Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii was the 5th installment of the Mario Kart Franchise, and did not fail to impress. Firstly, the game looks phenomonal, second best in the series in my opinion, of course Mario Kart 8 being its better (Visual wise). Also, Mario Kart Wii has some of my favourite tracks of all time! One of them being Coconut Mall, which is my personal favourite track of all time. Coconut mall has you drive around... Well, a mall! The track is very fast paced, and there are multiple routes you can take to make the replayability factor on this track even better! The music is awesome, and this track really shows off the trick mechanic where you can trick off a fountain in the mall, ramps in the car park and off the edges of the escalators. Mario Kart Wii also introduced us to some of the greatest characters of all time like Funky Kong and Dry Bowser, Funky Kong definitely being the most used character in the whole roster. I also really like how you have to play well in order to unlock these incredible characters. However, there are some cons to Mario Kart Wii which prevented me from giving it a perfect score. The grand prix mode can be way to chaotic with all the unnecessary items. Items like the blue shell, the pow block, the giant mushroom, and the infamous thunder cloud are completely uneccessary items. The blue shell is acquired by people at the middle of the race so like 6th and 7th. It doesn't benefit them or help them at all, the only person it helps is second place! The pow block is stupid because you can trick when the pow block sends you in the air, the giant mushroom is just a star that lasts not as long as the star and the thundercloud is the first item that doesn't help you. You get a thundercloud over your head and you must pass it on to another player before the timer runs out and strikes you and turns you... Little. Also, people downgrade their socre on mario kart wii because of motion controls. In all honesty, motion controls was a cool idea, and after all, the wii is a family friendly console, so the majority wont be caring as much about world records. Also, you can use nunchucks, the gamecube controller and the classic wii controller. Now, I will admit that the Wii didn't explain the alternatives to play the game as well as they shouldv'e, as I was using tilt controls until just a few weeks ago as I was having a sencond look at the game, but regardless of this, Mario Kart Wii was a really solid game and no one can change my mind. Also, sorry for not talking about any of the other modes like battle mode, I'm just regarding the mode that everyone plays, grand prix, sorry all you hardcore fans!

Having grown up with this game, I can honestly say this's the best MK game made by Nintendo. It's fun, creative and has a lot of variety. The controls are simple yet effective, the tricks are fun to do and the power-ups are fun to use on your rivals. It's even possible to throw a banana at the blue shell if timed right. You can also look behind you by pressing the "A" button.

The graphics are pretty good too. Sometimes the renders look strange but they still look good for the most part. My only gripe with the game is if you unlocked characters or karts from your wii, you can't transfer them to another whenever you bring it over to a friend's house. That's annoying. Otherwise, it's a very solid game. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the MK series.

Mario Kart Wii is by far one of the best, if not the best game out there for Wii. The game is standard Mario Kart fare, you pick a kart (or in this one a bike) and you take that kart or bike on a crazy course, and while racing a three lap race, you fight with the other eleven racers by using stuff like turtle shells and banana peels. This sounds like the basic Mario Kart formula that you have played a million times before, but let me tell you, there is enough fresh, new things in this game that makes it worth the $50 price tag.

The first thing that should be noted about this game is the motion controls using the Wii Wheel to control your car, rather than a joystick. Let me tell you, the motion controls work perfectly with amazing accuracy, they are very tight and you never feel like you are losing control of your vehicle while using the Wheel. Yes, there is a slight learning curve to the Wheel, which is why majority of die hards will skip it from the get go, but once you get used to the Wheel there is really no better way to play it. Still if you aren't sold on the Wii Wheel yet, there are still plenty other control schemes you can try, and all of them work very well; they include: the Wiimote without the Wheel, the Wiimote and Nunchuck combo, the Classic Controller, and the Gamecube Controller.

Now, as for the actual racing part, there isn't much different this time around, Nintendo following the classic saying of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!", which is so very true. The weapons are the same, and many old tracks return with just a few slight tweaks to them to suit the new trick system, which besides the inclusion of bikes and motion control (and one other tiny thing I'll mention later) to the Mario Kart world, it is the only real new thing around this time. The trick system can be activated by just simply jolting the Wii Wheel up in the air when you go off a ramp, by doing this you will be granted a speed boost. Now onto the new tracks in the game, which where specifically designed for the new trick system, and let me say these are some of the most creative, and fun Mario kart tracks I've ever played, in particular ones such as: Toad's Factory, Mushroom Gorge, Maple Treeway, and Wario's Goldmine, steal the show. The new tracks are so much fun, that when you have to race one of the returning tracks from previous games in a circuit, it kind of feels like you are just going through the motions so you can get the cup, and you aren't truly enjoying yourself because the new tracks just blow the old ones out of the water. Of course, the biggest new inclusion to Mario Kart Wii is the online play via Wi-Fi.

Online play is where this game will have all of its longevity. The online play is smooth and fun, it is always real easy to find a match, with or without friend codes. The only downside to the online in this game is there is no voice chat, and that when you play with two players online the frame rate chugs a bit, but besides those two problems the online is almost perfect, and is Nintendo's best effort at online play thus far.

Overall, Mario Kart Wii is another solid entry into the classic racing franchise. With the motion controls and the online play, it is easily the most fun racing game I have probably ever played.

I give Mario Kart Wii a superb 10 out of 10!

I had so much fun with this game.

My ride was the bullet bill car with the Baby Peach. I dominated the league with that infant.

The graphics were fine. The challenge was fine. It was such a fun game.

Mario Kart was pure fun. MKW was the perfect Wii game.

Verdict: 1st for 99% of a race finish 8th at the end.

The SNES Mario Kart was an instant favorite as me and one other friend would face each other on battle mode. I used to record these events and we would watch and even that was fun. The vs. mode on that one... well it was fun but the controls suck. It's best recommended to use Toad or Koopa, which is weird, because Mario should be the main man to use... hence MARIO Kart.

When the N64 Mario Kart arrived and the use of four players, I was ecstatic! Mario Kart 64 was a lot of fun even with me whining about getting rid of that Kamek guy (the little sorcerer dude from Yoshi's Island) in favor for the generic Donkey Kong who was already in the SNES on anyway! But it was still fun.

I skipped out on the portable ones and went right for the Gamecube incarnation called Mario Kart: Double Dash. I didn't like it at first with two players in one kart that had to be selected but it grew on me and there were parties. In fact, I was hoping for the Wii one to combine Double Dash and 64 for a superior game.

They didn't.

Instead, they really botched on the power-ups. That's the Wii versions greatest downfall. Like I'm sorry I'm so good and hanging out in first place. You will have bombshells, weapons that hurt everyone and believe me there are plenty, and whatever else they have in store for you to get to first place. It sucks.

But the biggest delight was the online play. I must admit I had a ball with the online connectivity. However, I just wish they had it for Double Dash more than this game. I give it credit because it does have a bunch of throwback courses, especially love for the SNES ones, so it isn't all bad.

I hope Nintendo learned from this and fixes it for the next installment, otherwise people will jump ship from this franchise.