Jump into the world of Mario Kart once again and re-live the experience with fantastic new additions, and old memories!
I was looking forward to this game, and I did expect a lot, even though many people had said that the new racer was "un-polished" and going to be a "let-down"...
...luckily, I was the one who was right. This game didn't let me down one bit.
It has a total of 32 tracks. 16 of these are new tracks, with great visuals and some pretty frustrating turns/traps, and the other 16 are old classics that you fell in love with from the SNES version, all the way up to the gamecube version of Mario Kart. The courses are basically the same, although some have been slightly twigged to make room for some of the new features in Mario Kart Wii, and of course, the visuals have been up-graded also.
Just like the old versions, Mario Kart Wii offers 50cc, 100cc and 150cc race modes, but unlike the old Mario Karts, Nintendo has put a twist to it. In 50cc you must race in the Karts we're all so familliar to, but when you get to 100cc then you have to loose some wheels and bikes are in. Then once you're up to 150cc you get to choose a kart or a bike. Its up to you.
The new Wii version is packed with some great new ideas.
My favourite has to be the "tricks" you can peform while doing a jump. When your character does a jump off a ramp or bump in the road, you jerk the wiimote/wii-wheel upwards and a trick is performed. The bonus of doing a trick is not only that it looks cool, but when you land you get a boost. And another thing I've noticed, you can never stack after doing a trick and landing to fast...you character just "adjusts" and lands it anyway!
Another cool new addition is "slipstreaming". Most real racing fans will know all about slipstreaming, but for those of you who don't, I'll fill you in!
When you are racing behind someone, in real life and Mario Kart, the wind resistance is put only on the person in front, and you are blocked from the wind by their car/kart/bike. So you get a slight edge and go abit faster. Mario Kart Wii has decided to make use of this and add abit of their signature boosting to the table. When you race behind someone in Mario Kart, little blue lines start to appear around you, and if you stay behind them long enough, then the little lines become big lines and you get a temporary boost, easily enabling you to pass them. Its a great function, and I like the way it involves some risk of them dropping a bannanna or something onto you.
Theres a ton of new items in Mario Kart Wii. You see the old ones like the star and the mushrooms, red shells and green shells, but theres also afew newies. Theres a fat looking mushroom that makes you go big, and when you hit people you run over them and make them flat. Theres also a ghost which you can use and it appeares on everyones screens and splatters them with mud, making it hard to see, and very hard to avoid un-wanted objects. You can also use an item called "POW" which causes everyone to spin out, gaining you some much needed ground! And there's tons of other items that you can use.
One thing I like is the ramp boosting. Instead of having to turn a tight corner, you can drive up the wall where there are boosters conveniently placed for you...and peform a trick, landing in the perfect position to continue racing. Its fun and makes it alot easier to make tight corners, but I think making the corner is slighly faster, this way ensures you won't fall off.
And how could Mario Kart be Mario Kart if they didnt have battles? Well you battle-go-ers won't miss out becuase they've included that aswell! I'm fairly certain you unlock more battle modes, because you only start off with Balloon Battles and Coin Collecting battles, but I wouldn't know because I don't usually play battles.
From what I have experienced, the new arenas are awesome. They have great visuals and traps and are just plain fun to battle on.
Mario Kart Wii offers a great online play with up to 12 players racing against each other. You can choose to race Worldwide, Continental (in your country) or Friends. Its really cool how everyone's Mii pop's up where they're situated in their country. Then if you have to wait for the race to end and start the next one, you can watch them race while your waiting. Its pretty boring, but it sure beats a loading screen!!
You can also battle online, which I don't personally do, but I'm sure wouldn't be too bad.
So winding it up here, I have to say, Mario Kart Wii didn't dissapoint me. I like the new tracks, and love online racing. I think they added motion sensing in smartly, so you dont have to use it alot, but its fun to use. I didn't like the wii-wheel, so I use the wiimote+nunchuck combo, but I still get some motion-ness out of that! I enjoy the tricks, I like mono'ing on the bikes, and I like seeing old and new tracks in the same game.
I dont really like the bikes handling, but I'm sure I'll get used to that. The ghost that splatters your screen with mud is cool at first, but it happens so often its just annoying, and I don't like that theres only two battle modes, even though you probrabally unlock more.
But even with those dislikes, this game is still great and I'd reccomend it to any Mario Kart fan. From the most casual, to the hard-core players, this game will not dissapoint you.