Game Review: Mario Kart Wii

An article by Jomingo

---

So, Nintendo has released the Wii edition of their celebrated Mario Kart franchise. Let's see how it stacks up.

. . .

Well, there are several additions to the gameplay, including the ability to ride bikes, and now having 12 racers at a time. Speaking of Racers, there are 25 playable characters, including Funky Kong. This may be the only good addition, as several of the new characters seem quite useless(like Dry Bowser, or Baby Daisy), and Dixie Kong missed out on the place she has definitely earned.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a racing game are it's tracks. Mario Kart Wii has 16 new tracks and 16 old tracks. The 16 new tracks are pretty disappointing, and the new DK track(DK Mountain) is an insult to the Donkey Kong series, being a generic mountain slope that seems to have absolutely nothing to do with Donkey Kong. There's not too much to complain about though, considering there are two old DK tracks returning (including MK64's DK Jungle Parkway), and Funky Kong actually has his own battle stage.

The Gameplay itself is pretty solid, if it weren't for the insanely cheap item system. On the 150cc tracks it's almost impossible to make it through a race without getting hit at least a few times. It will get very frustrating when you are playing on the higher difficulty.

The items are nothing special. The online play is pretty good, a lot better than Super Smash Bros. Brawl's anyway. It takes a lot of practice to unlock a few of the later characters, and it gets so difficult that it doesn't seem worth it.

The Wii Wheel that comes packaged with the game is absolutely worthless, and you will never use it except for laughs. Thankfully, there are 5 total control schemes, so hopefully you can find one that works.

. . .

Bottom line, it's a very solid game that is a lot of fun, especially if you have a bunch of friends over. I give it a 3 out of 5. For further detail, please see my Head to Head feature Mario Kart Wii VS Donkey Kong Barrel Blast.

- by Jomingo -

---

This article was written by a DKC Atlas Forum staff member. All opinions expressed within this article are those of the writer, and are not necessarily shared by DKC Atlas, or the DKC gaming community.