Has the franchise racer advanced, or is it spinning its wheels?
The franchise continues to be stellar kids title -- and I highly recommend this one to parents searching for the perfect GCN title for their young ones. Few better you will find.
For the older audience and the hardcore devotees to the series, you will almost definitely find an experience very similar to Mario Kart 64, and perhaps something less than that. It's a more simply designed racer, and while that's okay for a new audience of children, it does little for the millions of hardcore fans that have grown up. The production values put into Mario Kart: Double Dash are extremely disappointing; honestly, do we really need two item buttons instead of dedicating one of them to a look-behind function? Having played a title like SSX 3, which redefines what you can do with arcade racers -- how much you can offer the players -- I feel like Mario Kart: Double Dash is missing so much.
I expected so much more than this ho-hum effort. I had hoped for deeper controls, more than one selectable costume, skins for the karts, maybe GBA link-up support, more intriguing level designs, more characters, much more high-quality music -- the list goes on. I mean, it's still an enjoyable game, but not on the level it could have been.
So, think about Double Dash before shelling out your much-needed holiday cash. If you've got a ton of friends that are into the title, you stand to enjoy multiplayer -- but even that may get old faster than you'd like. Double Dash is still a good one to add to the library of GCN exclusives, but with Battle not what it used to be, versus racing is probably where you'll spend the most time.
I only hope that Nintendo pours more production into the sequel and remembers that just because Mario Kart was once designed for the younger crowd, doesn't mean it can't become an everyone title with some complexity to it.
Presentation: Very little production value. This is very much Mario Kart 64 recreated. It gets the job done, but doesn't dazzle. 7/10
Graphics: Four-player runs at 60 frames per second -- its sweetest asset. Otherwise, just a really colorful, unique and bright title -- very much what you'd expect for Mario Kart. 8/10
Sound: Decidedly average MIDI tunes that fit the level thems, but do little to intrigue. Sound effects are offered up in effective Dolby Pro Logic II. 7/10
Gameplay: Multiplayer is its greatest achievement. Two-player Grand Prix is very entertaining and four-player versus is still a blast. Battle mode, however, has underdelivered. 9/10
Lasting Appeal: A small, predictable trail of unlockable content, but LAN support and the solid multiplayer make this a worthy one. 8/10
Overall: 9/10
My Verdict: Buy It :)