Mario kart fans rejoice
Mario Kart is a game made as a graceful alternative to those that can't handle or don't want to handle the real simulation driving genre. In this sense Mario Kart does just that and gives us fun game play with a few new features along with the basic formula fans have loved for years.
Mario Kart allows a multitude of game play options as you can use, classic controller, gamecube controller, wii remote, wii remote with nun chuck, or the wii wheel. The newly introduced wii wheel is a plastic shell that emulates the driving of the actual vehicle. All of the configurations are equally playable, but i found that new drivers like the intuitive nature of the Wii wheel. I personally had more success using the wii remote with nunchuck, but i had more fun with the wheel along with added difficulty. New weapons have been added, such as the giant mushroom, lightning cloud, and pow block. If you've been playing Mario Kart games at all you'll be able to play this easily. The introduction of cycles adds some new challenges to explore. Karts still have the drift, but the drift itself has been modified to limit "snaking." Karts and catch drag off of karts in front of them for a boost and also have the opportunity to catch double boost during drift. Cycles on the other hand can pop a wheelie and gain a boost. This however, limits your turning so it is ideal in straight ways. To balance out this bikes can drift but are only given one boost. A new tweak is the doing tricks. Whenever you hit a jump all you have to do is shake the wii remote and you'll do a trick. Shortly after landing you'll receive and extra boost. The cars are well balanced and you have a set of light, medium, and heavy bikes and cars to choose from.
Another new addition console series is the existence of full online play through the nintendo wi-fi support. The online supports up to 12 players for battle and race modes. The online also has full ranking systems and the ability to upload your own ghosts and race others'. I raced with 9 people without any noticeable lag and the setup allows you to get into a race easy and quickly. Race tracks are chosen by the people and then the game picks one of those choices at random. You can play people on your friends list, from your region, or across the globe.
Mario Kart has its usual engines burning out and characters jeering at one another. All of the audio we are used to listening to from past Mario Karts is in full force. Some of the old school tracks reappear with remixes for their music and is surely going to bring back memories.
On the negative side of the equation mario kart doesn't real give us anything new. I'm not sure how Nintendo needs to go about revamping the series, but we need to go to newer places and the inclusion of old tracks takes up half of the racing and seems like Nintendo is out of things to do. Maybe a travel to other aspects of the Nintendo universe is needed?
If you were never a fan of the Mario Kart series, this will not change your mind. For those of us who can't get enough shell throwing madness, this is a welcome title whose online and competitive gameplay will keep us racing for days to come.
