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Mario Kart Wii should need little introduction.
With a the series now seeing it’s eighth iteration, there’s no
denying it’s long-term appeal. While many argue the values of each
title in the
 series, none could argue that 2005’s
Mario KartDS has thus far been its’ biggest success. A
fully-3D Racer sporting a wide variety of gameplay modes, playable
on the bus, and online, Mario KartDS showed what Nintendo’s
handheld was capable of, and what the series had become famous for.
Of all the Mario Kart’s that have been released
thus far, Mario Kart Wii most closely resembles the arcade
spin-off series, Mario Kart Arcade GP. The graphical touches
and modifications bring the title more in-line with Wii’s
thirty-minute play philosophy than ever before. Featuring over
thirty courses, more than fifteen characters (of which many are
unlockable) and the usual array of Grand Prix, Time Trail and Vs.
options, Mario Kart Wii is certainly no slim package.
However, the fact that Battle Mode can now be played alone with
Artificial Intelligence stand-ins will tilt the balance considerably
for those with enough time on their hands, if the drastic changes in
gameplay don’t irritate too much.
Mario Kart Wii is not an instant hit; there are many elements
that have had a drastic remodelling, and the reasons as to why are
certainly not immediately clear. The title now features the option
to select between Manual and Automatic gearboxes. Whilst this
doesn’t actually ask the player to change gear in-game, the
hop/two-stage Mini-Turbo returns with Manual gears, and most closely
resembles its’ Nintendo64 incarnation. However, the Mini-Turbo is
now much easier to achieve, yet lost the second you leave the track
– most likely a concession to the hardcore. The total number of
racers
 on-track has now been increased from eight to twelve;
presumably to allow for the intense tussles of twelve-player online
races. New weapons include the Thunder Cloud, which the player must
pass onto another by ramming them before the lightning strikes,
shrinking the player, the POW Button and the Mega Mushroom, which
follows its
NEW Super Mario Bros. debut, and fans of the
series will be happy to hear that the frequency of the Blue Shell
has been dramatically toned down. Item usage has received a slight
modification, furthering the technique of holding weapons behind you
as a defensive barrier. Up on the D-Pad fires forwards, whereas Down
fires backwards, and holding either Left or Right holds most weapons
behind your kart.
The bikes are perhaps seemingly the biggest change of all to the
title, and along with them come a fresh batch of rules. In
Single-Player, 50cc is now karts only, whereas 100cc is bikes only,
and 150cc is where both can race. Although some would argue it’ll
most likely be nothing more than just a feature of this instalment
as with the dual-rider karts in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!,
the truth is, the bikes have been executed with grace, and blend in
far better than those seen in the likes of
Project Gotham Racing
4 and
Test Drive: Unlimited. The biggest change however,
is that of the Battle Mode. Only two gameplay modes are available;
Balloon Battle and Coin Runner, both of which have clearly been
designed with online Multi-Player in mind.
Although there are many changes to the series within the title, many
elements have remained. The player not only gets a Trophy for
completion of the Grand Prix’s, but also a Rank based on
performance. Nintendo’s typical Racing game rubber-band Artificial
Intelligence is ever-present, allowing for tight races when you
perform well and outstanding comebacks when things aren’t going your
way. The game continues the series recently established tradition of
adding new tracks as well remodelled version of tracks from earlier
titles, and the design of new tracks is beyond expectation. And,
although allowing for use of the Nunchuk, Classic Controller and
GameCube pad, to do so would be to miss the point entirely. Mario
Kart Wii’s Motion-Sensitive handling has been balanced perfectly
to allow experts from for experimentation from-the-off, and
beginners a fighting chance. The included Wii Wheel is immaculately
designed and perfectly weighted, far better than Thrustmaster’s
original Launch Window offering with
GT Pro Series and 4X4
Monster Trucks.
The online aspect of Mario Kart Wii is far more than simply
an additional feature. When beginning, the player chooses a Mii and
a Licence is assigned to that Mii. This Licence keeps track of the
player’s records, and is viewable online. Online races monitor your
performance and assign a Battle Rating accordingly, to which points
are added or deducted after each race. Setting-up Matches is quick
and the Lobbies are typically Nintendo, allowing you to see the
location of your competitors and their Mii, and little else, but
then watch an ongoing race as yours is established. Races are
exceptionally Lag-free and intense, and are clearly the best part of
the title. The title includes two downloadable features to allow
direct links from the system’s Main Menu. The first is a very
impressive Mario Kart Wii Channel; yes, an entire channel on your
Menu dedicated to Online Leaderboards and downloadable Ghost Data. The second is the option to receive notifications about game updates
and exclusive Ghost Data and the likes direct to your Message Board.
Features like this portray Nintendo’s online strategy as much more
aggressive than they would seem to have us to believe, and places
Wii in a clear second-place standing behind the mighty XboxLIVE!.
Unfortunately, it already appears as though Wii is beginning to
creak in comparison to the competition graphically. The title hasn’t
moved-on from its GameCube predecessor other than a handful of
sharper textures and a few smoother edges, and it seems as though
some of the weapon effects have actually gotten worse. Not
comparable to the likes of
 Super Mario Galaxy or
Resident
Evil 4: Wii Edition – a port of a GameCube title – it’s a shame
to say that Mario Kart Wii still stands as one of the best
looking titles on Wii thus far; an unfairly under-challenged system.
The music is rather leftfield for the series, including the usual
Mario-esque ditties, and some rather interesting Contemporary
Electronic Jazz to boot. The use of the Wii Remote’s on-board
speaker is the best demonstration of its capabilities up til now;
with literally hundreds of different sound effects relayed through
it, it personalises the experience no-end - especially in
Split-Screen Multi-Player, an area where the title’s graphical
fidelity is certainly lacking.
To begin with, it certainly seems as though Mario Kart may
simply not be as essential as it once was. However, a small amount
of playtime will remind you of why you fell in love with the series
in the first place. The implementation of a squished kart – whether
normal size or shrunk – is the best the series has seen, and
certainly the most comical. Some of the tracks are strikingly
similar to those from earlier titles in the series that have now
been omitted, suggesting their incompatibility with the new Control
System and a developers’ wish to rekindle their own experiences with
those tracks for others. The title is balanced and the tracks invite
exploration, there is little to complain about when faced with
another example of Nintendo creativity that’s simply so enjoyable.
To those new to the series – of which there are likely to be many –
right now, there’s only one finer step-up from
Wii Sports and
Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games than Mario Kart Wii
right now, and that’s Super Mario Galaxy.
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