When I first played Mario Kart 64, I was convinced the game was the best ever. Of course, this was when I
first got my N64, and I forgot about Super Mario Bros. 3 for a while. After a while, I came back to my senses, and SMB3 was back at #1 on my favorite games list, but MK64 has always been high up there. You'd think after all these years that game would be getting old, but it's always been a fun one to play. Finally, one of the big reasons I decided to get a GameCube in the first place, MK64's sequel, has arrived, known as Mario Kart: Double Dash, complete with two racers per kart, special items, and certainly all kinds of new tracks, battle arenas, and characters awaiting. A few nights or so before I got this game, I had this thought that it would be so good that it would rise even above NCAA Football 2004, which has been my favorite game this year. If I have learned anything, it is that high expectations usually mean disappointment, but I expected something spectacular from NCAA Football 2004 and got it, so certainly I figured Mario Kart: Double Dash could live up to the hype.
This game is rated on a zero to four star scale, with zero being pathetic and four being excellent. Just like in my F-Zero GX Review, I will be comparing this game to Mario Kart 64, with +'s indicating Double Dash is better than MK64, -'s indicating Double Dash is worse, and ='s indicating the games are about the same. (Sections may seem out of order, but that's because they are following the order I had them in my Mario Kart 64 Review.)
Graphics: **1/2
I don't think that every single GameCube
game deserves a four-star rating in graphics just because the
graphics are better than on the N64.
While Luigi's Mansion still is a surprising standard for Mario games
when it comes to GameCube graphics,
Mario Kart: Double Dash doesn't quite give a great visual sight. Sure,
the tracks are nice and colorful, and the characters look great, as do
the cars and other objects on the
tracks. But some tracks look incredibly
fake (DK Mountain, anyone?), while others may look fine, but still not
something really special. There's nothing really spectacular-looking about
any of the tracks, and although the graphics are above-average, they aren't
really that great. (+)
Sound: *1/2
There are no standout themes this time,
much unlike Mario Kart 64, which definitely made you remember some songs
(and easily forget some others, too). The music isn't bad, it's just not
really good. It's not music
you'll be humming to, and not any that
will get stuck in your head that easily. The only theme I like is the one
playing on the points screen after you win a race. I was just about to
make a joke here about the frequency of winning races, but I'll save that
for later... (-)
Difficulty:
50cc: no stars
100cc, 150cc, etc.: ****
There are certain games in which I wish I gave out ratings based on how much I like the difficulty, not on how difficult the game is (which is how I rate them). If so, this game would get an easy no stars rating in difficulty, as this is one of the biggest problems with this game (though not the biggest).
First off, you've got 50cc, which is
way too easy. You race this, and you're way, way ahead of everyone else.
In fact, I think I lapped some slow
racers a couple of times. After playing this, I thought I would have the
entire game unlocked in one night.
Then, it basically goes like this: I turned on 100cc mode, and I got turned off to Mario Kart: Double Dash. 100cc mode is so much harder, it's amazing. All of a sudden, you've got to race near-perfectly just to be able to win races. I was able to beat Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and Star Cup in order to unlock the cup afterwards, but not without a lot of trouble.
Once you start playing 150cc, it's almost
impossible. The computers are really cheating by now, even moreso in 150cc
than 100cc. I twice passed a computer with seconds to go in a race, and
the computer used a speed
boost out of nowhere to pass me (I
don't remember seeing any Mushrooms either time in its kart). I'll go
around the Luigi Circuit turn, hitting
every speed boost, and I'll either stay at the same distance back or lose
ground on a computer player who hit no speed boosts. I once went around
the final turn in Baby Park neck-and-neck with a computer for 1st (barely
in 2nd), and I ended up finishing 5th. Many times I'll end up
losing multiple positions around the
final turn. It would be fine if I were spinning out and stinking it up
on my own, but the computers are doing things that I can't do in order
to beat me. As a result, I can't beat the 150cc Mushroom Cup, and this
prevents me from unlocking something I really want. Believe me, I've tried
this mode over and over again, and losing over and over again, getting
very frustrated in the process.
If you throw in all the items and stuff
on the tracks, you end up having a very treacherous ride, having a
very hard time trying to finish first.
