faragher
15-04-2008, 11:56 AM
Mario Kart Wii
As any good fanboy knows, the Mario Kart series have a long and honourable history. First appearing on the SNES in 1992, the title has appeared on every Nintendo console and handheld since, and I've played all of them - from drunken nights as a student in the mid 90's on a SNES and N64, to snatched games on the bus, to marathon sessions with my wife in the living room (fnarr).
Every one of these titles has its fans and detractors because they all have differences - some of them minor, some of them significant. And everyone has their favourite. For what its worth, up until now, my favourite was Double Dash - yeah, you heard right - Double Dash...
The attraction of the series has always been a combination of immediacy and hidden depths. Pretty much anyone could pick up a controller get stuck in and enjoy themselves, but a serious player had plenty to get their teeth into. Finding the shortcuts, shaving 100ths of a second off best lap times, perfecting the powerslides - it was all there, along with extra tracks, characters and vehicles to unlock. Could Mario Kart Wii live up to the rest of the series?
3.. 2.. <push button A> 1.. GO!
Many, many games were played, drinks were drunk and much discussion was had:
- Controls. None of us could get to grips with the floating steering wheel. It was difficult to judge how far to turn the wheel to get the desired effect. Its biggest fault was that when you turned the wheel too far (usually in a panic), it could register it as a hard turn in the wrong direction. This resulted in much shouting and sulking. I can see how it might be OK for the casual player, as it is very intuitive, but we quickly dug out the nunchucks and old GameCube controllers. With these controllers we had no problems at all - and contrary to rumour, you can do everything with these that you can with the newer control systems.
- Graphics. As a rule good. You can see whats happening, no significant framerate drops. Did see some clipping once or twice.
- Tracks. The new tracks were pretty much as expected. Circuits, stadiums, snow, water and so on. One issue I did have was that some of them were a little unpredictable. I don't mean that you weren't sure where they went, but that they had some randomised elements (shifting walls or speedups and slowdowns that moved) which meant that my vastly superior skill could be negated by bad luck.
- OMG RETRO TRACKS. As an officially old gamer, getting to play these tracks without having to spend twenty minutes in the attic looking for the right power cables was a joy. Simple things.
- No multiplayer GP. What? Why would they do that?
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5522/mushroomyj6.jpg
MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM! And thankfully no snakeing...
SHINY NEW STUFF
Mario Kart Wii perhaps adds the most new features of any previous game in the franchise.
- Kart Choice. This has expanded massively - there are now three karts and three bikes for each character, albeit with a lot of overlap, as well as a whole bunch of special karts and bikes to unlock. Bikes play like superlightweight carts - tight turns, high acceleration, but prone to being knocked about by everything else.
- New Items. A few new items add to the fun. At first these seemed overpowered, but once a bit of time had been spend getting used to them, they fitted in quite nicely.
- Eight cups to play instead of the ususal four. The new cups are the 'retro' ones with tracks from all the previous versions. And of course you have to grind through 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and mirror modes.
- Online play. This is the star of the show. They could have sold this title with 4 karts and 4 tracks as long as it had online play. Two minutes after selecting the option on the title screen I was flying round a course against eleven other real people. This is a whole different game. Gone is the barely adequate AI with the predictable routes they take. Instead we have the madness and chaos of some French and Swedish dudes.
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/4538/bobombny7.png
Somebody set up us the bob-omb
WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT
- The steering wheel is just wrong. Or maybe not. I have heard that quite a lot of people like it. Maybe it was just my lack of patience.
- No multiplayer GP - I got a lot of pleasure working through the GP 'career' with my wife. Now I have to send her off to cook and clean whilst I play alone.
- Completely hamstrung battle mode. Don't even get me started.
- 'Randomness' of some tracks, reducing the influence of skill - very annoying when playing against the AI
- Some of the new tracks look like someone ate twelve packs of skittles then threw up. Way too much going on.
- Stupid Wii friend codes. Nintendo has to get this sorted.
WHAT'S RIGHT WITH IT
- Lots and lots of new content to get stuck into, and all seems to be well balanced.
- Unlockables. You get regular rewards as you progress, from new tracks and carts, to special characters you can play with.
- Retro tracks - a genius move
- 'Randomness' of some tracks, reducing the influence of skill - excellent and balancing when playing multiplayer
- Online play. Seems to be no lag (once the game has started - can get a bit slow to start when its busy). Quick matchups, simple to use, and very very good fun. Also hints that there may be competitions etc in the future.
- Playability. Mario Kart has always been good at this - they have again produced a very accesible and fun to play game. It is still best played against friends rather than against the AI, but at least now you can get online and find some new friends.
- Longevity. As well as all the unlockable content, progression brings other rewards - there are still plenty of shortcuts to be found, corners to be cut, and powerslides to hang onto just that little bit too long. And the endless fun of beating those Europeaners online.
OVERALL
An excellent addition to the franchise, with not much to detract from the fun. Well done Nintendo.
