Wii Review: Mario Kart Wii

Review by: wiifan001

Mario Kart Wii has a combination of great, new ideas and features we've come to known in the past in this franchise, despite a few problems that don't work so well.

Mario Kart Wii consists of eight different cups in the Grand Prix, with four racetracks in each cup, giving a total of 32 courses. Four cups have brand new, never before seen tracks, 16 new ones in all. These tracks all have a different location and have a great set of track designs. You'll be racing in the city, on a mountain, through a garden, through Bowser's castle, inside a mall, in a desert, and of course, Rainbow Road. In each cup you'll race against 11 other characters instead of the usual seven. The track designs have a satisfactory variety and are overall pretty good, but some are without a doubt flawed.

The other four cups (16 tracks) consists of race courses that have been on a previous Mario Kart game. Each of the four cups have a race course from the versions of the SNES, the GBA, the N64, and DS. These courses get a nostalgic feel to it and have been given the taste of Wii graphics and elements to it. Some of these courses have nothing to them at all. Some are just this plain course with nothing special to them. At the same time, stages like the GCN DK Mountain and GCN Waluigi Stadium, have been given 1/2 pipes to them and a few of the tracks, while they do play better than ever, are obviously not the best picks to include in this game.



For the first time ever, bikes are introduced. You don't have to play in karts given that you can play bikes. In the end, each character will get a total of six bikes and six karts to choose from. There are more than six of each, but no character gets every kart and bike. The character's weight and type of vehicle selected play a huge factor in the races- from the turning to the drifting to the accelerating and to the bumping of other vehicles. The bikes and karts have their advantages and disadvantages. Karts get a mini turbo boost if you drift long enough and they have a greater impact against bike user when you bump into them. Bikes don't get the extra mini turbo that karts get, but they can do wheelies which accelerate. It's preferred to use these on straight stretches. Don't bump into another vehicle while doing this or it'll mess you up. Note that this is very different than how the DS version works.

So, the flaws in the grand prix (and online) can make the results seem unfair. First off, the half pipes and pits aren't always properly placed. The effect of doing tricks (like doing 360 and 720 in the air) on these 1/2 pipes and getting a turbo boost when you land is a pretty awesome feature. However, sometimes when you land you'll end in a pitfall and could possibly severely cost you in the rank your in. There are times when you can't slow down or dodge it and it becomes unavoidable.

Another dramatic flaw is the ridiculously unbalanced items in the game. The more powerful items can completely cost you and result in a lower rank even after maintaining first place up until the last few seconds in the end of the final lap when you don't feel as if you did anything wrong at all. Some items of mass destruction include the lightning which shrinks every racer except the user, the bullet bill which can sometimes literally boost you from 12th to 1st,, and the devastating blue shell which will home in on first place and the other racers behind it if close enough, possibly robbing that character of several ranks.

A few other items include the red and green shell/shells , and single/triple banana peels and mushrooms. These items here have little impact compared to some of the more brutal items. Generally, the higher rank you are the less chance of some of the best items. The Mario Kart franchise has never had more unbalanced items than this one.



Mario Kart Wii has five different control schemes. It is compatible with the GC and the classic controller, Wiimote + Nunchuk, and with just the Wiimote. The fifth control scheme comes free with the purchase the game. It is the Wii Wheel. It's comfortable and offers the most involvement in the game, and works quite well. Everything that involves driving a vehicle will give the option to use turbos automatically or manually.

There are more than 20 characters to play as in the game. You'll see many, many familiar faces in the Mario franchise, plus a couple new ones. The Mii characters can also be played. So with all the options of characters and vehicles, you'll find a satisfactory selection and options to choose from.

Aside from Grand Prix, there is the Time Trials and the Balloon Battle and Coin Runners modes. The Time Trials mode is a test of completing three laps with any character, vehicle, and control scheme of your choice. Your given three mushrooms in the course and the top five times and recorded in the save data. There are no item boxes and no other opposing characters.

Battle mode and Coin Runner mode had much more potential than what was offered. In both of these modes, up to 4 players can join in a four player split screen offline match. There are 10 different stages to choose from, five new and five retro. The problem comes when the option of the number of players is always 12 and the time limit is always three minutes. There is no variety of time or player count, making offline play not so great compared to what it could have been.

The online play will keep you coming back for more and more. There is a rankings board for the time trials in which the top score is displayed and compared to your friends, your region, and even worldwide in the Time Trials. There doesn't need to be 12 players in order for a race or battle mode to be in. As of matter of fact, a couple times I've played 1 vs. 1 online. The Baloon Battle mode and Coin Runner mode are switched off every other time online. The game does not lag at all. There is the possibility of encountering being disconnected completely, but it doesn't lag. The kind of connectivity it has makes Smash Bros Brawl fans wish the online was this lag free each and every time. Nintendo even announces tournaments and the game lets you know in between matches of friends that are currently on. The Mario Kart Wii Channel helps makes the online very organized.

The graphics are overall great. They are not as good as you will find Smash Bros Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, and Metroid Prime 3, but the visuals are worth looking at. Something I like is that the Mii characters you have are all over the place. They will be giant statues and sculptures and found among the audience and in posters. Yes, the makers have used unique, interesting features for the Miis. The music is composed of some new and old tracks. You'll hear a different one for each course. The voices each character has are very limited and it can get repetitive.

Overall, the game is great. The online in terms of lag is done right. The Mario Kart Wii Channel is an incredible extra. The Wii Wheel comes free with it. The multiplayer can be cheap from racing but still addicting , especially with the ranking and leader boards. Despite some flaws with options and items, Mario Kart Wii has done has shown an outstanding job. Any Mario or racing fans should definitely pick up this game. It does a good job inviting family and friends in this ever satisfactory game.