Tons of content and a great online experience make for the best kart racing game on the market.
Nintendo is a company that traditionally tries to come up with new ways to play and experience games, and while this philosophy has often met with success (Super Mario 64; Wii), even this acclaimed company can't always prevent itself from occasionally falling into the aforementioned mediocrity by some of their ideas being more of a gimmick than a constructive gameplay innovation (Virtual Boy, anyone?). With the presentation of Mario Kart Wii and its new control mechanism, a wheel-formed shell for the Wiimote, there was a fear that it was just a gimmick forced down the gamer's throat to make the game more accessible to newcomers. The game did become more accessible, but old fans of the Mario Kart series weren't disappointed. While every copy of the game came with a Wii Wheel, the price remained the same as any other Wii game published by Nintendo (€50). Nintendo also was kind enough to implement alternative means of racing towards the finish line: the Wiimote + Nunchuck combo, the traditional controller, and even the good old Gamecube controller.
Even though I'd classify myself in the experienced group (having enjoyed Mario Kart since the old SNES days and especially in the N64 days), I was determined to give the Wii Wheel a try. It reportedly worked well and I'd least like to try and act like I play a Wii game. When I first started playing the game, I hopefully clicked my Wiimote into the Wii Wheel (after all, it is just a shell) and started racing. The more races I'd do, the more frustrated I'd get with me not being able to emulate the precision I had with Double Dash in this new Mario Kart installment. After a few hours of this, I finally switched to the same Gamecube controller that saw me through Double Dash twice. Once I had gotten the hang of the new drift system, which has been simplified to eliminate snaking, but still takes a while to master, I was on my way to enjoy the latest Mario Kart game at its fullest. This doesn't mean I consider the Wii Wheel a bad idea in any way – on the contrary: it offers newcomers an easy way to get access to the series, and I've known enough people who've used this device to beat the game, making it clear that my inability to handle the thing is more of a personal thing than Nintendo's shortcoming.
Luckily, though, the developers didn't have only the newcomers in mind while developing this game. The variety in choice of characters and vehicles make for a pretty deep racing experience, especially for a Mario Kart game. Where, in previous installments, players were only able to select characters from a different weight class (and a set of different karts in Double Dash), they now have to choose between karts and bikes to see them through the races. Especially veterans will immediately test the bikes for their novelty, and I doubt many of them were disappointed with the sheer advantages this method of transport offers. Whilst bikes are more likely to get knocked off the road by the heavier karts, they are also more nimble and even a bit faster than their four-wheeled counterparts. Apart from drifting in corners, bikes can also get a small boost of speed by performing a wheelie on the straight parts. Though risky (bikes get knocked down if they're even touched during a wheelie, and it's near impossible to steer properly while performing one), it offers the more experienced players a way to sprint towards the finish line, or to sharpen their time trials records by a bunch. Other means of getting mini-boosts for both types of vehicle are by riding in another vehicle's slipstream for a while (like in Mario Kart DS), or by performing a trick in the air after being launched by a ramp.
Karts cannot perform wheelies, but they can generate a stronger boost in corners if they drift longer. While this does make up a bit for the wheelies, it still doesn't make karts quite as fast as bikes, which can practically boost everywhere they go. It doesn't all come down to just karts vs. bikes, however. Like in Double Dash, the characters are able to select from a variety of vehicles, the availability of the vehicles depending on the character's weight class. More than in Double Dash, however, the abilities of the vehicles greatly differ even within the respective weight classes. Some vehicles drift inwards, while others drift outwards; some have a good mini-boosting ability, while others are better at offroading – even speed and acceleration differ greatly within a certain weight class. All of this makes the overall racing more varied and deeper than ever before in the series.
Even though certain ideas and developments that were supposed to make the series progress were dropped again in later installments (the two-characters-in-one-kart idea in Double Dash, for example), others keep being transported to and improved with each installment. The most prominent of these developments is the track design. While some of the old tracks from the SNES and N64 games are definitely worthwhile and legendary in their own right, Mario Kart Double Dash & DS kept providing more spectacular and original tracks as the years progressed. In Double Dash tracks such as DK Mountain, Wario Colosseum, and Yoshi Circuit really raised the standard for coming installments, and it was up to Mario Kart Wii, as DD's home console successor, to raise the standard even further. From the first cup on it is clear that Mario Kart Wii hasn't failed to live up to this difficult task. There are practically no uninteresting tracks in the game, and a lot of them are even downright classics. Coconut Mall, DK's Snowboard Cross, and Koopa Cape are examples of tracks full of secrets, introducing elements never seen before in other Mario Kart games, while the Wii editions Bowser's Castle and Rainbow Road are among the best yet. The addition of ramps and slopes and the ability to do tricks on them only increases the fun you have while trying to beat everyone to the finish line.
Apart from these four cups of new tracks, there are also four cups of retro tracks available in Mario Kart Wii. While a lot of these tracks are in a way less spectacular than the new ones, they are still worthwhile for the most part. Especially the N64 and DS tracks have been graphically revised, making their layout suit those of the new tracks. It is therefore no surprise that already brilliant tracks such as Delfino Square, Peach Gardens(DS), DK's Jungle Parkway, and Bowser's Castle(N64) rank among the most enjoyable courses in the game. However, this doesn't prevent some of the SNES and GBA courses from looking awkward among all these new and revamped 3D tracks, as their outdated layout is still visible and their simple design often betrays their origins.
Apart from that, the game graphically does what it should do. The character models are perfect and the everything else looks as smooth and polished as it should be. Although I did have my 'wow' moments (such as seeing some of the reworked N64 tracks for the first time), the game isn't as graphically amazing as Double Dash was when it first came out. Nevertheless the looks of this game won't stop any player from enjoying it to the fullest. On the contrary – in combination with great track layouts like on Maple Treeway and Moonlight Highway, Mario Kart Wii will amaze you from time to time.
