Nick Adams Games Blog

Its hard to believe it, but Mariokart is old. The franchise has been going for over 15 years since its debut on the Super Nintendo, and its seen many incarnations as its graced various Nintendo consoles. The hardware available has always dictated the series direction, from the N64’s four controller ports making multiplayer more accessible, to the DS’s wireless capabilities taking Mariokart online for the first time. As you’d expect from the hardware available, the Wii version makes use of the motion sensing controllers and the wireless online play.

The established mixture of a racing game and party game is still very much present, but there are some subtle indications that this game’s direction is hinting at being more of a racer. Gone are the character specific battle items, and instead they’re replaced by increasing ways to give you a speed boost and get a good racing line.

Now more than ever, its really important to get a good racing line as the amount of karts on the race track have risen from 8 to 12. The new tracks, full of gentle turns and wide straights can fully accommodate this, but the retro tracks seem much more cramped. The selection of retro tracks themselves are slightly controversial as Nintendo have opted to revive an entire new selection of courses from previous Mariokart games. What this means is that fond classics like the frantic Baby Park from Double Dash have been ditched in favour of the N64’s icy Sherbert Land (complete with annoying penguins and icy chasms).

The new tracks are colourful and original. For the first time there’s an Autumn forest course, lit up by a golden sunset where you have to dodge falling leaves and navigate through hollowed out half pipes of tree trunks. The whole half pipe mechanic is something that crops up in a lot of the courses now, as a shake of the Wii mote in mid air performs a stunt and boosts you as you land. Stunts are also rewarded with speed if you perform a wheelie by pulling back on the Wii mote while you’re racing on a bike. Although this gives you a brief speed boost, you can only make minute adjustments to your steering and the slightest nudge from another player will make you lose a lot of speed.

The online mode of Mariokart Wii is implemented very well. Its very easy to find a race, and there’s rarely lag when you race with the other players. The option to challenge time trial records in the form of other player’s ghosts fuels an active time trialling community, and you can even watch the replays of the world’s best racers to learn the best racing lines and shortcuts. The major problems with the online mode of Mariokart are more universal with Nintendo rather than this game: there’s no voice chat, making it that bit less personal (and satisfying) and the friend code system makes it overly complicated to race with your friends.

The split screen multiplayer racing is sound, but the way the game defaults to races of with a minimum of 8 computer racers really interferes with the traditional party feel of Mariokart. You can switch them off, but then the huge race courses seem to really stretch out a little too far for just 4 people. This type of subtle imbalance really affects Mariokart and does a lot to lose its appeal as a pick up and play party racing game. Admittedly these are small gripes and aren’t anything that you’ll get used to over time. Unlike the monstrosity of the battle mode.

The Mariokart Battle mode: home of some of the most tense rivalries ever waged in console gaming history. There’s nothing like fighting to be the last man standing in balloon battle. It was a fantastic way to instantly prove who’s better at the weapons side of Mariokart without forcing everyone to learn every race course. In Mariokart Wii, this is not possible. Nintendo’s inexplicable decision to force players into two teams is a curious one: turning their backs on what must have been Mariokarts major selling points. Being forced into teams seriously damages the battle mode experience, but it doesn’t fundamentally break it like the other new feature: you can no longer die. If all of your balloons get burst, you’ll respawn and give away some points to the opposing team. The Balloons are now just there for decoration, its all about points.

Its very hard to list all the reasons why, but Mariokart Wii is definitely missing that familiar spark that establishes it as a great game. Its an ok game, and thats the problem – its definitely the weakest of all the Mariokarts yet, which is such as shame as its most recent Mariokart installment on the DS was probably the strongest. Proceed with caution: people searching for a fun racing game will enjoy it, but those who know what to expect from a Mariokart game will be disappointed.

7/10