by Ross Miller Apr 25th 2008 12:00PM
Filed under: Features, Nintendo Wii, Driving
We've been tailing
Mario Kart Wii since its announcement at E3 last year, but now that we have an actual retail copy to play at home, we're finally able to share with you some quick impressions of the game. Click through to read our thoughts on the Wii Wheel, online multiplayer, the
Mario Kart channel and more:
- Wii Wheel: Nintendo's packaged peripheral is not as bad as we feared, especially when compared to playing the game with just the Wii remote. Nintendo has integrated a Wii Wheel icon into the game that appears next to your name when you use the wheel and tracks your "Wii Wheel %" usage. Truthfully, as long as you play without attachments (Wii Wheel or not), it'll count towards this stat, but trust us: you will not want to use the Wii remote without the wheel. There's also a golden Wii Wheel icon -- and from what we gather the "gold" means you've won a number matches using the peripheral (a "master," if you will). Despite the usability of the wheel, we still prefer the Classic Controller or Wii remote plus Nunchuk. Click here for a more detailed analysis.
- Online Multiplayer: Options include worldwide, regional and friends. The numerical ranking will probably end up as addicting as it was in Tetris DS. Choosing worldwide, we had 12 opponents within a minute, most of them from Japan (with one player from Austria). One neat visual cue is a spinning globe that geographically pinpoints exactly where the players are. As an added bonus, you get to see the other players' games while you wait to join, and unlike Smash Bros. Brawl, you actually see the names of the opponents you're racing against. Online matches were lag-free, though we have no idea how well the game's servers will hold up on launch day and the weeks following.
- Nostalgia: There's no way around it. For better or worse, this game is like every other Mario Kart game you've played. The mechanics most closely resemble that of Mario Kart DS, with drifting and hopping power slides. And of course, the nostalgia is most fueled by the tracks, half being from previous games in the series.
- Rubber Band AI: File this under "bad nostalgia." In our very first race, we ended up passing into first place 30 seconds from the finish line. At that point, we were hit by (and we're not exaggerating here) a red shell, a blue shell and a lightning bolt, all in quick succession. Needless to say, we dropped to 8th almost instantly. Like all other Mario Kart games, it's best to hang around in 2nd or 3rd place until the very last moment.
- New Additions: So far, we've had a positive experience with all the new items and stages we've seen. The addition of bikes is also interesting, although we've yet to see a noticeable benefit from performing a wheelie.
- Mario Kart Channel: A welcome addition! We hope more online-centric Wii games start capitalizing on this idea. View your friends, check out/download ghost data, rankings (sorted by friends, region and worldwide), join in tournaments, and invite friends via your console-specific friends list all from the Wii's main menu.
Tags: hands-on, impressions, mario, mario-kart, mario-kart-wii, nintendo
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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It's Obvious he's gonna be here, he's bound to be interested in this game...
Seriously dude?? The Wii certainly has its share of "waggle" games but this is not one of them.
Would be the same thing...yes?
Markez, why so glum chum?
I mean...what's going on in your life that making you so angry?? Did Reggie have his way with you or something?? I know the Wiimote is intuitive and all, but I never thought Reggie would do that with it...
Get over it. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Go play DiRT or something.
Multiplayer is ruined already.
How can you hate Mario Kart. Even with the janky wheel, how can you hate on Mario and crew? Shit, I wouldn't even do that.
I'm most likely going to pick up the game and an extra wheel for my son. He's gonna love it.
Try reading the article where they mentioned it was most similar to Mario Kart DS.
And don't worry Jakub, there's apparently no snaking in this game.
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Wanna play DS version? =p
I'll play you in MK Wii though. I'm going to Sears tonight to see if they'll break the street date again like they did w/ Smash.
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My only gripe is that you have to select the disc channel with the Wii Remote to boot the game and then use the GC pad in game. I have to pull the batteries out of my remote to turn it off when I make it to the MK title screen.
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Ugh. I guess this isn't a big surprise - every Mario Kart has this "balancing". It makes for exciting finishes every time... until you realize it makes for the same exciting finish every time. Oh well. Fortunately I'm not good enough to ever be in first place much anyway. I'll be the guy in 7th that keeps touching off the lightning.
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If they're not up to my taste, well then I'm really bummed I managed to somehow misplace those darn Wavebird remote receivers.
What is one to do with this and GTAIV coming out so close to each other. CALAMITY!
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If you are good enough, weapons should not be a problem. It's easy for a good player to dodge blue shells, red shells, even the POW block can be dodged.
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So I'm trying to figure out if the complete obliteration of 1st place is as bad as so many sites describe or if it works just like it always has.
So Fernando, how exactly DO you dodge a blue shell? I tried falling back into 2nd place once, but if you're in 1st when it's fired, it locks on to you and ignores your placing when it gets to you and wipes you out anyway.
If the timing is correct, the blue shell will impact the floor on the DS version, or in the Gamecube version the shell will keep flying until it impact on the floor or a wall. It's not easy, but with practice, you will do it naturally.
Same with the red shells.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diq-u6IdtmI
In a four player DS match, 4th place (who could be less than a second behind you) gets a blue shell...whereas once you get into 3rd and beyond you'd better like bananas and fake item blocks.
And Blue Shells have been broken since Double-Dash. I wonder if they've upped the ante even more by having Blue Shells actually KILL the player.
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http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/11/takeuchi-talks-resident-evil-5-confirms-african-setting/
Like I said yesterday: boredom is not an excuse for douchebaggery. I only found this because I was searching for that Resident Evil development video a week or so back. You really should cover your tracks better.
Yeah google that one.