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"[GAME] Mario Kart Wii"

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Wed 31/12/08 at 19:11
Regular
"It goes so quickly"
Posts: 4,083
[B][U]Mario Kart, Nintendo Wii[/U][/B]

It’s been out for a while, but Mario Kart for the Wii is something that appeared to me from the North Pole over Christmas, covered in some strange but colourful paper, and hidden inside a big box with a steering wheel.

Mario Kart?

The last time I played Mario Kart was either on the Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64 (I forget which), years ago now, and it seems that the same game is with me today, with a few tweaks. The game is a simplistic idea of racing, well, racing and whooping your opponents around with hard turtle shells and little walking bombs, as well as the odd Donkey Kong banana peal or two.

You can play as many of the Mario themed characters, such as Mario, as well as unheard of and new game characters, such as Luigi. Collectable items are scattered around each track, that let you receive speed boosts (magic mushrooms), smash your opponents, become invincible, ink another player, or even turn in to a giant bullet.

I don’t like the big blue turtle shell that seems to appear as I’m about to cross the line, but the items you are given mostly reflect your current position in the race. If you’re out in front, you get a banana peel or single green turtle shell, if you’re in the middle, turtle shells times 3, in red, and at the back, mushrooms and the big bullet, though this does vary.

Some of the items can be used to protect you from attack, such as a string of banana peals or a ring of three shells. Holding down the fire button with a single shell or banana peal will cause the item to hang from the back of your vehicle, and also protects you from some attacks.

You can race using karts or bikes, each with their merits and fallbacks, on a variety of tracks with their own character themes, some of which have wondering obstacles or the remains of a snow storm that slow you right down. The battle arenas are smaller in number, but larger in size, although some may find them a bit simple in design.

There seems to be more participants per race these days, with twelve per track, which makes the game more of a challenge, especially at the start of the race, as you’re all smashing in to one another to get at the first lot of item boxes. The super start is still there, rev with the lights and boom you’re off, though I’ve yet to master this seemingly simple task.

Single player!

The single player mode gives you the most options to choose from in terms of game play, with a Grand Prix of three different levels (cars (50cc), bike (100cc), and both (150cc)), time trials, battles, and standard races. All are playable on the 32 racetracks, each of which are categorised under different cups, with four tracks per saucer. The later cups are un-lockable as you compete and win the first four available cups, as is often the case with many a racer title.

I’m not sure as to the ratio of tracks in terms of new and old, but it seems about 50 / 50, which is an even balance for someone who hasn’t played the old game for so long, but some of the tracks from older games are missed (I used to love the beach track).

Single player mode is fun, for a while, but Mario Kart is more of a multi-player game – if only it had such an option included.

Multiplayer!

Oh, it does, great!

The multi-player mode is rather self-explanatory, and does exactly what you’d expect, allowing up to four people to play at once, either against one another, or as a team.

Not all of the modes from the single player game are available, but you can challenge your friends to a race on any of the available tracks, or battle it out between you as to who can pop the most balloons or grab the most coins.

The team mode allows for you to group yourself together as a ….. team, to either compete against the computer controlled characters, or other teams, such as you and your brother vs. your other brother and sister. Whomever wins gets the Wii in their rooms tonight. If you’re feeling lucky, you can be the loner vs. the other three, and still win the trophy.

The only downside to multi-player in my view is that in battle mode, you can’t play as a stand alone character against others, instead having to be part of a team. Another slight issue is that it can be difficult if you own a small TV, as each player will be given a section of the screen, and some of the tracks (such as the space one) are difficult enough to navigate in single player mode.

Online play!

The best aspect of this game for me is the new online mode, that enables you to play other Wii users across the globe. The race and battle modes are available, in the same way as multi-player mode, except for the slight different of playing people from hundreds of miles away from you.

This mode has extended the lastability of this game for me, and is the mode I mostly play, especially after you’ve completed most of the grand prix races.

The track is decided between the participants voting for their preferred course, and of these selections, one is randomly picked. This can become a little tiresome if the same track is picked by many people and selected often, especially if the particular track is one you are bad at, like I am on the space rainbow one, the snow one, the moonlight car one ….

The Mario Kart Wii Channel also allows you to see rankings of racers from around the world, and includes Nintendo competitions that you can enter, or at least so it seems, as so far this option is not available to me, the loser that I am.

The wheel!

The other big thing about Mario Kart is that the wii-mote can be used as a steering wheel. There are many wheel casings available for the Wii, Mario Kart (Wii) with Wheel is the obvious one, or the stand-alone Official Wii Wheel for other players, or one of many other Wheels for the Wii, which are all mere shells for the wii-mote, which can be used quite easily on it’s own.

