2 Brief reviews, 1 budget, 1 big name.

[Atari5200]

I got 2 new Wii games today and wanted to share again my initial impressions of them.

 

First we'll start with the budget game..$20 at K-mart

 

ExciteTruck.

 

It' an older Wii game but this game is fun. I love it. The Wii-mote works really good, and over all, the entire control scheme is solid. From landings to mid air turns, from turbo to drifts, it just plain works. The graphics are ok, good for the Wii, but don't expect no MotorStorm here folks. But the game is not about graphics, and neither sound because it's atrocious. The music was fun for the first couple of tracks and then I wished it would just go away. But from that one downfall the gameplay picks up with fast, furious, and addictive gameplay. One of my favorite things about the game was the ability to change the landscape.

 

I'm 5 races into the game and overall I have to rate this game an 8 out of 10. For $20, I would recommend everybody buy this game.

 

 

Second game.

 

Mario Kart

 

I was suckered into buying this, and boy is this game a huge disappointment, for me. It's Mario Kart....again.....same old Mario Kart. So far into the game I have 6 circuits to play, half the tracks are...old rehashed tracks...boring...same old Mario Kart. I spent most of night playing this game, finally I couldn't do it anymore. I loved(notice the 'ed) but I'm pretty sure now that this will be the last Mario Kart I ever buy. I don't know what it is, but the single player mode is extremely boring. Multiplayer mode is more fun obviously when you can yell and do whatever with the person your playing with. We had 3 people going at one time tonight and it was great fun, except for the game ruiner, we'll get more into that later. The game was a blast to play with other human opponents, and even my wife was getting into it and loving it. The single player is a drag. The game plays nice...as long as you don't use the wheel. Neither of the 3 of us could do any good with the wheel. I ended up using the Gamecube controller, and my wife and sister used the Wii-mote and nun-chuck setup. btw: wheel works nice with ExciteTruck. But then you have the game ruiner, for both single and multi-player. The blue shell. I hate this item and frustrates the hell out of me. Expect to get hit with it 2-3 times a race if you are consistantly in first place. It's annoying, and it's extremely annoying when you can out race and out class another opponent an entire race multi-player only to end up losing because of the damn blue shell at the end. Yes the wii-mote was thrown before the night was over. And wtf, why Nintendo, why did you have to put in Baby Mario and Baby Peach? Why. And Mii's god damn I hate Mii's and they are spectators. Grrrr. ALSO: you can't jump...WHAT THE HELL NINTENDO, you have 2 stages that I've playes so far that rely on jumping. ShyGuy Beach, jump over the water gaps, and the SNES Ghost house, you jump over the jump to get to the ? box by the finish line. There's no jumping around corners, or jumping into slides, and in the N64 penguin stage, no jumping over the ice gaps to gain better time. I'm hoping that there is a way to jump and I just haven't figured it out yet because I don't read instruction manuals, but if there is, there was nothing I could do to make my character jump

 

I'm going to give this game 2 scores. Overall, if you have never played, or maybe played 1 other version of Mario Kart before...7 out of 10. You will enjoy this game...trust me, it's a very well done game. If you're like me and own and have played every other Mario Kart game, then this is a 5 out of 10. The game is extremely boring. I don't know why I expected something different other than some new stages. Nintendo did absolutely nothing to freshen the game up other than it uses the Wii-mote as a wheel, and that sucks, and I"m sure Nintendo knew that which is why they offer 2 other control schemes that work a hell of a lot better. I personally have got used to the Wii-mote and nunchuck setup and use that now instead of the Gamecube controller.

 

If you are looking for a racer, I would recommend ExciteTruck over Mario Kart unless you are new to Mario Kart.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Atari5200

[moycon]

Im thinking on Excite truck you can play your own music. Seems to me you had to have the music on an SD card though.

[Atariboy]

I'm really enjoying Mario Kart. I haven't been bothered by blue shells. I do pretty well with the wheel, but prefer using my WaveBird. You can jump (In manual, I'm not bothering with automatic and think its turned off there) and that's how you start a powerslide. I love how your Mii's can drive, be spectators, etc.

 

It's the best of the series since Mario Kart 64 in my opinion. It sounds to me like you just haven't given it enough time.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Atariboy

[n8littlefield]

I agree on Excitetruck - it's one of my favorites for the system.

 

I would likely agree on MK if I bought it. I didn't buy it yet, because I find that I tend to get bored with the series and it just isn't worth full price to me.

