can Mario overcome to exploding blue shells in still come in first

I got Mario Kart Wii a little over a week ago and I haven’t really been able to put it down since. Smash Bros is the game that was hyped has the game to get for the Wii, and it’s a good game, but personally I have always had a place in my heart for a plumber with go karts and shells. Mario Kart Wii is here so how does it stack up compare to what a lot of people have named the official king of Mario Kart, Mario Kart DS. Well there are a lot of things that Mario Kart Wii does better, and there are a few things that may have mixed reactions amidst long time Mario Kart fanatics.

Presentation.
No story is ever given to why the characters are racing against each other but this has been true since the very beginning of Mario Kart. The same presentation in past Mario Karts is here, in one player there is GP. In one player plus vs and battle modes are present. A few things done different though, first off your Mii avatar is used to manage your data and it works better then the clunky initial options found in double dash. All your tophy, ghost data, and time trails is present in the license file you make with your Mii.

Other changes that have happen is that now the VS mode is more like create your own GP mode were you can select the courses and race against computerized racers just like you would in GP mode, score is kept in the same manner. All though crappy thing is no co-op mode to get through some of the harder GP cups. Battle mode has also changed allowing you to battle against CPU AI, and split into teams. Now how is the online, well I’ll get to the online in the game play section but it’s better then smash bros (but that’s not saying much).

Graphics.
Mario Kart has never been a graphically wowing game but the environments have always been fun and the character animations and karts always over the top. Same thing has you race underneath the sea, thorough live active volcanoes, and through factories. All of these courses are all pretty colorful. Some updates to classic courses from past Mario Karts are found here, 2d games like the GBA and SNES courses have been completely redesign to allow for the fact the game is in 3d but still keep a lot of the feel. But surprisingly the GCN courses have also had several things touched up on them. For example in Beach Peach there is a lot bigger crowd standing and waving at you around the finish line. Anyways while the graphics aren’t out to be uber realistic or stylized they are entertaining.

Sound.
The music found in all your favorite classic courses returns. And the music from the new courses also fits in. Add in the usual Mario voice clips and whola you got the sound, no big surprises either but no disappointments.

Gameplay
Basic of Kart racing for those who don’t know. The idea is the same has a regular race game get to the finish first. The only difference is in a kart racer you can pick up items that can mess up your opponent. Throw in obstacles the track throws in and the feeling you get between a regular racer and a Kart racers is completely different.

So what’s new in Mario Kart Wii well I guess I’ll start with the control schemes. First up is the Wii Wheel that is packaged in with the game. Is it worth using? The answer to that question is a yes and a no. The controls for the Wii wheel is unique enough and responsive enough to were you can control the game without feeling like there has been a big loss with no analog stick. But there are problems while the steering is fine in most occasions the analog stick still turns tighter. And because the wii wheel, unlike a real steering wheel, has no resistance over turning happens. Also doing the tricks that the new courses in the game revolve around is harder because sometimes you have to shake the wii wheel quite forcibly for them to go off. It’s workable and it’s fun and I like to use it when I am screwing around in 50cc and 100 cc modes. But if I am racing online or trying to beat ghosts on time trail then the gamecube controller is a must.

The gamecube controller not only gives you analog stick but the tricks are done by simply pressing the d button. The nunchuck attachment gives you analog stick control but the motion controller is still used to do tricks. In the end the Wii Wheel is functional but the cube controller will probably be the best way to play the game.

So what are the new courses I am talking about, well there are some pretty zany ones. Including racing through the mall avoiding Mii’s trying to trip you up. A Mario circuit were chain chomps chase you. And a corse were you race underwater and through waterfalls. What is nice about the new courses is the tricks. A lot of areas have you doing tricks off of jumps, whenever you can catch some air shake the wii mote or hit the d pad and your character will do a trick. When they land it will cause a mini turbo to be fired off. Doing tricks consecutively can be the key to winning in the higher difficulties.

Adding to the tricks is the usage of motorcycles. Motorcycles control exactly the same has karts but some of the tricks they do and the timing are a bit different. They are also a bit easier to be thrown off the road by a collision with your opponent. I noticed heavy characters usually do better on motorcycles then in karts and vice versa.

Character wise the number has jumped up to 25 characters that can be unlocked and use and 12 can be racing with you in one GP allowing a lot of chaos on the field erupts from 12 characters using the items. Which can be a bad thing because those pesky exploding blue shells that always manage to knock you from first to 4th right at the finish line are back. And they are joined in by a new annoyance the pow block. Pow blocks hit the 4 people that are in front of you and make them drop there items and spin out, not has bad has the blue shell but still annoying.

Not all the new items are bad though and a few I like. Including the mega mushroom which gives you invincibly minus the speed boost the star does, but when you clobber a kart using a mega mushroom they get flatten and are slowed down considerably. The next item is the thundercloud. This item is automatically activated when you get it, your speed goes up, driving off the road doesn’t slow you down, and your recovery time from hitting objects is lessen. If your hit by another racer while using this item they will steal it, but there is a catch, when this thing runs out it will zap you with lighting and shrink you. The idea is to use this has long has possible and then pass it along like a hot potato before it goes off.

Oh and one more change you can choose to either auto drift with no mini turbo which is a waste so don’t choose that, or to mini turbo. To avoid the annoying snaking Nintendo made it to were you press in the mini turbo button for a set period of time, moving the analog stick back and forth makes no difference in charging it up anymore. Good for people like me who were tired of being beat by people who do non stop snaking, bad for those of you who spent to much time in mastering the cheap little tactic.

Online.
Mario Kart DS was Nintendo first online game, it was riddle with problems. Snaking being one of them the next problem is you were only credited if you got 1st out of 4 and if every one else disconnected you got nothing. How far Nintendo has come because this is there best online outing yet, it’s no xbox live, but at least Nintendo is figuring out this whole online thing is not a fad.

Introducing the Mario Kart Channel that you can install on your wii from the disc. You can enter tournaments, send ghost data to your friends, and tell weather the friends you have (still need friend codes people Nintendo is never going to give that up) register are online without having to start the game.

Connecting unlike Smash Bros is pretty easy and fast and the games I have played have absolutely no lag to them. Your score for the battles and racing is calculated in points with 5,000 being the starting point. Getting in the top half of a race gains you points with first being the biggest reward, while coming in last or disconnecting causes you to loose these points to your ranking. And if you master the game using a Wii wheel the game will give you credit with a golden wii wheel next to your name in the game, you know you have been own when you loose to a person using the wii wheel while your using the gamecube controller.

Final Recommendation.
The Wii version of Mario Kart is the best out there yet. While the blue shells are still annoying and the Wii Wheel isn’t perfect. The fact that snaking has been eliminated, motorcycles are a cool addition, and the online is pretty darn great means your missing a great experience by not picking this out up.