The “Break it Down” Blog

Summary [8 out of 10]

Mario Kart Wii is the 6th Mario Kart game in the racing series, but it is the first to add motorcycles and 12 player support online.

Introduction

In my quest to justify buying a Nintendo Wii by finding fun games for it finally let me to playing Mario Kart.  The last Mario Kart version I played was on the Nintendo 64.  If you have payed past versions of Mario Kart the new one follows the same formula of kart racing with power-ups to whelp you either take out the leaders or protect your lead.  The one big change is the addition of motorcycles which are really fast, but so light they are easy to bump off the road if you watch for them.  With 18 characters and 32 tracks there is a lot of variety in the racing available.

The Good

• Lots of characters and karts to choose from so you can find one that best fits your racing style.
• Continues the great formula of arcade style kart racing.
• Online play with 11 other people is a lot of fun.
• There are a lot of controller options available.

The Bad

• The motorcycles are so fast that once they get the lead it is pretty much impossible to catch them.
• Online races can be very laggy.
• Some of the karts are clearly better than others to use.  They could use some balancing to make them more fair.

Conclusion [8 out of 10]

I’m really enjoying playing Mario Kart on the Wii both against the AI and split screen with my friends.  Playing on line has been pretty laggy and all the good players already know every shortcut and the best vehicles to use so winning online is pretty much not happening for me. One you find the few vehicles that are the best to use there is really no reason to play with any of the others, but it is nice they are there for when you’re playing with friends causally.  I’m still not sure why they decided to add motorcycles because they are more annoying than fun, but overall Mario Kart on the Wii is really fun.