Another installment of the popular Mario Kart series, and one of the year's most anticipated titles, has arrived in all regions. Does it trounce Mario Kart DS or even the whole rest of the series?
Gameplay: 9/10
Oh gosh, where can I start on all the
new gameplay mechanics of Mario Kart Wii? Well, the first thing I should
note is the addition of bikes in the game. Bikes are slightly faster than
karts but have worse traction and mini-turbos. They can also do wheelies
to go a tad faster. Deciding whether karts or bikes are better is strictly
based on opinion, though I personally prefer karts a little better. Off
that topic, perhaps one of my favorite new features of this game is tricks.
Once you go off a ramp, you can shake the Wii Wheel to perform a trick,
and when you land you get a boost of speed. Nice. So basically you can
do a trick on anything you can jump off of; you'd be surprised at all the
possibilities. And of course, Wi-Fi is included in the game with VS and
Battle mode. It's pretty much lag free, and definitely the best online
play of any game so far. However, the game does have some letdowns. Battle
Mode is no longer free-for-all, but rather is played in 2 teams. Speaking
of Battle Mode, I found its online version to be kind of shabby. On occasions,
I found myself unable to move, though various other people were able to,
and that surely took its toll on my Battle Rating-- Ah, I forgot to cover
that! When you win a Wi-Fi match, your Versus/Battle Rating goes up to
judge your skill, but if you fair badly then it will go down. It doesn't
have much of an affect on the overall gameplay, but it's always nice to
go online and show off your points. Now, the last thing I want to cover
here is the Mario Kart Channel. It can be accessed from the game or installed
on your Wii Menu. This channel allows you to check worldwide Time Trial
rankings, race ghosts from around the world, register friends, and even
enter official competitions. Gotta cover competitions too; this mode replaces
the Missions Mode from Mario Kart DS, and about 2 are released every month.
These competitions can include racing around slightly edited tracks for
the best time, passing through numbered gates as fast as you can, or my
personal favorite, boss battles, where you have to defeat bosses such as
a gang of Spiky Topmen as fast as you can. This may seem like it isn’t
as much as Mission Mode, but over time, surely the amount of competitions
will add up.
Graphics: 8/10
Well, the cel-shaded graphics from
Double Dash are back, like it or not. They're not too much to complain
about, but they’re a little too polygonal for a Wii game. Don't believe
me? Just check out Wario. Fortunately, this is mostly only for the playable
characters in the game. The tracks look a good bit better than that, they're
polished and quite attractive. Not to mention there’s a solid frame rate
and sleek animations. They're not much to obsess about, but enough to satisfy
your graphical needs when racing. Some special effects need touching up
in some areas, though. Really, a Blue Shell explosion looks like a wave
of cartooney water. So the game has a sort of mixed graphic offering, and
is not amazing, but still pretty darn good.
Music and Sound Effects: 8/10
I've really never been impressed by
the Mario Kart series's music, but Mario Kart Wii stands out from the rest.
While it does have its fair share of forgettable melodies, some other catchy
and exhilarating soundtracks balance it out, and maybe even contribute
a good bit of the fun to the racing. Toad's Factory, DK Summit, Rainbow
Road, and others are great examples of this. But don't get me wrong, the
dull songs still are kind of irritating. I took a short nap once when connecting
to Wi-Fi because I had to listen to an uncreative and forgettable music
piece. It seems they had to make the music for exciting places more exciting,
and the music for boring places more boring. I'm not saying that's a bad
thing, but not a good thing either.
Controls: 9/10
What we'll pretty much be covering
here is the new Wii Wheel. I'm very aware that quite a few people have
had concerns about how it would work, and so did I, but it's a lot better
than I thought it would be. Basically, turn the wheel to steer the kart,
hold 2 to accelerate, hold 1 to drift, and the control pad to use items.
