THE FACTS: Mario Kart Wii
Wii | Nintendo| Single screen multiplayer 1-4 | Online multiplayer 1-12 (1-2 on one console) | Mii support | Out Now | £39.99 (Wii Wheel included)
Controller compatability: Wii remote (Sideways); Wii remote and Nunchuck; Classic Controller; Wii Wheel; Nintendo GameCube ControllerReviewer: Billy White
Mario Kart is the game that kicked kart racing into figure back in the days of the SNES. Since then, newer versions have been available on the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, DS and now the Wii. This version has gone one step further with innovation, and is packed with new additions.
For starters, you can now play on motorbikes as well as cars, with the main feature of this being the ability to do wheelies around the track. Though the wheelies do make you go temporarily faster, they are harder to control and make it easier for opponents to knock you straight off the track. The only other disadvantage that bikes have against cars is the speed boosts, which can't reach the same speed as that of cars. This sort of evens the car-bike balance out, and this new addition does not put a great disadvantage to Kart fans.
Another addition to this game is the massive character roster, which can get into the mid-twenties if you're really good (we won't give away exact names of all the characters here, but we can confirm that you can play as your own Mii later on, which will be playable in different cars depending on how much you weigh in at). New characters to the series are available, and even Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy makes an appearance. In addition to this, there are up to 10 unlockable vehicles for each of the three weight classes (light, medium and heavy) which means there are plenty of extras to find and keep you busy.
With all the extra characters though, comes the chance to include up to 12 of them on the tracks at any one time. Even in the online mode, you can expect much more excitement with these new additions, and the casual gamers can rejoice now that they have a chance of coming higher than last place. What also helps the casuals is the exclusion of snaking (the DS trick which allowed you to gain speed boosts by rapidly pressing left and right alternately whilst skidding around a corner), which has been replaced by the option to gain boosts simply by holding onto the hop button whilst turning a corner. This is much simpler, and in our opinion better, since it is harder to pull off on long straights (thus defeating the online cheats). As a final extra, you can also pull stunts as you fly off ramps or ledges by simply shaking your remote, ending with a quick speed boost as you land. All this really livens up the game and so makes this game a must have for fans of the older (slower) versions.
As in the DS version, there are once again 32 different playable tracks (16 classic and 32 brand new). All the new ones are pretty good and use the Wii's colourful graphics to their advantage, and whilst not getting too long or tiring (we're looking at you N64 Rainbow Road) there are once again many a shortcut to be found. Whilst being a bit of a poor selection when looking at the brilliant tracks from some of the previous games, the 16 old tracks are near identical to their originals, with only the odd ramp added in here or there and the tracks sometimes stretched out a bit to fit all 12 characters on at once.
Whereas this edition features the same old Grand Prix, Vs and time trial modes (since MKDS's mission mode is strangely absent), there is also the great return of the battle mode. Playing one of two different modes (balloon battle where you must aim weapons at your opponents to make their respective baloons pop and a coin collecting mini game where you must hoard as much money from your opponents as it litters the arena), you must now play in two teams to get the highest score at the end of the round. Since the CPU can play both bad and good in equal measure, you can sometimes feel a bit let down when you tried your best but didn't quite get their because of your team mates letting you down.  Plus, the balloon battle formula has been tampered with since the previous installment and you now stay in the game whether or not you have all your balloons intact, creating a point scoring frenzy instead of a last-man-standing victory. There are ten different stages which make up for these disappointments though, with five new and five old, and the option to play the modes online, but if there was the option to change some more of the rules and play solo, it would have improved greatly.
The main feature of the upgraded online mode is the fact that you can play on any one of the tracks with up to 12 players. There will most likely never be a time for years to come that you won't be able to get a good game going, and since the track choice is fairly decided by a random voting procedure, most people will be kept happy. There is no limit to how many races you have and you can disconnect or join an existing game at any point, and chatting with friends via the means of ready prepared phrases means that you can still have firendly "chat" whilst waiting for everything to start. Plus, cheating disconnecters will get a kick up the backside when they hear about the new rating system.
Basically, you start off with 5000 points (for both the battle and race modes - both of which can be played with an extra guest on the same Wii if you wish) and as you win and lose matches your rating will raise and lower itself depending on how good you did overall and who you were against. It is a very well designed system which lowers an individuals score automatically every time they disconnect in the middle of a race (meaning that they can't quit if they're losing and keep their current score), and is already being implemented in other games (Dr Mario on WiiWare, for example).
Overall, Mario Kart on the Wii is bigger and better than anything before it. With simple controls, a variety of unlockables and a much improved online mode, this is the best game in the series yet, let down only by the exclusion of mission mode, and solo battling. Some people might not be happy with bikes, and some people may not be happy with the classic stages, but overall, this has raised the standards for the kart racing genre.
26/30 - Excellent Gameplay 9 - Near flawless controls and the a perfect level of excitement | Presentation 9 - Great, vibrant graphics with some catchy Nintendo soundtracks Enjoyment 4 - Blue shells before the finish line aside, a very fun game from start to finish | Other - 4 If we had a couple of extra options, it could be complete |