 

 

Edit to add: Yes - you can use your own music via SD card on Excitetruck and frankly I highly recommend it given how horrible the music is that came with it.

Edited May 8, 2008 by n8littlefield

[theking21083]

Just wanted to add that you can jump in Mario Kart Wii. You have to have it set to manual powerslides, not auto.

[Shawn]

Just wanted to add that you can jump in Mario Kart Wii. You have to have it set to manual powerslides, not auto.

 

Overall it just sounds like the topic starter sucks at Mario Kart cause you can avoid being hit by the blue shells also.

[BydoEmpire]

I didn't know ExciteTruck was down to $20 - I've heard nothing but good things about it. I need to pick that up!

[n8littlefield]

I didn't know ExciteTruck was down to $20 - I've heard nothing but good things about it. I need to pick that up!

It's not an official pricedrop - but it was put on clearance by a few places - KMart, Target and (IIRC) Circuit City for around the $20 price point.

[Atari5200]

Just wanted to add that you can jump in Mario Kart Wii. You have to have it set to manual powerslides, not auto.

 

Overall it just sounds like the topic starter sucks at Mario Kart cause you can avoid being hit by the blue shells also.

 

please enlighten me on as to how.

 

Also, thanks for the info on jumping, I will be using manual from now on.

[theking21083]

When you put it on manual you can also do a bigger mini boost when you power slide. Your sparks will turn blue and then orange.

[Bilnick]

I haven't tried Excitetruck.

 

I tend to agree with Mario Kart Wii review though. The one player game feels stale. If it wasn't for unlocking cars, tracks,characters, etc. I doubt I would play through all three classes of the single player game. .

 

The tracks do not seem fresh at all. The Mall track and the Factory track are cool. But do we need a 26th Rainbow Road? Another Bowsers Castle? Another track with Traffic? Another track where you get cannoned to the top? The track designers definitely mailed this one in. Uninspired effort. Very Electronic Arts-ish.

 

Online is fun, I like how it tells you before the race where everyone is from. I like that 2 players can play online at once on one Wii. But no voice chat? No text chat? Predetermined phrases? My 6 year old's Webkins website has preset phrases....lame, lame, lame.

 

 

Overall I will still play Mario Kart, my kids love it, and I enjoy playing with them and online. But once I unlock everything in the one player game there is little chance I will play single player again.

[liveinabin]

Excite Truck is just awesome. I have it and Motorstorm and, even with the huge gulf in visual quality between the two, I'd still much rather play Excite Truck.

I'm not normally one for sequels but I really hope they're working on one for this. As a launch game, it will have been rushed to market to some extent and I'd love to see a more fleshed out version. The multiplayer was definitely tacked on at the last minute, they can do a lot with that.

[Atariboy]

You can't avoid blue shells. I had one nearly on me before a long jump from being blasted out of a cannon, and I thought I had but it beat since it sounded perhaps 1 second away from exploding, but it merely bought me a few seconds before it caught back up after I landed.

 

And even backing off so you lose the lead when you hear the warning sound it makes doesn't seem to do any good, it seems to still target me even when I intentionally fall back. Seems to lock on to you at a specific point, so lifting to make it hit an opponent by letting someone else take the lead like in past games doesn't seem to work.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Atariboy

[theking21083]

The only way to avoid the blue shell is with a star. The problem getting to first place with a star, and holding it until a blue shell comes.

[rockman_x_2002]

Well I haven't played ExciteTruck yet, but I do have Mariokart Wii.

 

To me, the Wii Wheel feels pretty good with the game. Takes a little getting used to, but it's fairly intuitive and easy to jump into. Also, the online play is some of the best I've seen thus far on the Wii, and I hope they mark this page down in their playbook for future WFC compatible games.

 

Actually, I really only have one gripe and one minor complaint. The complaint is that there are only 16 tracks in the game. Now this wouldn't be so much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that Mariokart DS also had 16 tracks. You would think that a console game would have a more content than a handheld version of, more or less, the same game.

 

Now, my real problem with the game? Unbalanced items. And this has, unfortunately, been a staple of the Mario Kart series. So if you're in first place, you have almost a 0% chance of getting any powerful items. And if you are in last, you'll almost always get the big items. Instead of doing it that way, item determination should be determined by random percentages instead of rank. Still, the game is fun to play, and even though you tend to get nailed by blue shells and other powerful items, it doesn't happen so often that you can't catch back up and still win the races. But fair item distribution would make the game so much better, and would require all players to rely on pure luck and skill, as opposed to the handicapping system that the game uses.