The tracks are accompanied by a soundtrack that's clearly only meant as background music, and doesn't dominate as much as in Mario Kart 64, for example. There are some memorable tunes like Mushroom Gorge, Moo Moo Meadows, and the new Bowser's Castle, but most of the time you won't even notice the music's on. This could've been done on purpose, but with the themes of the retro tracks often being a lot more enjoyable, it still doesn't feel all that natural.
All these new tracks and vehicles are great, but does the game provide enough modes to enjoy them in? The answer is undoubtedly yes. There of course is the Grand Prix mode, which has the familiar classes to race in (50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and later mirror), and offers more of a challenge than ever. Not only are your opponents better than ever (instead of trailing for a quarter of a lap most of the time) without cheating (Mario Kart 64, anyone?), but the sometimes unbalanced item system and the fact that 12 racers now participate instead of 8 make it a lot harder to just cruise to victory. Often I've read in reviews that you can't go 30 seconds in first place in 150cc without getting hit by blue shells or some other nasty object that makes you end up in last place, but this is an untruth for the most part. While it can get unfair at times, and earning a good ranking at the end of a Grand Prix does need a bit of luck, you will end up winning most of the time if you're an experienced and skilled enough racer. This doesn't change the fact that, with all these new elements, unlocking everything in Mario Kart has never been so challenging.
Outside Grand Prix mode you can also do VS. Races with other people and alone against the computer. Additionally, there are more ways than ever in which you can customize in this mode – select the number of races this 'friendly' tournament will have (2-32); how good your computer-controlled opponents are; if items appear sometimes, often, or not at all; if everyone is allowed to pick only karts or bikes, or both, etc. If any, this is just an editable version of Grand Prix mode, but the facts that you have plenty more options available, you can play this in teams (the team which earns the most points wins), and you can also play this with multiple people, make it a worthwhile and valuable addition to the game.
Battle is a familiar mode as it has been in every Mario Kart game to date, but it has been drastically altered for Mario Kart Wii. From now on, battle can only be played with two teams who fight eachother on new and old battle stages. The battles are now time-based (score as many points as possible before time runs out) rather than life-based (the last one standing wins). The familiar balloons that denote a kind of life gauge are still present, but losing all of them merely makes you lose a point rather than it eliminates you from the match like in previous games. There also is a new mode – Coin Runners – in which your object is to collect as many coins as possible for your team before time runs out, with getting hit by an item making you lose quite some coins. All these additions and adjustments have met with criticism, but I personally consider battle mode more fun and chaotic than ever. Not only because computer-controlled players can be played in battle mode for the first time in a Mario Kart console installment, but also because the time-based matches nearly always make for an explosion of vehicle violence and mayhem near the end of the match, because everyone wants to score those last few points for their team.
While all these modes are new and revamped and fun like never before, the biggest addition to the game is undoubtedly the possibility to play online. The completely lag-free online mode has three ways of playing: against random people from all over the world, against random people from all over your continent, or just against friends who you register by means of a friend code. While Worldwide and Continental are fun enough to keep you busy until some of your friends come online, playing with people you know is the most fun because the chance of a fair match is much bigger than when you play with people you don't know. While Nintendo did its best to eliminate cheap tactics from the game (snaking, for instance), you still run across the occasional travesty. It can happen that, like in GP mode, you are the best racer out there but the arsenal from the 11 racers behind you makes you end up in a questionable position, and there are always people who know every bizarre shortcut and glitch in the game.
It even happened that a player would stay at the finish line at the start, and tried to hit the leader (which was me at the time) with a star. He failed at doing so, but it shows that even in Mario Kart, the party poopers of online gaming still have a way of trying and ruin other people's fun. Still, skill does pay off in the end, and the same couple of players usually end up high in the ranking list. Moreover, winning or losing races will increase or decrease your rating, and when you play Worldwide or Continental, you will preferably be thrown into a server with players with a similar rating.
There are several modes available online, Grand Prix and Battle of course, but also Team Grand Prix when playing with friends, and it's even possible to compare your Time Trial records with your friends, other players on your continent, and the best players in the world. Aditionally, you can exchange ghost data with your friends, and race against random ghosts from all over the world in order to perfectionize your time trial skills. Nintendo regularly writes out competitions (about three times a month), which let a player complete a certain task (usually collecting coins or getting a fast time trial time under special circumstances) in an as fast as possible time.
All this makes for a varied online mode that, thanks to the absence of lag and the larger number of options, is more worthwhile and mature than that of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
In conclusion, Mario Kart Wii goes deeper than all of its predecessors, and under the seemingly superficial innovation of the Wii Wheel, the game offers a lot more to old fans of the series, with an expanded Battle mode, a harder GP mode, the possibility to compete against the whole world online, and a wider than ever selection of characters and vehicles. All of this can't lead me to another conclusion than Mario Kart Wii being not only the best Mario Kart game, but also the best kart racing game to date. It doesn't offer revolutionary new features, but it does what it tries to do and executes it almost perfectly. At the end of the day, Mario Kart Wii is a certain must for everyone with a Nintendo Wii next to their television.
Report card:
+ great design for the new tracks, and some stunning makeovers of the old tracks
+ single player more durable and varied than ever
+ ships with free Wii Wheel, yet allows you to still play in alternative ways
+ lag-free and enjoyable online experience
+ a lot of vehicles to choose from make for a lot of different ways to experience the game
- so-so soundtrack
- some of the retro tracks seem a bit out of place
Score:
93%