atari2600land's Blog - Mario Kart Wii

RSS Bot · October 25, 2008

At first, I really didn't know what to think of this one. Using the Wiimote as a steering wheel was frustratingly hard. Then I plugged my Gamecube controller in, and it's just like old times. There are a couple new twists, though.

#1 - instead of 8 racers, there are 12. One called the POW block (from the first Mario game, "Mario Bros.") is stupid. It makes the ground shake and makes you stop temporarily *and* lose your item(s). Whoever thought that one up should be banned from working on future Mario Kart titles. The ink-spilling squid is back from Mario Kart DS, as well as the Bob-Omb, but this time it's stupid. If you drag it behind you and it blows up, YOU DO TOO! Stu-pid!

Judging from the way i talk about the items, you probably think i don't like the game. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. Now the good things:

#1 - track design is at an all-time high here. Since we've done Bowser's Castle 5 billion times already, the track designers have done a superb job thinking up new tracks. A autumn-themed track, Toad's Factory, Wario's Gold Mine, and racing through a mall are just some of the innovative new tracks, but there are new spins on old thoughts as well. Moonview Highway is reminiscent of Toad's Highway from MK64, and, yes, there is another Bowser's Castle and another Rainbow Road, which have become standards in the franchise. What I don't get is why they seem to include retro tracks in every release now. And not only that, tracks I don't like, too.

#2 - controls on the gamecube controller work well. Wish i could say the same thing for the dopey steering wheel to put the wiimote in, which was more of a gimmick than anything else. If you have Mario Kart Wii but don't have a Gamecube controller, get one at a used video game store, you will feel way better about the game.

So all in all, Mario Kart Wii is just another great Mario Kart game in the tradition of the great franchise, my favorite franchise, although nothing can compare to the DS and N64 versions.

score - 9/10

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