Having the computers cheating on you, like not being very hurt when they
get hit while you get really hurt when you get hit, is even worse, because
it's hard enough to stay in the race with all that stuff coming at you,
and you need all the breaks you can get (or at least the computers to play
fair). As a result, there's not much fun in playing the single-player mode,
which really, really hurts this game. However, that isn't the only problem
with this game, not at all. (-)
Characters: ***1/2
We interrupt these bad parts of this
game to bring you something good: the character selection. You've got
Diddy Kong, Koopa Troopa, Paratroopa,
Daisy, the Babies, and Waluigi joining the lineup (oh, yeah, and
Bowser Jr.). There are also secret
characters, which will not be given away here. It is a very good lineup
for this game, and I also like the
karts which correspond to each racer. (+)
Controls: ***1/2
I really didn't have any trouble with the controls. They are very easy to follow. The one thing I don't like is that the power-slide doesn't seem to be too responsive, as you don't really get that much of a boost when you power-slide. That may not be as much of a problem with the controls as with the gameplay itself, however. Still, I like to feel the boost, and I don't feel that. That hurts the rating, though only a little bit. Although I gave MK64's controls 4 stars, I think these controls still stand up favorably, even if I gave this game's controls 3 1/2 stars. (MK64's controls should probably have been 3 1/2 stars, with some difficulty with the power-sliding.) (=)
Items:
Variety: ***1/2
Usefulness: 1/2
The items are very varied and plentiful,
and they serve lots of different purposes. The two-characters-per-kart
factor means no more stealing items with the Boo item, but you can steal
items by
running into opponents. You can also
hold two weapons at the same time, one with each character, which is
helpful.
However, the usefulness of the items
is a big, big problem. The fact of the matter is, the items do not really
help you that much like they did in the past. The Star doesn't really give
you as much of a boost, or at least you don't seem to gain that many positions
or that much time. The Lightning Bolt really doesn't help you come back
that much. The Red Shells don't really help you make up that much ground.
As a result, comebacks are really hard to come by, which really takes away
the fun of Mario Kart racing. In MK64
especially, I was used to making huge
comebacks by getting the right items and using them at the right times.
This led to lots of fun last laps, where a comeback could always occur.
I'd have back-and-forth
battles with human opponents, while
with computers I'd be able to come back from a stumble and make the
comeback. The items really don't help
here, and these type of fun comebacks do not occur. As a result, if you
fall into seventh place at any time after about halfway through the first
lap, you can forget about winning the race. This is also a problem with
the gameplay, and there is an overlap here with the gameplay and the items.
The fact that you can't make great comebacks is probably the biggest problem
with this game, as it takes away from the Fun Factor, it makes the game
harder (so it goes hand-and-hand with the hard difficulty of the later
cups), and it makes me not want to play the game that much. It turns out
to be a key ingredient in the recipe for disaster that the makers of this
game have used. (-)
Tracks:
The tracks themselves: *1/2
As compared to my expectations: no
stars
The tracks are not especially bad, but they're not especially good, either The thing is, this is a GameCube game. I was expecting some awesome tracks, ones that would blow me away. After all, this is a 128-bit system, not a 64-bit system. I didn't get any tracks that blew me away. The game had the same number of tracks as Mario Kart 64 after unlocking the final four (16), and they really aren't that spectacular either. The final cup's tracks, in fact, are what stop me from giving this a really poor rating, as they actually have some quality. The first 12 are a mixture of boring and so-so, with maybe a couple of standouts in Mushroom Bridge and Mushroom City. The final four are all of pretty high quality. However, six high-quality tracks out of 16 is not very good, and even 10 high-quality ones wouldn't be enough. I was expecting something else out of this game, and I didn't get it. Sorry, game-makers, but if you want your game to be called all the things that Nintendo Power calls it, you have to earn it. These tracks did not earn the grade. (-)
Grand Prix Mode: *
This is where all the pain of the computers
cheating sets in, where the inability to make great comebacks
sets in, and where all the frustration
comes from. Once you start losing at the 150cc tracks, it really does seem
to deter you from playing this game. This mode unlocks everything, yet
it's the most frustrating
mode. That's not good when you want
to unlock certain things in order to enjoy the rest of the game further.
(-)
Time Trials Mode: *1/2
The problem with Time Trials Mode is
that it is very boring. You get only two Mushrooms instead of three
now, and if you go off-course or something
(like fall into the quicksand at Dry Dry Desert), you lose your Mushrooms,
which was not the case in Mario Kart 64. Then again, you're usually only
trying to beat your
own times, unless you want to unlock
the special ghosts, but you'd have to be really good in order to do that.
I've never been one who's enjoyed breaking my own records, with no real
standard to beat, so this mode really doesn't interest me. (-)
Vs. Mode: **
Maybe the most tell-tale sign of this game's failure is the fact that I only gave this category two stars. This is Vs. Mode in Mario Kart! It is also pretty boring at times. Sure, there are fun times, like the Mushroom City's maze of roads and the Mushroom Bridge's different shortcuts, and these really help this score. However, the lack of easy comebacks hurts, because if someone gets up to a big lead, you can forget about there being a comeback (whereas places in MK64 like Rainbow Road used to deliver neck-and-neck battles all the way to the finish). When my sister, a MK64 Rainbow Road-hater due to its long length, wants to go back to Rainbow Road in MK64, I know that she isn't enjoying this game's brand of racing. I don't enjoy it either, and this is a real disappointment, to give this renowned mode only a two star-rating. But the worst disappointment is yet to come.
