Mario Kart Wii: by Kamek101

Mario Kart Wii was released today and one of my closest friends was able to get his paws on a copy. After nearly a full day of play, here is our review. Does it finish in pole position, or trail across the line in last place?

Visuals: 5/10
Ugly, ugly and ugly some more. This game lacks the polish of is predecessors. The whole thing is filled with hideous square edges, not unlike those you'd see on the N64. Wario's model is easily the worst; his hat is almost triangular. The backgrounds of the tracks also lack the appeal of the others, being somewhat uninteresting and forgettable. This is not at all helped by the lack of any proper Mario locations. However, the odd appearances of you systems miis do add some charm.

Soundtrack and Voice acting: 6/10
When the best track on the game is Sherbet Land from the N64, you know that the composers haven't done their job at all. There isn't a single song that will stick in your head, not even Rainbow Road. On the other hand, the voice acting is spot on. Characters have far more phrases than usual and seem to bubble with character and charm. Special kudos to Mercedes Rose, who does an excellent job giving some life to the newcomer Rosalina.

Gameplay: 10/10
Smooth as silk; the new control system works flawlessly. After a few practices, you'll be driving like a pro using the new, and surprisingly comfortable, wii wheel. Power sliding automatically works just as well as manual, and is far easier and more efficient, despite the lack of a mini-turbo. Races are just as fast and furious as the other instalments of the series, if not more, thanks to the additional 4 racers. Despite all this, the loathsome Blue Shell returns to give the worst players the chance to cheat and think that they're better than they are. And the game also retains the age old Mario Kart concept of fair play¡KThat is, being unbelievably unfair and stupidly biased in favour of the CPU characters. Just how we like it! ƒº

Characters and Vehicles: 9/10
There are a couple of bad additions to the roster this time (Birdo & Skeleton Bowser), who are just taking up the places of more worth characters. But the large majority are very much welcome additions to the Mario kart family. Each weight class retains their unique traits mostly; however they each have a few bikes or karts that give them the opportunity to have a taste of someone else's flavour. For example, a heavy character can be put in a kart which has high acceleration and handling (if memory serves me correctly, it's the one with bull horns but don't quote me on this). This gives a far more balanced feeling, helping to avoid everyone picking the light characters this time.

Surprisingly, I believe that the best character is Baby Peach. Her great handling and acceleration give her the edge in matches where weapons are tossed around like snowflakes in a blizzard. On the Nano Bike, we found her to easily beat the opposition, regardless of CC. The worst character, sadly, is Rosalina. She seems to have some kind of taboo against turning; her handling is just so poor! Even on the Wario Bike, which has far better handling than the other heavy weight bikes, she failed to make it around even the easiest of corners without a fight. Still, we welcome her into the Kart Club with open arms, because a) She's an important enough character and it's about time they had a heavy weight female character (although she looks far lighter than most of the middleweights and not even close to the massive bulk of Bowser and co. Still, this shows that not just weight dictates a characters class, which is an interesting twist.)


Tracks: 7/10
Not the best selection of retro tracks from the series ever, especially since there are so many classics. The new tracks are far more exciting and innovative, especially Grumble Volcano, Maple Treeway (which sees you racing through the branches of a huge tree, whilst dodging the two massive wigglers and smashing piles of leaves to hunt for mushrooms), and my personal favourite, Koopa Cape. The new Rainbow Road isn't the best though and Wario's Gold mine is just frustrating, since the CPU insists on knocking you off constantly and the mine carts switch tracks just when you don't want them too.

Multiplayer and Online: 10/10
Classic Mario kart action. Nuff said. But for the sake of a decent word count I'll explain a bit more. Multiplayer vs races remain the best bit of the game. And since you can do them at anytime, regardless of whether you have mates over or not, thanks to the fantastic online service makes this the number 1 multiplayer game on the Wii (except maybe SSBB, which I've not had the joy of playing yet). Battle mode, despite being teams only has lost none of its thrill factor. The huge number of players means that if it was a free for all it would be crazy, and not much fun at all. Teams means that although the hecticness has been kept (since fighting 6 people is almost 8 anyway), it does not become overwhelming. Avoid coin collector mode though, its dull and way to short.

Overall: 8/10
Underneath the shoddy visuals and dismissible soundtrack beats the heart of a true Mario Kart game, whose multiplayer matches and sheer unadulterated fun make this the king of multiplayer experiences.

(Personal opinion: 10/10
I love this game! Its absolutely amazing!)