Thursday 12 Jun 2008

What exactly is it that makes Mario Kart so much different than any other kart copycat out there? I mean, it’s quite simple in theory – you have a Nintendo character driving a kart trying to reach the finish line first and in doing so you have weapons to help you achieve this. We’ve seen Crash Bandicoot, Disney, Looney Tunes and other well known brands slap their characters into a kart game and achieve nothing more than a good dose of embarrassment. Nintendo are the Gods of kart racing (among other) and it does not seem as if they are planning on letting up anytime soon.

Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube was a hit and miss situation where you had some gamers loving it and some totally hating it. It was when Mario Kart DS launched that everyone rejoiced…the racing felt as tight as it did back on the Super Nintendo when they introduced us to this new genre within a genre, but it was a handheld game.

Welcome back Mario Kart, console edition

Not just do you have a snazzy new Mario Kart game, but with it comes an official licensed Wii Wheel. Stick your Wiimote into the wheel and use the wheel to steer your kart, instead of looking a bit arb tilting a remote control left and right, oh, and it is bundled free. You got to love Nintendo! If by chance you do not agree with the idea of using motion controls for playing Mario Kart games, you have a wealth of options by using the Nunchuck & Wiimote, Classic or GameCube controller. I found the Wii Wheel to be the control method of choice.

The normal single player mode with the 50 - 150cc classes is all there with many characters (and hidden ones) and yet again, like the Mario Kart DS, we have 16 new tracks and 16 retro tracks to choose from. The new tracks are very complementary of this new game as you can see there has been some good thought put into the stages, but the retro stages feel exceptionally dull. Yes, we know they are retro tracks with its “old” design elements, but I’m sure some of the N64 tracks could have been given a little face-lift. Anyway, one can also find the Time Trial, VS and Battle modes within singleplayer mode, which is really nothing new. The offline multiplayer enables you and three other friends to battle it out “old school” style in front of your telly on a Saturday morning, which is great fun.

Something that is a bit disappointing is that there are no special weapons available for each character anymore and not that much new to the default list of weapons. Blue Shell, Green Shell, Maroon Shell, Bob-omb, Bananas, Mushrooms, Fake Item Box, Golden Mushroom, Bullet Bill, Blooper (spits ink on the screen like the DS version), Lightning and Star are all there. We have three new additions: Mega Mushroom – Increases the size of your vehicle and you pounce over all your enemies flattening them in the process; POW Block – When activated all the competitors on the track spin out and drop their weapons; and lastly, Lightning Cloud – Bad luck I’m afraid. This cloud hovers over your head and you need to bump into another character to rid yourself of the irritating cloud that leaves the desperation of finding another racer in time. If not it will zap that racer into a mini kart racer. Thing is, we could do everything mentioned above in the GameCube version (besides the three new weapons).

What is actually new?

Online baby! Eventually you have been granted your wish of racing 12 player races online! Yes, you need to enter your Mario Kart friend codes to play against your friends, but once registered it is a piece of cake to compete with them. When you login to your online account it notifies you if any of your friends are online as well as when finishing an online race against strangers it will notify you if a friend is online after the race ends – awesome stuff! There is also a message section with preloaded messages that you can use as a “chatting” service to ensure that everyone in your lobby is up to speed and it works quite well. A headset would have been better but beggars can’t be choosers…gosh, just imagine the swearing and yelling that would take place every time someone unleashes a bolt of lightning!

“Complete and total mayhem” sums this up quite well and the 150cc suddenly feels too much for your little brain to absorb. You will be 1st with 100 meters to the finish line only to end up last a second later. Luck? You make your own luck; you should know that by now. Online mode does not mean you have to stick with your friends, you can take on Worldwide and Regional modes where you start with 500 points and depending on where you finish in a race your points increase or decrease. The point system at hand is an indication of how good the racers are you’re competing with.

So, what else? It’s not exactly Mario KART anymore as you now have the choice of motorbikes as well. The handling works exceptionally well and when pulling back on your wheel your bike sets itself in a wheelie position that in returns speeds you up; something the karts can’t do. You also have the opportunity to drive as your Mii, but who wants to do that if you can use good old Yoshi to upset all those around you?

Lastly we have the Mario Kart Channel. Here you can view “Friends” to see what your track record is thus far; “Ghosts” allows you to download other ghosts or send ghosts to your friends to compete with; “Rankings” shows you where you rank in the world, region or friends; and a awesome addition, “Tournament.” Every week or two Nintendo provides you with a new challenge (or tournament) which has you doing a task and completing it in the quickest time. Yet again you can compare it to the World, Region and your friends.

The difference between this and previous Mario Kart games is that you really do feel part of the community. You see, Nintendo has awesome characters and have kept with their secret recipe and only improved on it with each installation. The online element in this game is a massive improvement. If you do not play this game online you might as well sell it when you’re done with the single player side of things, as this is probably one of the most frantically exciting online games to have been released in years.

If you own a Wii this game is essential and if you are yet to pick up the console then you now have a very good reason to do so.

Pros: Mario Kart Online – with friends; bikes; free Wii Wheel.

Cons: Speeds can feel a bit slow at times; sadly weapons seem to have gone a step backwards.

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Contributor:	Dawid

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