Battle Mode: no stars
That's right, no stars. This is as disappointing
as it gets. Mario Kart: Double Dash is totally disappointing
when it comes to Battle Mode, even
with its two new modes. The problems are as follows:
First, the battle arenas are very poor.
I have not been able to unlock the final two battle arenas because of the
extreme difficulty of the Grand Prixes required to beat in order to unlock
them (one of those
computer-passing-me-out-of-nowhere
situations cost me one of these arenas). The four that I have range from
absolutely pathetic to not that great. Worst is Nintendo GameCube (kind
of fitting), being a square
track with walls. That's right, with
walls! It could at least have no walls, with Skyscraper-like attributes,
that would help it a little bit, but no, it is as boring as it gets. The
next worst is the most disappointing, Block City. It looks like it's Block
Fort, but it's not really. You can't go up any of the structures. You just
have to battle in the streets, which is stupid. How come the Mario Kart
64 Block Fort is more complicated than the Mario Kart: Double Dash Block
City? That doesn't make sense! Sure, you can go through a street through
one of the blocks, but that's not much. This is really, really disappointing.
The next worst is the cookie track, which is like a tiny Big Donut with
nothing to fall into. There's just a big round middle that serves as a
circular wall, which you can't fall into, unfortunately. It is much smaller,
too, with only three walls instead of four. The Pipe Arena is almost okay,
because you can warp using the pipes, but they don't carry you far. The
arena is so small anyway, it doesn't make much of a difference.
There's also the two new poor modes
that have been added. The Bob-omb Blast mode is pretty pointless- my sister
and I have found that the quickest way to winning is to just keep on hitting
the X button a bunch of times, and since the arenas are so small, you'll
score some hits in no time. The Shine Get (a Capture-the-Flag-like mode)
is a little better, but very short. It's like the "King of the Hill" mode
in the Tony Hawk games, but with a Shine Sprite instead. In some arenas,
it is way too easy to lose the Shine
because the arenas are so small and
your opponent can hit you easily.
So in reality the normal Balloon mode
is the only good mode of the three, and even it isn't that fun due to
the poorly-made, boring, small arenas.
I expected more out of these arenas (like I did with the tracks), and I
definitely didn't get what I wanted. Fellow tourist Wooster commented that
these arenas were more like the
Super Mario Kart 2D arenas, and I have
to totally agree. That's pathetic that they are pretty much two-dimensional,
given that this is a 128-bit system. Too bad I can't unlock the other two
arenas because
the higher-level cups are so hard.
(-)
Gameplay: *
This has been pretty much explained in the other sections, but I'll explain it again: the computer players cheat too much, not being as much affected by hits as you are and getting inexplicable speed boosts. It is a lot harder to comeback, as the items seem to not be as effective, and the computer players seem to not lose ground even when you're using speed-boosting items or running over speed boosts. The game is very difficult, and it becomes pretty frustrating in the process.
Also, I would like to note that while the whole two-player-per-kart thing may look pretty neat, it really isn't that much of an improvement off Mario Kart 64. In fact, in some ways, it is worse. You could hold an item behind you in MK64, or use triple shells which circled around you while you got another item. Now Double Dash lets you use whichever item in whichever order you please, which is nice. However, if someone shoots an item at you, you've got to shoot your own item backwards at the exact right moment, or you get hit. You can't just hold an item behind you like in MK64 and know that the attack will be cancelled out. This makes the two-player-per-kart thing not as innovative as it was made out to be. (-)
Replayability: no stars
Unfortunately, the frustration of this game makes me not want to play it- at all. It is not really that fun in Vs. Mode. It is really boring in Battle Mode, which is a horrible shame. It is totally frustrating in Grand Prix Mode after 50cc. Time Trials Mode doesn't interest me that much. As a result, this game is not one I want to be playing that often, not even for the multiplayer matches. (-)
Fun Factor!: 1/2
Mario Kart was always supposed to be fun. This game has lost that Fun Factor, replacing it with a frustration factor in the Grand Prix mode after 50cc. The dull arenas make Battle Mode a real bore, while it was the crown jewel of the Mario Kart 64 lineup. The lack of comebacks really takes away from the fun. This makes Mario Kart: Double Dash a real disappointment. (-)
OVERALL: *
Mario Kart: Double Dash joins F-Zero GX in the "Downright Disappointing" department. In fact, I think that's what the DD in MK: DD should stand for, downright disappointing. I know this is a Mario Kart game, but no game gets a certain number of stars just for being a Mario game, or just for being a Mario Kart game. Mario Kart: Double Dash only deserves 1 star, and it gets what it deserves. Should you buy this game? Not really. I think you ought to rent it, enjoy some of the multiplayer stuff while it lasts, maybe unlock the extra cup and its four tracks, which are much better than the normal tracks. But after a rent, the game is practically done. It's pretty sad that I'm saying not to even buy a Mario Kart game, but that's the way it is here. Sorry, but Mario Kart: Double Dash has turned out to be a waste.
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