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How do they keep doing this?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Recently, there has been a story going around how the Wii has so many bad games for it. It was a blog that was picked up by many news sites. What it did not address is the fact that when a game is good for the Wii, it is simply amazing. Mario Galaxy and now Mario Kart fall into this category.

I have now had time to play the game for a week and am totally hooked. I have been playing Kart since it was out for the N64. This game has many, many things going for it including new courses but even better, some of the best courses from the past reappear.

The game play itself is fun. I had read some previews slighting the game because the wheel created control problems. I assumed that the problem would be that it is too sensitive causing the driving to constantly overcompensate and go off course. WRONG! I have found the wheel to have just enough `play' in it to allow for a great experience. It is also really quite fun to be sitting on the couch holding this wheel and steering. The best part is when you catch yourself leaning into turns as if it will help.

For the Wii, I would list this as a must have. One of my keys being that you can sit and play for hours or if you just need a quick fix, you can play a couple of courses in 10 minutes.

The main reason I give it 4/5 overall is the multiplayer but the issue is not one with this game but rather a Wii issue and that being the lack of a headset. I am still surprised that they provide no way to communicate with your other players. I am scheduled to play against my nephew this weekend but I have not figured out how we will chat during play to decide on courses or what have you. This seems to be a huge weakness in the online options of the Wii and unfortunately, I am reflecting it on my rating. In the future, if the headset does come out, I will try to remember to reflect that here.

If you have a Wii and want the full range of experiences the must have games now include:

* Mario Kart
* Mario Galaxy
* Link's Crossbow Training
* Wii Play

With just these 4 games plus the included Wii sports you will have many, many hours of great Wii fun.

If you have a Wii, you need this game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First things first: I'll admit this game is not perfect. However, if you have a Wii, there is absolutely no reason you should be without it.

Let's get the bad news over with first. I don't seem to be seeing this in any reviews, but the graphics seem surprisingly weak. After the polish of recent 1st party titles like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros Brawl I was not expecting such a stark down-turn in visuals. The geometry seems to be pretty low-poly (blocky), and everything in general seems to be blurry (perhaps to try and hide the blockiness). Mind you, part of this "blur" is a depth-of-field atmospheric effect, which is cool and pretty at times, but it seems to be used as a crutch to hide sub-par graphics. I'm sure these weaker graphics are a trade off, probably to allow more more features and more reliable online play, but that doesn't speak very highly of Wii's technical potential.

The other weak point is the local multiplayer. There seems to be no way to customize this. In racing mode, your only option is VS (no multiplayer Grand Prix, a personal favorite of mine), and as far as I can tell, there is no option to turn off the CPU characters. There's no way to have a simple race against a friend without having 10 other computer players tag along. Same goes for the battles, only here you have the added annoyance of being forced to play on teams. Again, there's no way to simply set up a basic, one-on-one match.

Once you get past that, it's mostly good news. The Wii-Wheel works great. It's not quite as accurate as steering with a d-pad or joystick, but it's much more fun. If you've played Mario Kart before there's really no need to go into the gameplay in detail. Grand Prix mode here is pretty much flawless, and the new "Ghost" racing feature is even somewhat enjoyable.

The biggest reason to own this game, though, is the online play. This is pretty much perfect. I thought the lack of voice-chat would be painful, but I don't really miss it. It's the little details that really shine here, like how before a match you see your opponents' Miis waving at you from a globe (this naturally shows you what part of the world they're playing from). The golden wheel icon you can earn from playing enough matches with the Wii-Wheel is a nice touch. Another great addition is the ability to locate a friend who's already playing online and join them in their next race. Just one click and you'll be racing along with them in a matter of seconds (depending on how soon they finish their current race).

All in all, it's a very fun game. It's not very pretty to look at, sadly, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable.

Best Wii game so far!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mario Kart Wii is a great sequel to the series. Everything about this game is a great step for the Mario Kart franchise.

The characters are about the same as the other games with the addition of Baby Mario and Baby Peach as well as Waluigi.

The tracks are great. They take old tracks from the previous games and revamp them as well as add some new tracks.

The graphics in this game are some of the best on the Wii. The Wii is not known for graphics but this game looks stunning, although i would recommend the component cables to get the best look out of this game.

The Nintendo WiFi connection allows for online racing. You can race your friends, or race regionally or worldwide. The addition of online play really adds to this game. You can import your Mii and the game keeps track of your stats, which i love.

And finally the Wii wheel was a big surprise to me in the fact that it is WAY better than i imagined. The Wii wheel is very fun to use and while it takes some getting used to, it works very well. But if you don't like it you can use many other control schemes: the Wii remote by itself, the Wii remote with nunchuck, the classic controller, and the a gamecube controller so you are destined to find one you like.