Edited May 9, 2008 by rockman_x_2002

[Shawn]

The only way to avoid the blue shell is with a star. The problem getting to first place with a star, and holding it until a blue shell comes.

 

 

Not true at all, you can also avoid it with a mushroom. when its above you circling for that short period of time if you use a mushroom you will jet ahead as it tries to drop on you and it doesn't hit you. You can also do a "bounce" and mini boost to avoid them. The Mushroom way is easy, the bounce and boost is a bitch to get right and not constant enough to use unless your really proficiant at doing it. I stick to the mushroom trick myself.

 

EDIT: Also sharp cornering will make the blue shell hit a wall if done right. It's pretty easy to do as long as you got a sharp corner with walls.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Shawn Sr.

[Atari5200]

after playing Mario Kart Wii more last night, I'm totally standing by my 5 out of 10, and might even down grade the rating to 4 or possibly 3. This game is the worst Mario Kart I've ever played. And playing online last night did not make the game any more fun. The wheel is totally garbage. I was so frustrated last night with it. I can't understand how I can turn the wheel hard left, yet my character goes right????, granted this only happened on one stage, the stage with the water and you can drive through the koopa shell, during that stretch of road, doing a hard left made my character turn right and a hard right character went left, but if i did a gradual turn it was fine, but then you can't avoid the walls. I played this stage multiple times and each time my character went the opposite direction at that point in the stage, my wife using the wii-mote and nun-chuck, didn't have the problem. And then maple tree stage, worst stage ever created.

 

I have a feeling this game is going to be trade bait real soon. it's absolutely terrible, if I want a mario kart fix, I'll probably just go back to the DS version.

 

EDIT: since you can use your own music on Excite Truck, i'm upgrading that score to 9 out of 10. hella fun.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Atari5200

[jbanes]

I can't understand how I can turn the wheel hard left, yet my character goes right????

You're probably doing it wrong. Hold it up like a steering wheel on a car, not down like a wheel on a big-rig.

 

You mentioned before that the Wheel is working well with Excite Truck. I find that somewhat doubtful as the two games have different control schemes. You may be doing that wrong as well.

 

Here's how it works.

 

Excite Truck: Hold Wii Remote with the buttons facing the ceiling. DO NOT turn it left and right like a steering wheel. This will work, but it will work poorly. Instead, rotate it up and down to steer. i.e. When you turn hard left, the buttons should be facing left and the IR window should be pointing at the floor. When you turn hard right, the buttons should be facing right and the IR sensor should be pointing toward the ceiling.

 

Let me reiterate. If you are turning the remote left and right, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. It works only because you tend to dip one side lower than the other when turning. You need to be pushing the controller up and down instead. Once you get that down, your control will improve and the game will become even more fun.

 

Mario Kart Wii: The primary difference in how this game steers is that the Wii Remote's buttons are facing the player rather than the ceiling. If the buttons are not facing you, YOU WILL FAIL. However, once the buttons face you, it controls the same way as Excite Truck. As you turn the wheel to the left, the IR sensor should move to face the floor. As you turn the wheel to the right, the IR sensor should move to face the ceiling.

 

Let me reiterate. DO NOT LOWER THE WHEEL. It must be vertical at all times!

 

Once you understand the control scheme of these games, it gets a lot easier.

 

Oh, and in case you're not following why the wheel won't work for Excite Truck: In order to control Excite Truck properly, the Wheel needs to be horizontal like the wheel on a Big Rig. Except that if you were driving a big rig, you'd need to yank the wheel off the steering column and plaster it flat against the driver's side window (with the horn against the window!) to turn hard left, or plaster it flat against the passenger-side window to turn hard right.

 

Obviously, steering wheels don't pivot like that. They rotate around a center-point. And that's why Excite Truck's control scheme is a little odd.

Edited May 9, 2008 by jbanes

[Atari5200]

I did notice last night that I was holding the wheel more flat than up and I caught myself plenty of times during Mario Kart with the wheel flat and I would straighten it back up.

 

I don't know what to tell you about Excite Truck. I played Mario Kart before I played Excite Truck and I never took the Wii-mote out of the wheel, I figured why not, and the wheel works great for ExciteTruck, but again, I guess it's how I'm holding it.

[phaxda]

Well, Mario Kart Wii is my first Mario kart game ever and I LOVE it. All the tracks are new to me, of course. I love the ridiculousness of it and it's solid as a racing game--I mean, my Gran Turismo experience has helped me out a bit. I still suck compared to most of the people I see online, but I am learning every day. Thanks for the Blue Shell tricks--it may seem obvious to most, but learning how to play defense has been the toughest part for me--hanging on to stars and shells and using the shrooms to get to/take shortcuts, etc. I have gotten way better by learning from the ghost racers.

