Thoughts on Mario Kart Wii

05/11/08 06:03:17 pm

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• Mario Kart Wii
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Yes I know, I haven't updated in over a month. I'm [slowly] working on a piece of art in Illustrator, at which I'm still something of a newb... but I quite like the style of art you can make with it, so I'm tryin'. There's still a Shakugan no Shana skin pending, and possibly a new Okami one too. I've also gotten a lot of Google searches for "Smash Bros Brawl skin," so I might give that a shot as well. In the meantime, let's talk about...

Mario Kart Wii

It's not bad, but it's not terribly impressive either. First off, the Wii Wheel? If you've any interest in precision control, you'll dump it. This was somewhat surprising to me, since the Wiimote controls in certain levels of Mario Galaxy were markedly sensitive. But, oh well, it's a gimmick.

Moving on to gameplay... Having gotten the game with Rirath, we tried out the multiplayer modes first. From the start, about half of the total tracks are missing, and must be unlocked through single player mode only. This was kind of disappointing - not that the content had to be unlocked, but that there's no means of unlocking it through multiplayer. The concept of "Cups" is somewhat borked in multiplayer, since you can pick and choose tracks and the order you want to play them in; it's really just four separate races in an arbitrary grouping. Battle mode has suffered most from retooling: you can no longer play one-on-one, but must play in teams with CPUs, and when you lose your balloons, you simply respawn with a new set, as the game keeps a running tally of cumulative hits for each team. I've read the argument that this was done to facilitate a better WiFi battle experience, and maybe so, but why must the offline battles follow the same rules?

The game's AI has also been improved, which at times is frustratingly merciless, like when you get bombarded by numerous items in succession. In fact, items in general feel a bit broken - if you're in back, you can always count on a star or a bullet bill to propel you to the front, and if you're in first, it's only a matter of time before a blue shell is upon you. As such, the first two laps of the race are essentially meaningless - you can be in last place going into the final lap and easily score 1st with items. It's more to your detriment to hold onto first position, as you'll simply get pounded down again and again.

So those are the highlights of what's broken in the game, how about what's good? The visuals and music are both laudable, and it's fun to see some of the series' previous tracks renewed in Wii-goodness. The new tracks are well-designed too. The addition of bikes provides more depth when choosing your vehicle, with varied abilities like drifting, drafting and tricks under consideration. I've yet to try the online play, but people say that's fun too. :P

All in all, it's a good game, but not a great game. Which is a shame after seeing such wonderful first-party franchise titles like Brawl and Mario Galaxy.