All in all this game is a great addition to the Wii, and frankly it is a needed one. With all of the medicore games out there for the Wii, this one stands out above them.

a person who likes racing games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for my birthday. It is fun However the wii wheel doesn't work that came with. When I played it with the wheel I couldn't turn well. I would turn the wheel and the car would not move. I play using the wii remote and nunchuck. I use the nunchuck for steering, That works well a lot better then the wheel. You can even play it with your mii character that you create with wii sports that comes with the concosle. I have not gotten that far though.

You have got to be kidding!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 18
Date: May 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mariokart Wii is nothing more than an enfeebled version of Super Smash Bros Brawl on a race track and it suffers accordingly. Super Smash Bros Brawl was outstanding, funny, enjoyable, and easy to pick up even if you were new to the series. I loved and continue to love playing Brawl, but now we come to Mariokart Wii and its numerous shortcomings ...

Characters : Pointless
All the usual faces are present from Mario on down to a Koopa Troopa - but so what?! Not one of them has any noticeable, distinguishable, or useful traits, skills, abilities etc. It doesn't matter who you pick to play as. Since everyone is same - why should I care to perform some outrageous/impossible feat to unlock another nobody to throw into the pool of drivers? They are just eye candy for the players' individual tastes. This brings up another issue ... since all the characters have the depth and substance of a shadow why not have more of them to pick from at the start? In truth there are only three characters ... Small, Medium and Large. This determines what they are able to drive.

Vehicles : Almost Pointless
The biggest feature of the Wii version is the introduction of motorcycles, which the Nintendo designers gave a big advantage - the wheelie speed boost. The vehicles are rated by seven attributes ...
Top Speed ... don't worry about this. You will almost never reach it in a real race as the computer drivers will constantly hammer you (and only you) with a variety of items that will bring you to a dead stop.
Acceleration ... this is the most important category. As I said you will be starting from a dead stop numerous (perhaps countless) times.
Handling ... this is the only other important category. This is all about cornering on those hairpin turns that constitute a race track. It also affects your ability to hold on to curved, wet, and icy surfaces.
Drift ... is only useful on a few courses. The speed boost you get coming out of the drift is not that great when you consider that a better cornering vehicle can run the same course in the same time.
Weight ... this is joke. I have played the `big guys' in the `heavy' karts and been knocked off the track by the baby strollers (with no items in play). The bigger (as determined by the size of the driver and not its weight) vehicles have an advantage in frontal ramming but nothing in sideswipes or from being rear-ended.
Off-Road ... this is a bigger joke. None of the vehicles do well off road, not even the one called the `Off-Roader.' If one wheel goes off-road, count on a huge reduction of speed regardless of any momentum that you `should have had'. Here again the cycles shine as they can cut corners much closer to the track edges before they go `off-road'.
Mini-Boost ... `MINI' being the key word. Don't even consider this pathetic push forward as part of your `racing strategy'.

License??
I have to earn my license?! Are you kidding me? This is not Gran Turismo here. Why am I not privileged enough to race on their special tracks/battle grounds? It is not as if this is about skill or experience. You don't ever upgrade your vehicles nor earn money for bragging rights. This whole license record comes off as pretentious and should have been replaced a light and ENJOYABLE story mode like SSB Brawl did to find the extra characters and such.

Racing?!
As I said in the beginning this is an inferior version of SSB Brawl. Items/weapons are everywhere (except when you are in the lead) use them quickly because very soon (within seconds) they will be used on you and you will lose your items when hit (get used to that). It is not the `road-rage' that bothers me (I grew up on Road-Rash and similar titles). It is the planned distribution of items. In short, you will get speed boosts if you are losing and will get banana peels if you are winning. This is NOT random by any stretch of anyone's imagination. The distribution of items is designed to keep you out of the top four positions. Think I am imagining this? Challenge anyone to post on YouTube a clip of them in first place in a Grand Prix picking up mushrooms, golden mushrooms, bullet bill, lightning, star, mega mushroom, or the pow block. That is 7 out of 15 items you WILL NOT get while in the lead. Aside from the barrage of attacks that WILL strike you (you can NOT dodge/avoid the vast majority of them), you WIIL be starting from a dead stop or trying to recover control almost continuously. That makes this much more of a survival match determined by luck than an actual race determined by skill. As others have written here in the reviews you wind up feeling lucky that you won (those times that you do win) instead of any satisfaction that would come from your gaming skills as player. In a word - Frustrating.

