Shortcuts

Down the winding road we walk. Past tall oaks, thick grass, a rickety trail laid in the center, created by generations of travelers.

Father and son, off to the village through the scenic route. The quick way would be through the village's nice wide roads, but the unnatural build of the city, it's perfect corners, its people, all seem artificial.

The fashion craze sweeps the city, manufacturers hunt for shortcuts. They found them half-way across the world. Something not even a madman would have considered eons ago.

The rickety forest trail, with all it's detours is faster than the straight road once red lights are factored in.

Now, where's the evolution? Unless if the human is not really the master, but the slave to a bigger creature. A creature, where a human is merely a cell, a very complex piece of DNA, expendable as there are millions. Soon, the transport system will be the arteries, and the computer the brain.

Life creates life, and forms life. We aren't doomed, we just fit perfectly inside a machine, for galactic-sized creatures. To become the ants of the galaxy, in order to be observed by the humans of the galaxy.

Mario Kart Wii

I was skeptical. Reading review after review, either from 1up, IGN, GameSpot (who trusts them?), EGM, and any other site that was captured by the Google web crawler. Every person seemed to be really beating down on the game. It felt like -- this is yet another addition to the Mario Kart series. You know what to expect.

After having played the game for a while (finishing the 50cc, now working on the 100cc), that this is Mario Kart as I'd expect it. You have read all the bad from other sites - and I can state that they are correct in their analysis. At times you win by luck, items are rigged so that the racers remain close together, there is one AI that is destined to be your main competitor chosen at the beginning of each race...

But this is nothing new. All people who know the franchise must be aware of this. It was like that in the GBA version, and it was like that in the N64 version.

Before continuing, Mario Kart is a kart driving game, but it's also an action based kart driving game. If I have a power-up, I want someone to target it with. This puts the blue-shell and star in perspective. If you're behind, you'll want some action or else the race will be boring - and these power-ups rarely, if ever, pull you to the top 3. They just bring you towards where all the activity is. If you want a racing game purely involving skill - look elsewhere unless you only want to deal with the multiplayer/vs mode. I'm defending their decision, yes, but do agree that some of the complaints of reviewers were well founded.

The choice of maps from previous games seems questionable. None of them I was truly fond of (my favorite still being Yoshi's maze on the N64 version). The new courses though are great. Wario's Gold Mine is amazing, so is blasting across the highway in the star cup. This game deserves at least to be rented to play all the courses (on 50cc mode, you'll see them in about a day max, half a day or less if you're good).

Speaking of the N64 version, I played that a day before, so it's fresh in my mind. First, blue shells are much more commonplace in Mario Kart Wii. If this is a good thing, we'll know in the long run. It is annoying, thus forcing you to stay behind until the last minute... which I never do - thus always getting hit by the shell.

The wheel actually plays very well. I thought I'd go back to my classic controller, but have been hooked on it. (use the Wii Wheel for a few laughs...)

But there's one glaring failure of the game. The manual. For example, why do I get random boosts in speed for no reason I can tell in game (not from drifting, just regular driving)? What's the difference between heavy-weights and light-weight classes? This gets into how karts are coupled to drivers, and other nuances of the game. For gamers, this doesn't matter - it's for the Mario Kart uninitiated that I worry about...