I was genuinely surprised by the accuracy of this method, having expected the controls to be unresponsive and lacking any real steering ability, they are in fact spot on, and took very little effort to get to grips with. There are times when you go out of sync, steering left and right without thinking, but it’s an overall well developing driving experience.

If you prefer, you can use the nunchuck stick to steer and fire, and the wii-mote to accelerate and break.

The controller’s speaker is also used well in the game, mostly to inform you of what may be approaching from behind you, with a loud warning of a red turtle shell, super Mario or big flying bullet.

The graphics and the noise!

The graphics of the game aren’t going to win any awards (unless they have already), and some may complain about the blocky figures of some of the statues, but this is something that makes the game more ‘game-like’ in my eyes. In multiplayer mode, this changes some-what, and you may at times struggle to get your bearings on twisty areas of the race track.

The audio is basic but fun, the tracks played while racing are good enough, but the fun comes from your characters response to certain events, such as losing or winning a race, getting hit by a greenie or walloping someone while using a gold mushroom.

Overall rating!

I’d give this game a 9 / 10, or 92%, because for someone who isn’t a big gamer, it caters to everything I enjoy about the Wii console. It’s simple to play, easy to get to grips with, and it’s fun. The online mode keeps me busy in my downtime, makes the game last longer, and is challenging because of the many possible opponents. The multi-player mode is great fun for when you’ve had one to many with your friends, without the risk of getting any points on your licence for drink-driving.

For me, the online player mode makes this game, as without it I would have knocked off 20% or so, so if you’re not a fan of that, you may get bored with Mario Kart quickly.

And with that, I shall hop in to my kart, and race off in to the New Year.
Tue 08/05/12 at 23:23
Regular
Posts: 6
it's an okay game but I don't play it all the time:/
Sat 21/04/12 at 16:43
Regular
Posts: 1
thire is no other game that i like best its a little hard but that is what makes it fun i love getting challnge by people online i would recomend it to anyone
Wed 21/07/10 at 16:17
Regular
Posts: 4
Hey whats up? Been playing mario cart wii for months now,and would like to know how people are jumping off tracks like rainbow road and pop back on in the same place and with the item they were holding? I thought they were hachin but loosin weenies do it . I would also like to make some friends to play with, and would like to know how to set up friend races.I do not hack or care about points.I have 100 mii characters and change miis regularly. I use bikes only, have you seen the wheely dancing biker(s) ? My lisc # is 0002-5511-5909.Im 40 ,disabled,and live in Georgia.I play all day every day.keeps me buisy so I am not a snackin couch popato.The game has knocked off 30 lbs in 3 months and our over 100 *F every day helps also. Any one still play?
Wed 31/12/08 at 19:11
Regular
"It goes so quickly"
Posts: 4,083
[B][U]Mario Kart, Nintendo Wii[/U][/B]

It’s been out for a while, but Mario Kart for the Wii is something that appeared to me from the North Pole over Christmas, covered in some strange but colourful paper, and hidden inside a big box with a steering wheel.

Mario Kart?

The last time I played Mario Kart was either on the Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64 (I forget which), years ago now, and it seems that the same game is with me today, with a few tweaks. The game is a simplistic idea of racing, well, racing and whooping your opponents around with hard turtle shells and little walking bombs, as well as the odd Donkey Kong banana peal or two.

You can play as many of the Mario themed characters, such as Mario, as well as unheard of and new game characters, such as Luigi. Collectable items are scattered around each track, that let you receive speed boosts (magic mushrooms), smash your opponents, become invincible, ink another player, or even turn in to a giant bullet.

I don’t like the big blue turtle shell that seems to appear as I’m about to cross the line, but the items you are given mostly reflect your current position in the race. If you’re out in front, you get a banana peel or single green turtle shell, if you’re in the middle, turtle shells times 3, in red, and at the back, mushrooms and the big bullet, though this does vary.

Some of the items can be used to protect you from attack, such as a string of banana peals or a ring of three shells. Holding down the fire button with a single shell or banana peal will cause the item to hang from the back of your vehicle, and also protects you from some attacks.

You can race using karts or bikes, each with their merits and fallbacks, on a variety of tracks with their own character themes, some of which have wondering obstacles or the remains of a snow storm that slow you right down. The battle arenas are smaller in number, but larger in size, although some may find them a bit simple in design.

