-Not sure if this should be here or in MKwii section, please move if needed-
Seeing as I'm not allowed to make a review of games in the official review thread, I thought I might make my own somewhere else.
Before I begin, this review is biased on a player who's played the earlier games before and wants to know what's new, so I won't be covering stuff like the different speed CC's.
[START]
Mario Kart
Wii is the next installment of the series. It's predocessors consist of (I don't know the official names):
SNES Mario Kart
N64 Mario Kart
GCN Mario Kart Double Dash
GBA Mario Kart
Mario Kart
DS
Sorry if I left any out.
If we ignore the handheld console (
GBA,
DS) versions for a moment, you will see a huge leap between Mario Kart
Wii (MKwii) and Mario Kart Double Dash (MKDD). Not as big a leap in graphics as MKDD was from N64 Mario Kart, but still, a huge leap overall.
First of all, what got everyone excited in the game to beign with, is the option of using bikes. A few protested that it's called Mario
Kart not Mario Kart & Bike. But their comments were not taken too seriously.
The bikes handling are similar to the of a kart - same sort of drifting (excluding the Mach Bike), matches in speed too. But although karts have the weight advantage, I find bikes more handy to slip out of your opponents way.
And then of course there's bucketloads of new characters, including the option of playing as your very own Mii, which changes from lightweight to mediumweight to heavyweight, depending on the height and width of your mii.
Very quickly, when I talk about the weights I mean there are three types of racing styles - small, medium, and large. Small characters have quick acceleration but not a great overall top speed. Medium characters have a balance between the two, whereas large characters depend on their overall top speed. Each class has their own karts and bikes.
Back to the characters. Some of the "secondary" characters from MKDD have returned, with their own karts and bikes, to play as singly, Birdo for example.
Wait - rewind.
"Birdo? But Birdo isn't a character within the game! You only get 12 characters! And Birdo is not included."
Calm down, all will be revealed. You probably know this already, but when you start out you have a total of 12 characters, with 3 karts and bikes for each weight/class. As you progress through the game, you earn more and more characters, finishing off with a collection of some 20 characters.
"But... hey! i have 3-stars in all cups! Why can I still not unlock birdo?"
Some characters are unlockable through time trials, or other things like gaining at least 1-star in all modern/retro cups in a CC.
Stars. You get these ranks by playing really well on a cup, gaining usually 1st placei n all four races, with good times.
And so I conclude with the last big update 9other than the smaller things like menu looks, graphics, etc.): Tricks.
You were probably asking yourself - "Hang on. The
wii has motion sensors. Surely, other than the
wii wheel, they made use of it?"
Well - they did. Every time you jump, flick the
wii remote/whell in the way you want to do a trick (E.G Flick up to backflip, down to forward-flip). It gains you a small speed boost when you land. Also, if you are using a bike, on straights you can flick the
wii remote/wheel up to wheelie -this increases your speed, but decreases your turning. Use it wisely.
The wi-fi play is NOT a new feature, as it is on the
DS, so I won't delve into it. But it has been greatly improved and you can race with up to 11 other players.
Overall:
Music: 7/10
Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Longevity: 9/10
Hope you enjoyed my review :D
Mario Kart Wii: MY Review -
01-26-09
Linear Mode