The game comes bundled with the wheel, so just put your Wiimote in it and
you're all set to go. You may think it's just some kind of useless shell
at first, but just try playing without it, I can almost guarantee you'll
do worse. The main problem I found with it, however, is that the drift
button could have been in a better place; sometimes it's hard to maneuver
with your fingers in certain cases. Sure, there's the B button on the back
to substitute for it, but if your Wiimote isn't placed in the Wii Wheel
correctly, the button may not react. Despite these problems with it, the
Wii Wheel achieves it' main purpose of existence: it's fun. Now if by any
chance you don't like it, there's always the choice to use the GameCube
controller. But like Brawl, it'd feel too much like last generation. In
fact, I got so used to playing with the Wii Wheel, that when I tried using
the GameCube controller I did awful. The wheel’s that good.
Characters: 9/10
We got a great new roster of characters
here since Double Dash. There are the basic Mario, Luigi, and the rest
of the guys we all know as default characters. That's only about half of
them, though; as you go on in Grand Prix and other modes, you will gradually
begin unlocking more and more characters. One of them is a recently-appearing
character in Super Mario Galaxy, another a boss from New Super Mario Bros,
and another one even makes their debut in this game. A small disappointment
to some may be that characters don't have their own set of karts, but rather
the selectable vehicles are divided by weight class. But don't worry, there's
a fairly good selection of them. My main complaint about the roster is
pretty straightforward: there are just some stupid character choices. One
of the default characters is Baby Peach. Really, we don't need more baby
characters, especially not ones that have only appeared in 2 games beforehand.
Additionally, some of them aren't quite as worth the effort as you would
have hoped. One character is unlocked by unlocking all 32 Expert Staff
Ghosts in Time Trials, a true challenge, especially to those who are new
to the series. But you'll find that this character is very similar to one
you probably unlocked previously. Despite my numerous complaints, that
doesn't stop me from looking at my full roster and saying "Awesome".
Tracks and Battle Courses: 8.9/10
Mario Kart Wii has the same cups as
Mario Kart DS: 4 Nitro Cups, 4 Retro Cups. Putting it more simply, there
are 16 new courses and 16 old courses. I'll be covering the new courses
first. A fraction of the game's new courses tend to clash between fun and
boring. The first 3 tracks in the Mushroom Cup I personally found to be
too plain and boring. Flower Cup was a good bit better, but Star Cup and
Special Cup are where it's at. They contain the longer, more fun, and more
original courses, like Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway, and Moonview Highway,
not to mention the most epic Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road in the series.
They're all quite original to the series (some of them owe thanks for that
to the stunt system) but of course, that's not always a good thing. Take
Mushroom Gorge for an example. In that stage, there are a lot of bouncy
Mushrooms protruding from bottomless pits; this is where item interference
really takes effect. There's a cave near the end of the level made up of
only bouncy Mushrooms, and I can't tell you how many times I've been hit
by a Blue Shell or Lightning in there and made to miss a Mushroom, fall
down into the pit, and drop a good 6 places or so. Now the Retro tracks;
I would have been happier with just more new courses, but let's be glad
they brought back some old favorites. N64 Bowser’s Castle, N64 Mario Raceway,
GCN DK Mountain, DS Delfino Square, N64 DK's Jungle Parkway... Good times.
There are all those tracks that make us feel all nostalgic and knowledgeable,
but there's always a chunk of stages we never look forward to doing again.
SNES Mario Circuit 3 is probably the best example of that, it just feels
too plain and boring, and that's coming from a guy who's never played Super
Mario Kart. If they were going to add in that track, did they have to put
it in Lightning Cup? Okay, now to the Battle Courses. There's 5 new courses
and 5 retro courses. The new ones, first of all, I found quite pleasing.
Block Plaza is quite similar to MK64's beloved Block Fort, Delfino Pier
is pretty much a plain level with nowhere to hide... almost nowhere, anyway,
but it still has some secret places. Funky Stadium is a course set up much
like that of a skate park, and Chain Chomp Wheel is a big roulette with
a giant Chain Chomp rolling around. The only one I had just a little problem
with was Thwomp Desert; which has quicksand, damage-dealing cacti, and
a big Thwomp in the middle that can create shockwaves. That's just a bit
too gimmicky for my tastes, but I'm not saying it's not a good course.
