codes with others is by looking and posting on online gaming message boards. Also, don’t expect to be wowed by the visuals, as what’s here doesn’t look all that much different from the last game back in 2003 on the GameCube.
Overall, “Mario Kart Wii” is a blast to play, especially when racing it up online with others. Although there are some minor issues with the game, it’s still easily the best racing game to come out so far this year.
Originally Published: Issue 648 - May 14, 2008
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