Video Game Review: Mario Kart for Wii

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Inventive and fun addition to the franchise.

Cons: There aren't enough hours in the day to play.

The Bottom Line:

If you buy this game

You will be wanting to race

In three, two, one go!

The Reason I Bought a Wii

So, a couple weeks ago, I was over at a friend's house. When I found out he had Mario Kart Wii, I had to give it a try. The result? I was hooked on the spot and spent the next two days tracking down a Wii system and a copy of the game. It is quite addicting, and I'm sure my roommate would love me to stop playing so he could have access to the TV.

Mario Kart has become a staple of the Nintendo family of video games. It started with the Super Nintendo (the last video game system I bought). Yep, I've got a copy of that incarnation as well. And I played it by the hour, too. Every subsequent system has had their own version with the graphics improving (some) and new courses being added.

The premise of the game is fairly simple. You are racing on various courses as one of the many characters from the Mario family of games. You can be heroes like Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, or Donkey Kong (when did he become a hero again?) or villains like Wario and Bowser.

You can either race by yourself (against 11 computer opponents) or up to four friends in your own home (each with their own controller). Even then, you'll still have 8 computer opponents, too.

But if it were a simple case of racing around the track, you might get board quickly. Instead, the game provides question mark boxes every so often around the course. These randomly give you something to help you along the way. They might be offensive, like turtle shells or banana peels that will flip your opponent or defensive like a limited time invisibility to other's attacks. They've even got items that give you a short burst of speed or, if you are really far behind, a chance to catch back up to the competition.

There are a total of 32 courses you can race on here. You start out with 16 of them being visible and then need to unlock the rest by beating the computer at them in one person races. Not only have they created some fun new courses for this version, but they've also brought back some classics from the other systems to challenge you anew.

While I'm on the unlocking thing, there are all kinds of things you can unlock, like new characters or new karts and bikes. Some of these are rather hard to find and identify. But you don't need all of them to have a good time.

You can race in several ways. As a single player, you can go to the grand prix and race the computer on a predetermined set of courses. Or you can race the fastest times for a course. As a single or double player, you can do a "Vs." race. You'll compete on four races for the ultimate winner, but you can pick from any of the 32 layouts (or at least the ones that you've unlocked.) Finally, there's the battle mode, where you are racing around layouts to pop your opponent's balloons or collect coins.

Think that's enough options? Well, you'd be wrong. They've got three levels of game play, too. Basically, it just determines how fast you can go around the tracks. 50cc is the slowest (and therefore easiest to control). Here, you race with karts. The 100cc gets faster and means you race with bikes. The fastest class, the 150cc, lets you race with karts or bikes.  And once you've gotten gold in all of those, you can unlock the mirror courses where everything left is right and right is left.  Trust me, that one will mess with your brain.

But we still aren't done! This is a Wii Wi-fi game, which means you can play on line, either by joining tournaments or just racing whoever is on line. If you know someone's game code, you can join up with them and play over the connection as well. I've had lots of fun playing with my friends already.

But what really makes this game is the controls. Each game sold comes with one steering wheel (and you can buy others for around $10). The Wii controller fits right in the wheel. You use one button to go, but to steer your kart, you use turn the wheel just like driving a real car. The good news is you don't have to have the wheel, however. You can just hold the remote sideways and turn it like a steering wheel. Or you can always attach your nunchuk controller to the Wii remote and use the joystick to steer as well. No matter how you do it, the cars seem to respond reasonably well. I haven't noticed any significant issues getting it to do what I want it to do. And, since I used to twist the controller on my Super Nintendo version, I like the fact that turning the remote actually does something now.

This game sounds pretty much like the older versions. You've got various background music playing while you race through the courses. And the items you pick up along the way make noise as well. It's not an important part of the game. In fact, I have been known to play with the sound off. You do get sound if you crash or something is about to hit you on your remote, which is a fun touch.

The graphics are a mixed bag. None of them will blow you away, but most of them look pretty nice. Just keep in mind that you are playing in a world of cartoon characters and you'll be fine. The courses imported from the various older systems were imported graphics and all. They look their age, but that adds to the fun. At least for me.

The difficulty level of the game varies quite a bit. Some of the courses are easy, some are very hard. I have a hard time staying on the course, so any with lots of chances to fall off are a personal challenge. (Rainbow Road, I'm looking straight at you!) And the slower levels are easier than the 150cc level as well. As a result, you can make this as easy or challenging as your skill level and desire dictate.

I'm just scratching the surface of the fun of this game. And I love the fact that I can play with my friends no matter where they are. I am sure I will be playing Mario Kart Wii for quite some time to come.