Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Great multiplayer"

The Mario Kart franchise made its debut on the Super Nintendo in 1992, and has since then released a title on each concurrent Nintendo system with a new installment coming out this year for the 3DS. Mario Kart has been such a successful franchise that it gave birth to the kart-racing genre, being duplicated countless times. There's a reason for such success: great gameplay and insanely addictive multiplayer. Mario Kart Wii continues this wonderful formula, this time with a well integrated online mode via Nintendo WFC, but it's brought with it a few irksome flaws.

The meat of any Mario Kart game is the Grand Prix. Grand Prix is comprised of eight cups, consisting of four tracks each. You start out the game with only the first four cups available, but once you finish those, the remaining four unlock. Grand Prix can be played in one of three classes: 50cc, 100cc and 150cc. Each class not only becomes harder due to the fact that you're taking turns at higher speeds, but the competition will be more aggressive. After you finish the three classes, Mirror Mode will open up, which is just 150cc flipped from left to right.

The track design is the heart of any Mario Kart game, both in Grand Prix and in multiplayer. Although there are several new tracks designed with great flair and creativity, about half of the overall tracks are remade courses lifted from every previous installment. For fans who love nostalgia, this may not be a hindrance but for the gamers who hold value as importanct, they will feel like they haven't paid for an entirely new game. The upside is you can race tracks such as SNES's Ghost Valley, N64's Sherbet Land, DS's Desert Hills and GCN's DK Mountain online with up to 12 people.

It won't just be the standard go-karts that take to the track in Mario Kart Wii. Motorcycles will be joining the fray as well. These motorized bipeds not only handle much differently than karts, they also have the ability to pop a wheelie and gain a speed boost at the cost of control. They may be more desirable than karts, but they're also much more prone to being knocked off the course. When you unlock the ability to race in cups with both karts and motorcycles, the competition gets much more interesting.

As you progress through Grand Prix, you'll unlock new characters expanding the initial roster of 12 even further, and you'll also unlock exclusive karts and bikes for each character type. New to the Mario Kart franchise is a trick system. Each time you jump from a ramp or bump, you can flick the remote up and your character will perform a trick. Once they land, they'll be granted a boost of speed. You can also ride in your opponent's wake and if you stay in it long enough, you'll get a draft boost, knocking anyone out of your way as you propel forward.

A cache of weapons have returned such as the classic green and red shells, mushrooms, lightning bolts and accursed spiked blue shells. New weapons have been introduced such as the POW Block that spins everyone out on the ground, a Super Mushroom that triples you in size making you go faster and flattening opponents, and a Lightning Cloud that can be passed onto another racer via contact that will eventually shrink that person. Character-specific special weapons from Double Dash!! unfortunately have not made it over. Also unfortunate is the old system of giving only the best weapons to those trailing behind. This means that you'll be hit with them quite frequently as the rubber band AI is way too aggressive in trying to keep the races balanced. No matter how skilled you are, it won't save you from being screwed over at times right before the finish line.

You can participate in Time Trials and race against staff ghosts. If you beat enough of them, you'll unlock even more characters bringing the roster up to 32. The other mode is of course Multiplayer, and you can play up to four locally, or up to 12 online via Nintendo WFC. There are battle modes and versus modes, all with new tracks and tracks from older games. In the battle modes, however, you work in teams. There is no free-for-all option. You can either duke it out for coins or eliminate as many of your opponent's balloons as possible. It's all still a very good time, but inherently, the friend code system makes it a bit of a chore to add your friends if you want to play with them.

Mario Kart Wii also features a plethora of control schemes. Bundled with Mario Kart Wii is an attachment that turns the remote into a steering wheel. It takes a bit of getting used to and a level of finesse, as obviously this kind of steering wheel offers no resistance. If you don't want to play with the wheel, you can play with a remote and nunchuck combo, a Classic Controller or even a GameCube controller if you like. This bevy of controller options lets every person tune their controls to their liking.

Mario Kart Wii is hardly a step up from the GameCube's Double Dash!! in terms of graphics. In fact, if you're playing the game on an HDTV, it's actually a step down. It's not to say that game is bad looking, but its outdated visuals are certainly apparent. Artistically speaking, Mario Kart Wii looks excellent. The tracks are designed with a lively and wild color scheme that any Nintendo first-party title is known to use, and there are all sorts of ongoing things in these courses. The special effects may not be that eye-popping, but they are cartoony and well-suited for the game. It's also nice to see some of the older tracks from the SNES, GBA and DS games given a Wii makeover.

The audio has always been carefree in the Mario Kart franchise and no exception has been made in Mario Kart Wii. The music is still the standout feature in the audio department, and the soundtrack for the new courses continues to impress. The music from the older courses, though, doesn't seem to have been touched. On the one side, it might be considered lazy, but on the other side, it keeps the nostalgia factor intact. Every character has their own distinct exclamations, grunts and yelps, so you know who's coming up behind you just by listening to them. The sound effects also sound great, but nothing really new as far as Mario Kart games go.

If you absolutely adore the Mario Kart franchise, you'll want to add this in your collection. If your love isn't absolute, then be forewarned. Half of the game's tracks are reused making you question if the game's worth full price. Playing through Grand Prix by yourself can also get quite troublesome as Mario Kart Wii continues to adopt a grueling and unfair rubber band AI, and a ridiculously imbalanced item box system. However, the shortcomings of the single player game is offset by Mario Kart's wonderfully addictive multiplayer. If you don't mind playing full price for a game that feels only half new, then Mario Kart Wii will make an excellent addition to your library.