The Retro courses are also pretty good. There's the simple yet fun SNES
Battle Course 4, the wide open GBA Battle Course 3, the large and dangerous
N64 Skyscraper, and the labyrinth-esque DS Twilight House. Like the new
courses, there's one that I don't like as much. GCN Cookie Land is definitely
my least favorite in the game, it's so plain, small, and boring that it's
not even funny. And is it just me, or does this course just have some kind
of bad feel to it...? Never mind, but if they were going to bring in a
GCN Battle Course they should've done Luigi's Mansion, I loved that one
almost as much as Block Fort.
Items: 8/10
Before I discuss the items, there are
some things I must mention. The special items from Double Dash were removed
to make the game less item-based. Also, the item stat for karts from Mario
Kart DS was removed, which I feel takes a lot of the stress out of picking
a kart. Okay, so we’ve got a lot of returning items here. There’s the Mushroom,
Banana, Green, and Red Shells... but they still haven't gotten rid of that
Blue Shell, which is pretty discouraging to us players who are always hogging
first place. There are 3 new items added to this game, though. The most
interesting of these is the Thunder Cloud. If you get it, a cloud will
appear over you and start sparking. If you have it there for too long,
it will shock and shrink you, so you have to bump into another player and
pass it on to them, like a game of tag. Whoever is stuck with the cloud
when time runs out gets the blow. This was a very creative idea, but the
thing I didn't like about it is that you could get it even when in a low
place. If you're not by many other players in that situation, it can be
pretty upsetting. The next new item is the Mega Mushroom from New Super
Mario Bros. It increases your size and makes you go a little faster. This
makes you immune to other items and you will flatten other players that
you run over. Pretty decent item, but it's a bit too short-lived to really
be useful enough to go on a rampage. Last there's the POW Block, an item
that strikes all opponents in front of you. Once used, a POW Block appears
over the heads of the victims. They must jump three times in rhythm (that's
when the Block flattens and makes a small tremor) to avoid the blow. It's
a good item, but I felt that it appears too suddenly and you may miss the
first jump as a result.
Replay Value: 9/10
The most obvious thing that contributes
to the replay value is unlocking all the characters and karts in the game.
As I said in the characters section, there is one character in the game
that will be quite challenging to unlock. That's only half the fun though,
Wi-Fi will have you entertained for a long time after unlocking everything,
that's for sure. Same thing with the Mario Kart Channel, especially the
Ghost Races and Competitions. You can also send ghost challenges to friends
to see if they can beat you. If they do, they can send it back and you
can go on and on as long as you want. Who knows? Maybe if you go long enough
you and your friend may find yourselves in the Regional Top 10. =P As you
can tell, I'm mostly praising the online features of the game. There are
some more offline things other than unlocking everything that you'll find
yourself doing. You could try to get a Star ranking in every Grand Prix
for an honorary icon next to your name during races, Time Trialing to beat
an Expert Ghost, turn your friends green with envy, or maybe try to go
for a regional or worldwide record if you're extremely confident.
Fun Factor!: 9/10
Mario Kart games have always been great
fun, and Mario Kart Wii is no different. 50cc and 100cc are great and usually
not that frustrating, and Time Trials is surprisingly addictive, but Wi-Fi
is where it's at. It's much more fun testing your skills against actual
people instead of the computer’s artificial intelligence. Not to mention,
when you're racing against friends there's even another mode of selection,
along with a brief chat beforehand. No voice chat though, not even text
chat; there's a list of predetermined phrases that you can say. Meh, at
least it's something. Now what held the score back was the difficulty of
150cc. Not only do the computers just seem to drive a little faster than
you, but you may be constantly bombarded by items or hit off-road or even
off the stage, which makes this cc class less enjoyable than the past two.
Nonetheless, you're gonna be unlocking characters and karts and racing
on Wi-Fi for months to come.
Overall: 91/100
Okay, the score may seem kind of high,
but hey, I'm a big fan of racing games. While it's somewhat easier to beat
100% than the past Mario Kart games, it is surely one of the best racing
titles out there, especially with its outstanding Wi-Fi. If you've had
numerous concerns or second thoughts on this, I recommend you drop them
and just get the game. If you've had a good deal of experience with Mario
Kart DS a few parts of the game may feel kind of stale, but it's a game
that both newbies and veterans can treasure.
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