Mario Kart Wii - 9/10

Okay, yes, I'll say it now. This game is 100% certain to make you have sudden nerd rages and will make you angry. If we're still on nerd levels, so angry that you'll turn green and massive...

Mario Kart Wii is the sequel (in terms of consoles here. forget MKDS for a while) to the Gamecube's implementation of the franchise, Mario Kart: Double Dash. There are some key improvements and differences between the two games.

For a start, in MK: Double Dash, you would use two characters in the same vehicle as compared to orginally having only 1. This was changed back to normal in the Wii's installment of the game.

A huge part of Mario Kart is not just that, - karts - however the ability to choose from motorbikes as well. When racing, you can choose to race from one of 12 vehicles - 6 bikes and 6 karts. Each different weight group has 12 different vehicles - light, medium and heavy. Each group has 8 characters, and your Mii joins a group depending on the height and weight specified in the Mii channel.

There are 16 brand new tracks in this course, as well as 16 old favourites from the SNES, N64, GBA, Gamecube and DS installments of Mario Kart. Each allows for the same sort of madness seen in previous games: severe item-rape, lots of falling off the edge, and lots and lots of course-specific specials (eg. thwomps, etc.).

The same game modes can be found in here as could be found in MK DS, minus the mission mode. Grand Prix, Time Trials, vs Mode and Battle.

Completing Grand Prix mode is necessary to unlock new characters and vehicles in the game, as well as the ability to pick certain courses in Wifi mode.

Battle is the same old madness with 5 new courses and 5 favourites from past MK games. You can choose from the classic Balloon Battle mode, or the new coin runners mode, where you collect coins and knock others out to take their coins.

VS mode is the same old thing as seen in almost every other Mario Kart game. Select the stages you want, and race.

Time Trials are nearly the same, but there is a slight difference, which has huge impacts on the replayability of the game. When you complete a time trial, providing you have WiiConnect24 enabled, your time best time is uploaded to the Rankings section of the Mario Kart channel, and can be compared to those on your friends list, as well as the champions of the world on each course.

Obviously, a huge part of Mario Kart has always been it's multiplayer mode, and the same holds true here. Playing with your friends is a great source of fun. You can play with up to four players in any of the aforementioned game modes, or with one other person in 2 player Wifi.

Wifi is basically playing against other people who own the game around the world. This is what adds such huge replayability to the game. Clans, tournaments and more all play an important role in online play, but you can simply play competitively online to become one of the well known players..

Based on your result in an online race or an online battle, you will either win or lose Verses Points of Battle Points. You start with 5000 points, and you can work your way all the way up to 9999.

Another huge part of the game is it's customizability (wow, is that even a word? ). Players can choose from one of four control schemes:

- Wiimote Only: Use your Wiimote (perhaps in the provided Wii-Wheel peripheral) and steer like you would a real car.
- Wiimote&Nunchuck: Use a combo of your Wiimote and Nunchuck. Steer with your control pad, drive with your Wiimote.
- Gamecube-Style: Use a gamecube controller.
- Classic Controller: Go old school with a classic controller.

Unlike past Mario Kart games, you can see ALL your stats in a records section of your license (there are four licenses, each is basically a save file). You can see:

- Your Overall Rank
- Distance Travelled
- Race Count
- Battle Count
- Win/Loss ratio

.. and much, MUCH more!

One more thing that adds to the fun and replayability of the game are the competitions that Nintendo randomly throw in. There will be a set task for you to complete and this is sometimes in a special or modified track or stage. For example, doing a time trial on Grumble Volcano, backwards, with added jumps. It's a great challenge.

So, with all these aspects of the game, I'm sure you'd like to see my verdict..

Gameplay - 9/10
Due to being based a lot on luck with what items you get, gameplay can be very frustrating at times, especially if you are playing online and someone blue shells you right near the finish line on the final lap.

Sound & Music - 10/10
The music in this game is great. It's not recycled throughout different tracks as much as it used to be, and the sound effects (from both the racers themselves and other varied sources) are a nice addition to the game.

Graphics - 8/10
There are some lovely graphical effects around the game. The GUI also looks nice. Has the sort of graphics a fun, non-serious racing game should have.

Replayability - 9/10
Having the rankings always there to look at and try to beat adds a lot to the game. Playng online to achieve greatness (pfft, yeah right!) and going through all the GPs numerous times to unlock everything also play a huge role in replayability.

Overall - 9/10
This is a very fun game recommened for both casual and hardcore gamers alike. It's high level of replayability means you are getting good value for your money and there will always be more for you to do..

... just don't get to angry when you lose. Please, just don't do it.

KK1387 08/06/2009

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