There seems to be more participants per race these days, with twelve per track, which makes the game more of a challenge, especially at the start of the race, as you’re all smashing in to one another to get at the first lot of item boxes. The super start is still there, rev with the lights and boom you’re off, though I’ve yet to master this seemingly simple task.

Single player!

The single player mode gives you the most options to choose from in terms of game play, with a Grand Prix of three different levels (cars (50cc), bike (100cc), and both (150cc)), time trials, battles, and standard races. All are playable on the 32 racetracks, each of which are categorised under different cups, with four tracks per saucer. The later cups are un-lockable as you compete and win the first four available cups, as is often the case with many a racer title.

I’m not sure as to the ratio of tracks in terms of new and old, but it seems about 50 / 50, which is an even balance for someone who hasn’t played the old game for so long, but some of the tracks from older games are missed (I used to love the beach track).

Single player mode is fun, for a while, but Mario Kart is more of a multi-player game – if only it had such an option included.

Multiplayer!

Oh, it does, great!

The multi-player mode is rather self-explanatory, and does exactly what you’d expect, allowing up to four people to play at once, either against one another, or as a team.

Not all of the modes from the single player game are available, but you can challenge your friends to a race on any of the available tracks, or battle it out between you as to who can pop the most balloons or grab the most coins.

The team mode allows for you to group yourself together as a ….. team, to either compete against the computer controlled characters, or other teams, such as you and your brother vs. your other brother and sister. Whomever wins gets the Wii in their rooms tonight. If you’re feeling lucky, you can be the loner vs. the other three, and still win the trophy.

The only downside to multi-player in my view is that in battle mode, you can’t play as a stand alone character against others, instead having to be part of a team. Another slight issue is that it can be difficult if you own a small TV, as each player will be given a section of the screen, and some of the tracks (such as the space one) are difficult enough to navigate in single player mode.

Online play!

The best aspect of this game for me is the new online mode, that enables you to play other Wii users across the globe. The race and battle modes are available, in the same way as multi-player mode, except for the slight different of playing people from hundreds of miles away from you.

This mode has extended the lastability of this game for me, and is the mode I mostly play, especially after you’ve completed most of the grand prix races.

The track is decided between the participants voting for their preferred course, and of these selections, one is randomly picked. This can become a little tiresome if the same track is picked by many people and selected often, especially if the particular track is one you are bad at, like I am on the space rainbow one, the snow one, the moonlight car one ….

The Mario Kart Wii Channel also allows you to see rankings of racers from around the world, and includes Nintendo competitions that you can enter, or at least so it seems, as so far this option is not available to me, the loser that I am.

The wheel!

The other big thing about Mario Kart is that the wii-mote can be used as a steering wheel. There are many wheel casings available for the Wii, Mario Kart (Wii) with Wheel is the obvious one, or the stand-alone Official Wii Wheel for other players, or one of many other Wheels for the Wii, which are all mere shells for the wii-mote, which can be used quite easily on it’s own.

I was genuinely surprised by the accuracy of this method, having expected the controls to be unresponsive and lacking any real steering ability, they are in fact spot on, and took very little effort to get to grips with. There are times when you go out of sync, steering left and right without thinking, but it’s an overall well developing driving experience.

If you prefer, you can use the nunchuck stick to steer and fire, and the wii-mote to accelerate and break.

The controller’s speaker is also used well in the game, mostly to inform you of what may be approaching from behind you, with a loud warning of a red turtle shell, super Mario or big flying bullet.

The graphics and the noise!

The graphics of the game aren’t going to win any awards (unless they have already), and some may complain about the blocky figures of some of the statues, but this is something that makes the game more ‘game-like’ in my eyes. In multiplayer mode, this changes some-what, and you may at times struggle to get your bearings on twisty areas of the race track.

The audio is basic but fun, the tracks played while racing are good enough, but the fun comes from your characters response to certain events, such as losing or winning a race, getting hit by a greenie or walloping someone while using a gold mushroom.

Overall rating!

I’d give this game a 9 / 10, or 92%, because for someone who isn’t a big gamer, it caters to everything I enjoy about the Wii console. It’s simple to play, easy to get to grips with, and it’s fun. The online mode keeps me busy in my downtime, makes the game last longer, and is challenging because of the many possible opponents. The multi-player mode is great fun for when you’ve had one to many with your friends, without the risk of getting any points on your licence for drink-driving.

For me, the online player mode makes this game, as without it I would have knocked off 20% or so, so if you’re not a fan of that, you may get bored with Mario Kart quickly.

And with that, I shall hop in to my kart, and race off in to the New Year.

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