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...