Mini Review: Mario Kart Wii

Posted by David | Filed under Software

Mario Kart Wii proved to quite a difficult game for me to get my hands on this year, costing around £35 the game comes free with a plastic wheel which the Wii Remote fits snuggly into. I decided and would recommend that anyone buying the game purchase a second wheel if they intend on playing the game with friends and family, it does greatly help the gameplay.

The game consists of 32 separate courses, each taking about 3 minutes approximately to do each. The races are split into 8 different Grand Prix and you have to complete each Grand Prix to unlock the next. 16 of the courses are brand new, while 16 are classics from the DS, GBA, N64 and SNES.

The gameplay is really very good, and getting used to the wheel and Wii remote is very easy to do, the controls are well thought out and anyone can pick up driving well within a few races, even some of my friends who are completely unable to use a gamepadwere able to pick up and win races relatively quickly. (Much to my annoyance!). Mario Kart Wii can quickly become an addictive game, especially if you have someone to play multiplayer with.

The game as with all Mario Kart games has items which can be collected when you go round the tracks and thrown at your opponents in the case of Spiny Shells, Red Shells and Green Shells, as well as other tactical items such as Fake Item Boxes, Thunder Clouds, Bloopers and POW boxes. They really keep the excitment in the game, ensuring no one can get too far ahead and in the case of items such as Bullet Bill and the Golden Mushroom that no one can get too far behind. This is great for beginners and for advanced players alike.

There are 3 difficulty settings in the game, 50cc, 100cc and 150cc and many unlockables from tracks to characters and cars.

The graphics are very good for Wii graphics, they are smooth and look good even on a larger screen.

Multi-player is perhaps the best part of the game, rather like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, being able to beat your friends is probably the most appealing feature, and with up to 4 players on split screens all hell can break loose!

Despite the large number of courses the single player can be completed quite quickly on each difficulty setting, so I would recommend buying it more if you are going to use multiplayer, but don’t be put off if you just intend to use it on your own, there is still quite a bit of stuff to unlock and play on your own such as time trials.

Overall its a great game and I’m going to give it 9/10.

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Permalink | Comments (0) | Tuesday, 19th Aug 2008

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