Possible Spoilers, if you didn't know some things I'll talk about, but it's minor, I didn't do every kart and every character things.
With all this talk about
some game you all might know, Grand Theft Auto IV, I think it should be refreshing to see something a little different. Every other CBlog seems to be discussing their views or opinions, or everyone's "reviews" of a game that they only played for 2-4 hours. Or there's the influx of
fail posts that are like zomg i have gta4iv it's so amazinggg ahhh here's a kitteh.
Personally I'm getting tired of reading about Grand Theft Auto IV's first 2 hours of gameplay, and I want to talk about another game that came out this week, in America, Mario Kart Wii. Where's the billions of CBlogs talking about this great game? huh huh??
So it all started on Friday afternoon, when I got my copy of Mario Kart Wii early from Amazon.com. Silly same-day shipping that they weren't expecting to happen. I've been in anticipation for this game, much more than I was for any game so far this year, including GTAIV. I broke it out and started playing, now I've been playing for about 5 days, doing everything I possibly could about the game, minus battle mode, because I've never really been to fond of that since N64. First things first, since I had the game before everyone else, I had no one to play online with (minus europe and japan, but I'd rather play with my friends). So I dove straight to 1-player unlock everything mode (typical Nintendo).
Controls
Let me start my "review" with my opinion on the control options. So I started out with the wii wheel, because I was really expecting it to suck sooo much right when I grabbed the damn plastic thing. Surprisingly it's not
that bad. It was working quite well for me, for the first day. I was actually enjoying this little hunk of plastic that held my controller. (which whenever I was putting my controller in it, always somehow hit the stupid power button!! >.<) Then I started to get to the harder tracks, and it just wasn't turning as well as I hoped. So I went on to trying all the different control schemes. First I went with my wavebird, because that's what worked for Brawl. And worked it did, until I had to do tricks in the air and reaching for my D-Pad wasn't very fun. I remember why I never really taunted in Melee... So I tried my classic controller, that I'm really trying to love since I bought it, and only use it for Super Metroid on Virtual Console. This however ran into the same issues as the Wavebird, although it felt a lot better. So for the hell of it I tried the nunchuk and wiimote scheme, not expecting to like it at all. After about 3 races, when I finally got it through my head that jumping and sliding was with my right hand and not with the Z button, I found the method I like the best. It has the precision I need, the ability to drive in a straight line, and I can still just flick my wrists in the air to do a trick. We have a winner in my eyes. Personally I think the tier goes: Nunchuk > wheel > classic > Wavebird/GCN controller. Now onto the actual game...
1-Player
Well, it's Mario Kart, so I shouldn't be expecting anything less...
...of course this thing is the bane of my existence on my quest to "3 starring" all the cups. But I digress. I'm actually very happy to see the computer being good, even on 50cc. Although they just band together and hit you with every possible blue shell, POW block, and lightning possible. I won every race, but it wasn't like all the other Mario Karts, where I destroyed the computer all the way until I got to 150cc. So I'm glad to see that the difficulty seems to be increased a little on 1-player mode. Other than that, it's your classic Mario Kart, race well, get your trophy, unlock a new cup, race some more. Currently I am up to the 150cc Class, and will probably finish that up tonight and unlock the Mirror Mode that I just know is in the game. I do like though that you can only use a kart in 50cc, and a bike in 100cc, to get you used to both, and so you don't just find a good kart and use that the whole time. (after you beat a class you can then race it karts and bikes). Really gets you using everything possible. So far I haven't felt a big difference in all of the different vehicles, like in the other Mario Karts, where you can only use Yoshi's Egg or the Tank to snake and destroy. All in all, 1-player mode is very frustrating, but I wouldn't want it to be anything less.
Time Trials
Play by yourself, get good times, see how crappy the Staff Ghosts/Expert Ghosts really are. They showed me one or two things I didn't figure out by myself, but honestly, I wish they were better. It is nice to see that they use the wii wheel a lot, but I think the times could be better. However, the whole fact that you can save your ghosts, and trade to race other people's ghosts, makes me very happy. That's a great feature that I will talk more about in the Wi-Fi section.
2-4 Player
The multiplayer mode, I haven't experienced much of this one, but my girlfriend does seem to enjoy the game, which is good, and she's using my wii wheel so it's not a waste of a shell. I was disappointed that you can't do grand prix with 2 people, but you select any 4 races, and at the end it tallies up the points and you get a winner, so it's kind of like a "cup". Other than that, it's your typical racing.
Wi-Fi and Mario Kart Channel
Holy crap, Nintendo did an online game and it's not 100% suckage. Amazing. I don't play Brawl because their online system sucked, but Mario Kart's has been amazing. And they added features! wooo you can do other stuff on-line too. Imagine that one.
So on Sunday, when the game was finally released to everyone else, I was able to play with my friends from where I used to live, and my cousin. We did our usual call everyone get in a chat room and swap friend codes, although it's easier to just get 1 person's and then register everyone while in the online room. And we all chose our tracks (random for us everytime) and started a race. It started up nice and quickly, and every race that we had was lag free. Just like the normal mult-player you race 4 tracks, they tally the points, and you get a winner. It's fun, it's actually fun, and I really don't mind the lack of voice chat
that much, because playing the game is actually working.
Then you have the Mario Kart Wii channel, which is an easy way to keep up with your friends. There's the option to download ghost's data for time trials to see how you compare to a person, and when your friends post new times, it tells you their new records. A good way to keep your eye on the competition. There's also things set up for Tournaments, but none of that works, so I'm assuming they just aren't doing anything for that yet, but it's nice to see.
Ending Thoughts
First I would like to say, that while racing as a Mii, mine sounds freakishly like Ken Masters. Awesome yet weird at the same time after I do a bunch of tricks in a row.
The annoying buzzing that you get when you are about to get hit with a shell, DAMNNNN do I wish I saw an option to turn that stupid thing off.
Some of the tracks are amazingly fun, and some seem poorly put together, just to play with the drifting options. But it's good to see that I'm not going to get bored with the tracks easily. I am still bitter that they didn't include Yoshi's Circuit though :(
Overall, I have to say that this is Mario Kart. It's a game that has been done so many times before, and there aren't much variations from the old ones. I like the formula though, so I enjoy this game a lot. And with the online play working very well, I see myself getting good use out of this purchase. Also a game that my girlfriend will actually play is a bonus. Overall I'm going to have to give it a 7 or an 8 out of 10, just for the fact that they aren't changing much with each Mario Kart, but it's still an amazing game. I love it, and I will be playing this far more than Grand Theft Auto IV.
