DKC Atlas Forum

[selinaalkin]

Ok, this is my first attempt at a review (and my first day on the dkc-atlas forum) so polite constructive criticism will be welcomed Smile

CHARACTERS
(Please note, there are spoilers but don’t worry, there’s nothing to spoil). None of the characters have an item which is exclusive to them which is.... well, disappointing is an understatement. As for the choice of characters, it's full of REDICULOUS clones. It has to be said, Nintendo is hopeless at thinking up of original characters. Here's some of the light-weight characters: Baby Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Daisy, Baby Peach. Seriously, enough with the babies! Nintendo also seems to lack an understanding of weight, as Boo the ghost and Rosalina (from Mario Galaxy. Yes, they put her in as well) are classed as heavy weight characters.

VEHICLES
Onto the vehicles. I'd say that there is a good, varied choice of karts and bikes to drive. Speaking of which, the addition of bikes to Mario Kart.....I like it. Some would complain that it isn’t Mario KART anymore, but hey, they screwed up on bigger things in this game. Bikes are good for straight courses because of their ability to go up on one wheel to increase their speed (which can't be done round corners), while karts are better for courses with lots of bends because they get better boosts when drifting. A new feature to the Mario Kart series is the ability to perform tricks while going up a ramp. This does sound pointless but when you land you'll get a boost.

COURSES
As most (if not all) Mario Kart games, Mario Kart Wii features the painfully difficult Rainbow Road; with even more annoyingly placed boost panels which blast you off the "road". Mario Kart Wii not only features new tracks, but also includes old courses from previous games; such as Waluigi Stadium (Double Dash) and DK's Jungle Parkway (64). Most of the tracks were ported perfectly onto the Wii with better graphics yet retaining their retro feel (despite adding ramps everywhere to fit in with the new trick-performing feature). One new course in particular got me annoyed: Coconut Mall. Almost every time I have an online match there are about three people voting for Coconut freaking Mall (more about online matches later). It is one of the most annoying tracks I've been on; near the end of a lap the "Mii"s drive backwards and forwards in cars, so 50% of the time they are blocking a boost panel. As well as this there are two sets of escalators which randomly alternate directions (e.g. one lap it could be moving towards you, the next it could be moving towards where you are supposed to be going), it's hard to tell which way they are going from a distance, so as soon as you see the correct escalator to go up you've got to turn that second.

The courses are mixed.... some fun, some crap.

GAMEPLAY
Grand Prix mode on Mario Kart Wii is insane. This is not an exaggeration: I went from first to twelfth in a matter of 5 seconds. People get items constantly so if you’re ahead you'll be constantly bombarded with countless Red Shells, Blue Shells, Green Shells, Bullet Bills, Giant-Mushroomed-racers, Bloopers will squirt ink on the screen, you'll get hit by a POW box..... I could spend a little bit more time listing all the things that attack you but I don't want this to be the body of the article. You will fluctuate so much from 1st to 12th that it isn't about who's the better racer, it's about who is lucky enough to be ahead (thanks to a fudge-load of powerful items) at the time of crossing the finish line. I've become so frustrated over Mario Kart Wii that I've actually wanted to chuck my controller across the room.

VS
Vs mode is good, you can switch CPUs on or off, you can switch items from basic, normal or frantic, you can change the stage selection from random, ordered or P1. Versus itself is ok, but just that: ok.

ONLINE
Mario Kart Wii takes a very safe and wimpy approach to online matches, but despite this it's slightly enjoyable. You first get a choice of racing with your friends, anyone in the continent or anyone worldwide. Next you do the normal stuff; picking character, car, etc. (at this point the game chooses your opponents if you selected worldwide or continental) All players have a choice of voting for a track or voting "random". Unfortunately, you can't customize the CC, the item settings, or anything else. Chickens..... Oh, but you can win extra karts and bikes from racing online, wow. (insert sarcastic tone here)

AUDIO:
Average, nothing special. One mini-feature which I did like was how the music increases in instruments as you proceed through the process of option/character/vehicle selection.

VISUAL:
Not much of an improvement on Mario Kart: Double Dash; but to be honest, it doesn't need an improvement. Mario's game's graphics have got as good as they can get without ruining the style of the series. After seeing a more realistic, detailed and shaded Mario (on Brawl) I've come to the conclusion that I wouldn't ever want to see those graphics on a Super Mario game.

CONTROLS
I've found the Wii-wheel to be extremely hard to control, but it's probably very rewarding for skilled players.

The Wii remote (sideways) is ok, but not brilliant. I've always had a problem with the sideways use of the Wii remote, it just doesn't feel right and you have nothing for your other fingers to hold onto,

The Gamecube controller feels right and it's good for Mario Kart veterans who are just getting adjusted to Mario Kart Wii, although it is quite hard to press the D-Pad (perform trick) while driving (left stick). This is where the Wii remote + Nunchuck comes in handy:

The WM+NC combination is good for people who have adjusted to the Wii, and has an advantage over the Gamecube controller because you just shake your controller to perform a trick, so you don't have to take your thumb of the left stick.

The few times that I've used the Classic Controller for Mario Kart Wii I've enjoyed it and actually preferred it to the GameCube controller, it's very light and easy to get your hands to the buttons quickly. Still, the Wii-remote and Nunchuck are easier to use because of the motion sensor... thing.

SUM-UP
Mario Kart Wii represents most modern Super Mario games: luck-based, unoriginal and frustrating. I was expecting something big like Super Smash Bros Brawl. What do we get from Mario Kart Wii? Clone-full cast and luck-based matches.

At best, Mario Kart Wii is a bad remake of Mario Kart 64 and not worth buying.
I’d play Double Dash over Wii any day.

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