Cheating
Everyone knows that video games cheat. They bend the rules. Some to add challenge, others to compensate for poor computer AI. This is a given in video gaming and always has been. The only question is where do you draw your own personal line of `that is too much'? Unfortunately Mariokart Wii crossed way over that line for me. I have been chased by a cpu kart that has threw six (yes SIX) green shells at me while I took the only item pick ups available on a straight away. Where did the extra three come from? How did he `reload'? Is my kart really a lightning rod with an engine? Why am I getting two blue shells on me at the same? Will the first one miss? Just how many speed boosts do the other guys have and why can't I find/get them? Yes it is that bad. My friends compared it to playing Counter Strike on an open server where all the other players are using hacks, but not you. Sure, you COULD still win. Yes, it is a DIFICULT challenge to overcome. But is it satisfying? Should you have to go through that just to unlock some character or vehicle that STILL WILL NOT even the odds let alone put them in your favor? In Grand Prix mode (4 races for a cup) the cpu will let you do better in the first two races, disappoint you in the third and utterly burn you in the last. It sort of builds your hopes up than dashes them suddenly at the finale. You better come to this game in the frame of mind that says I want some MINDLESS fun (like in SSB Brawl) and NOT I plan on winning this race.

Options
There are very few choices in the games set up. So I hope that you like it THEIR way. You can not race the Grand Prix with friends (you stand the trial alone). You can only turn the items/weapons off in one mode and actually race but this unlocks nothing - ever. Overall this game is designed for the internet and not so much for multiplayer at home - too bad.

Graphics/Sound
Both are very good but it still has some of that SSB Brawl fuzziness in the heat of battle. The characters could have used more work on their in game shouts and taunts. It gets repetitive quickly. For the sound I can't really say that I have heard the music for long over the sounds of my kart exploding, crashing, burning and falling.

Ultimately this game is AVERAGE.
It is not good - there are few options, vehicles are not customizable, characters are irrelevant, there is no story. It is NOT a race where skill and knowledge of the track means anything.
It is not bad - it is funny/ridiculous, graphics and sound are good, the controls are adequate and smooth, it is fun to play but actually more fun to play with others.
Mariokart Wii leaves you thinking that this could have been a great game with one or two changes depending on your personal tastes, but somehow wound up meeting no ones taste enough to become great.

I love LOVE love this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 11
Date: April 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Wow. I just got this in the mail yesterday, and I haven't stopped playing it since. It's so fun.
I was really disappointed with Kart for the Game Cube. I probably only played it a handful of times.
But MarioKart for the Wii reminds me a LOT of Kart for the N64. If you liked that version, then you will really like this.

It can be quite chaotic at times, especially when you're playing 12 other people in the online modes, but it's also really fun.

I can't say enough good things about this game. The races are great, the battle modes are great, the levels are wonderful! Maple Treeway anyone?

Get this game. And then let me beat you when I play you online.

Typical Mario Kart fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game doesnt steer too far from previous titles. The new levels are a blast, (I especially like the one with the mushrooms that make you bounce)and the option to race in a car or bike makes for an interesting race. Plus, you have the option to race in some of the tracks from the older MK games. The graphics are no better than double dash, which is ok by me. The one thing I do not like is the new "steering wheel controller". I guess maybe it will take a while to get used to, but thankfully you can play with any contoller compatible with the Wii. Overall if you have played any Mario Kart before, you know what to expect. Definitely a fun new game for the Wii.

WOW Nintendo does it Again!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Mario Kart Wii has finally arrived and yes everyone in the world has it now. This game is packed with stuff from Vs, Battles to Ghost Time trials and the new exciting Wi-fi play. I opened the game as soon as I got home and tried out the Wii wheel bundled with the game. The wheel makes mario kart a fun experience but I dont quiet feel comftorable with it yet due to the fact that I am so used to other racing where you just hold the wii remote on its side but it is fun to use. The game also has many characters to start and a few more to unlock. The game is a bit challenging which is not a bad thing just something we dont expect from a nintendo game but its not to much where you wanna grab and throw something. All in all this Game Gets an "A" its just what I expected the online play is fast and very fun and its Mario Kart for crying out loud> I will and have recommended this game for friends and family so Go grab a copy and Join me on the track because we can race. HERE Wii GO!!!!

If you're the average Wii owner, you should buy this.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I will start by saying that I am a bit of a gaming nut, mainly PC based. I was hesitant to purchase a Wii at all because I have rarely enjoyed any Nintendo game in the past. I finally broke down because the unique style of play the Wii has seemed like it would be a good fit for my 2 and 6 year olds. I was right. My 6 year old destroys people at tennis and boxing and the 2 year old has his own special skills as well.

Anyway, since purchasing the Wii, I have been generally disappointed with most of the games I have rented. The game play and graphics are very weak in most cases. However, I will say that the ones that have not disappointed so far are all of the Mario games I have rented. Galaxy, Party 8, Smash Bros., they have all been great. Both the kids and I have loved them. So wanting a good racing game, I purchased Kart yesterday, and it is absolutely great. The kids love it and get around the tracks pretty well. I am personally just having a blast. I really like the online play other then today the Nintendo servers have been having issues. According the the record books I did something like 150 races last night online, so I am going to warn that it is a bit addictive.