/review
can someone transparent that pic of the bob-omb for me pls
also feedback appreciated
As any good fanboy knows, the Mario Kart series have a long and honourable history. First appearing on the SNES in 1992, the title has appeared on every Nintendo console and handheld since, and I've played all of them - from drunken nights as a student in the mid 90's on a SNES and N64, to snatched games on the bus, to marathon sessions with my wife in the living room (fnarr).
Every one of these titles has its fans and detractors because they all have differences - some of them minor, some of them significant. And everyone has their favourite. For what its worth, up until now, my favourite was Double Dash - yeah, you heard right - Double Dash...
The attraction of the series has always been a combination of immediacy and hidden depths. Pretty much anyone could pick up a controller get stuck in and enjoy themselves, but a serious player had plenty to get their teeth into. Finding the shortcuts, shaving 100ths of a second off best lap times, perfecting the powerslides - it was all there, along with extra tracks, characters and vehicles to unlock. Could Mario Kart Wii live up to the rest of the series?
3.. 2.. <push button A> 1.. GO!
Many, many games were played, drinks were drunk and much discussion was had:
- Controls. None of us could get to grips with the floating steering wheel. It was difficult to judge how far to turn the wheel to get the desired effect. Its biggest fault was that when you turned the wheel too far (usually in a panic), it could register it as a hard turn in the wrong direction. This resulted in much shouting and sulking. I can see how it might be OK for the casual player, as it is very intuitive, but we quickly dug out the nunchucks and old GameCube controllers. With these controllers we had no problems at all - and contrary to rumour, you can do everything with these that you can with the newer control systems.
- Graphics. As a rule good. You can see whats happening, no significant framerate drops. Did see some clipping once or twice.
- Tracks. The new tracks were pretty much as expected. Circuits, stadiums, snow, water and so on. One issue I did have was that some of them were a little unpredictable. I don't mean that you weren't sure where they went, but that they had some randomised elements (shifting walls or speedups and slowdowns that moved) which meant that my vastly superior skill could be negated by bad luck.
- OMG RETRO TRACKS. As an officially old gamer, getting to play these tracks without having to spend twenty minutes in the attic looking for the right power cables was a joy. Simple things.
- No multiplayer GP. What? Why would they do that?
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/5522/mushroomyj6.jpg
MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM! And thankfully no snakeing...
SHINY NEW STUFF
Mario Kart Wii perhaps adds the most new features of any previous game in the franchise.
- Kart Choice. This has expanded massively - there are now three karts and three bikes for each character, albeit with a lot of overlap, as well as a whole bunch of special karts and bikes to unlock. Bikes play like superlightweight carts - tight turns, high acceleration, but prone to being knocked about by everything else.
- New Items. A few new items add to the fun. At first these seemed overpowered, but once a bit of time had been spend getting used to them, they fitted in quite nicely.
- Eight cups to play instead of the ususal four. The new cups are the 'retro' ones with tracks from all the previous versions. And of course you have to grind through 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and mirror modes.
- Online play. This is the star of the show. They could have sold this title with 4 karts and 4 tracks as long as it had online play. Two minutes after selecting the option on the title screen I was flying round a course against eleven other real people. This is a whole different game. Gone is the barely adequate AI with the predictable routes they take. Instead we have the madness and chaos of some French and Swedish dudes.
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/4538/bobombny7.png
Somebody set up us the bob-omb
WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT
- The steering wheel is just wrong. Or maybe not. I have heard that quite a lot of people like it. Maybe it was just my lack of patience.
- No multiplayer GP - I got a lot of pleasure working through the GP 'career' with my wife. Now I have to send her off to cook and clean whilst I play alone.
- Completely hamstrung battle mode. Don't even get me started.
- 'Randomness' of some tracks, reducing the influence of skill - very annoying when playing against the AI
- Some of the new tracks look like someone ate twelve packs of skittles then threw up. Way too much going on.
- Stupid Wii friend codes. Nintendo has to get this sorted.
WHAT'S RIGHT WITH IT
- Lots and lots of new content to get stuck into, and all seems to be well balanced.
- Unlockables. You get regular rewards as you progress, from new tracks and carts, to special characters you can play with.
- Retro tracks - a genius move
- 'Randomness' of some tracks, reducing the influence of skill - excellent and balancing when playing multiplayer
- Online play. Seems to be no lag (once the game has started - can get a bit slow to start when its busy). Quick matchups, simple to use, and very very good fun. Also hints that there may be competitions etc in the future.
- Playability. Mario Kart has always been good at this - they have again produced a very accesible and fun to play game. It is still best played against friends rather than against the AI, but at least now you can get online and find some new friends.
- Longevity. As well as all the unlockable content, progression brings other rewards - there are still plenty of shortcuts to be found, corners to be cut, and powerslides to hang onto just that little bit too long. And the endless fun of beating those Europeaners online.
OVERALL
An excellent addition to the franchise, with not much to detract from the fun. Well done Nintendo.
/review
can someone transparent that pic of the bob-omb for me pls
also feedback appreciated