 

Driving in manual is tricky, but I knew if I wanted to get better I would have to switch (I started in auto).

 

I have not spent this much time on a game in YEARS and I really like it a lot. The online play is addictive--it's so easy to just say "one more game..." My ranking is 5300-something at the moment, but it varies wildly. I made it to 5500 before I switched to manual and then went down to 4500 or so before starting to get the hang of it. It's a process.

 

I cannot believe how good some people are at this game--it's unreal. I downloaded some of the ghosts and the degree of control they have is amazing. I guess all the best players use the Nunchuck or a Cube controller, but I am sticking with the wheel for now because it makes it fun. I don't think at my level it will make much of a difference.

Edited May 9, 2008 by phaxda

[Roloking]

The only problem I have with Mario Kart Wii is that you can't play the GP mode with 2 players. Unless you're online the multiplayer is pretty stale compared to DoubleDash.

 

Edit: try playing it with a Gamecube controllet you might like it more.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Roloking

[Atari5200]

You mentioned before that the Wheel is working well with Excite Truck. I find that somewhat doubtful as the two games have different control schemes. You may be doing that wrong as well.

 

Here's how it works.

 

Excite Truck: Hold Wii Remote with the buttons facing the ceiling. DO NOT turn it left and right like a steering wheel. This will work, but it will work poorly. Instead, rotate it up and down to steer. i.e. When you turn hard left, the buttons should be facing left and the IR window should be pointing at the floor. When you turn hard right, the buttons should be facing right and the IR sensor should be pointing toward the ceiling.

 

Let me reiterate. If you are turning the remote left and right, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. It works only because you tend to dip one side lower than the other when turning. You need to be pushing the controller up and down instead. Once you get that down, your control will improve and the game will become even more fun.

 

 

Oh, and in case you're not following why the wheel won't work for Excite Truck: In order to control Excite Truck properly, the Wheel needs to be horizontal like the wheel on a Big Rig. Except that if you were driving a big rig, you'd need to yank the wheel off the steering column and plaster it flat against the driver's side window (with the horn against the window!) to turn hard left, or plaster it flat against the passenger-side window to turn hard right.

 

After playing the hell out of Excite Truck, I've come to the conclusion that you've never played Excite Truck. #1, no, you do not need to have the wheel horizontal, it needs to be facing you. When you jump you tilt the controller to raise or lower the nose of the truck, if you have the wheel facing horizontal, then the nose is constantly being forced downward so your screwed right from the beginning going into jumps, it severely shortens your jump distance even if you raise your nose, tilt the wii-mote towards you, after the fact. Holding the wheel at a constant facing you eliminates that and you will hit the jumps dead on for you to then decide if you are going to tilt forward or back, and if I was paying attention to how I was holding the wheel, and it was roughly 80degree angle, it was not perfect 90, but no where near flat or "trucker" position.

 

The way you explained is way worse than holding the wheel normally.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Atari5200

[Cybergoth]

Now, my real problem with the game? Unbalanced items. And this has, unfortunately, been a staple of the Mario Kart series. So if you're in first place, you have almost a 0% chance of getting any powerful items. And if you are in last, you'll almost always get the big items.

 

That is actually balanced items then you're having a problem with.

[Atari5200]

not really, if I remember correctly, each kart has a "special weapon" bar just like speed, accelleration, etc. The weapons should be based on this bar, but their not. you can have the crappiest kart for specials and still get all the good stuff when your doing bad, and have the best cart for weapons and get all the crap.

 

This is what I hate about Mario Kart, especially online, there's really no skill involved, it's all luck, and since you can totally outclass and out perform your opponent in skill, in the end it makes no difference because you will get bombed with blue shells and all the other good stuff, while you are left with green shells and bananas. I've never been more frustrated in a game in a long time than I was with this game, same as with the DS version which is why I don't play it online anymore. There's only so much you can take of winning races up until the final point and getting bombarded with crap from crap racers.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Atari5200

[Cybergoth]

I've never been more frustrated in a game in a long time than I was with this game, same as with the DS version which is why I don't play it online anymore. There's only so much you can take of winning races up until the final point and getting bombarded with crap from crap racers.

 

So then, when you're constantly losing all the time, did you ever consider that it's just you that is the crap racer?