So for those of you reading the reviews on here that seem fairly picky based on past editions of Kart. Let me just say that if you don't know any better, you and your family will love this. By far the best racing game on Wii so far. It's challanging and fun for all ages.

Mario Kart Wii -- Almost Perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The Super Mario Bros. franchise pretty much owns my soul, so there was no doubt that I was going to be getting it the day of its release. And after two days of playing, my verdict is finally in: it's a game that you'll definitely want to add to your Wii library!

I'd like to start off by mentioning that Mario Kart Wii takes after Mario Kart DS -- with no double dash features, no special character items, etc. The basics for MKW are the same as any other Mario Kart game -- it features the Grand Prix, Battle Mode, Time Trials, Multiplayer VS (I don't think you can do a multiplayer Grand Prix though ... so that totally stinks), and like MKDS, features online play -- yay! There's also the addition of being able to ride on motorcyles, and being able to do "tricks", which is a pretty interesting aspect.

I want to get the things out of the way that bother me first, which aren't a whole not now that I think about it. Mario Kart Wii offers 32 tracks to race on, but out of all of those, only 16 are new, while the other 16 are "retro" tracks (basically they're the same tracks from previous Mario Kart installments). It's cool, and then it's not cool. 16 new tracks isn't a whole lot when you think about it, and I was kinda expecting ... more? Then again, it's cute seeing some of the old tracks get resurrected. I had a brief "Aww!" moment when I was playing a Battle Mode on one of the SNES tracks, and that brought back memories, lol.

Another thing that frustrates me about Mario Kart Wii is its 150CC mode. Yeah, I know 150CC is supposed to be difficult, but to me, the AI features on the computer players seem to be tweaked to the max! If I'm leading a race, a blue shell will hit me right before I get to the finish line on the third lap, or a train of red shells will knock me off the road. Maybe it's because I'm not as great of a racer as I thought I was, haha, but all I can say is that I've never had this difficult of a time on a 150CC mode with previous Mario Kart games.

One last thing that I'm iffy about is that Mario Kart Wii is pretty repetitive. Yes, it's a fun game and all, but I think in order to really enjoy it, you'll need to have a group of your friends over. You will eventually get bored if you're just racing with yourself against computers, because it's basically the same thing over and over again. Fun as the game is, it doesn't have a lasting appeal for single players.

Now, onto the much better stuff :] I first want to mention that there's an array of characters to choose from, with a bunch more to be unlocked. Characters are categorized based on weight class, and have several choices to choose from regarding vehicles (at the start, you can choose from three different karts and three different motorcycles). There's a total number of 24 characters, which is pretty impressive, and there are many veteran racers and some newbies (where did Baby Peach come from? o.O).

Also, when you're racing in Grand Prix and VS Mode, you're racing against 11 other people for a total number of 12 racers (I think in previous games it was only 8 racers on a track). The same applies for Battle Mode races too, which gets pretty intense at times.

The items in the game are pretty much the same with some additions, like the mushroom that makes you grow so you can crush other players, and the thunder cloud which you have to pass off to another character by touching them in a limited amount of time or your player will get shrunk. I do miss the character specialty items from Mario Kart Double Dash, but I'm not complaining.

I really really really adore the incorporation of the Mii's in the game. You can see the Mii's on your Wii system as spectators in the crowd watching you race, or they'll be doing a minor thing in the race track (lol, in the 'Mall' track, whatever it's called, I got a good laugh when I saw my mom reversing and going forward in the parking lot). It's really cute, and it's also cool how you can unlock the feature to play as your Mii.

The motorcycle and tricks feature are both really cool. The motorcycle gives off a new vibe to the game because we're all so used to playing with karts. While the tricks is also a fun feature (beneficial too, as it gives you a little boost when you land), all you're really doing (on the Gamecube controller, at least), is just hitting a button on the D-Pad.

The online feature is probably my favorite, as it's fun being able to race against your friends via a friend code, or by being paired up against random strangers. I like the stage selecting system as opposed to Mario Kart DS (I think Mario Kart DS was based on majority rules [?], as opposed to Mario Kart Wii where players choose their stage first and then the computer randomly picks a player and their choice of stage). I'm also very impressed with the fact that out of all the online races I've played, I haven't had a single lag (as opposed to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which just lags horribly)! In my opinion, the online features totally saves Mario Kart Wii from being a disappointment, and I strongly suggest that people who don't have Wi-Fi for their Wii should definitely invest in getting it!

So, with all that said, and despite my annoyance with some of the retro tracks and frustrations with the 150CC mode, Mario Kart is pretty much a must-have for any Wii owner. Fans of the series won't be disappointed, and newcomers will surely welcome the friendly atmosphere that Mario Kart Wii embodies. Trust me guys, you won't be disappointed!

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