Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Great multiplayer"

Mario Kart Wii is the latest installment in the long running Mario Kart franchise and continues in the vain of it's predecessors by being easily accessible and highly playable yet decidely tough to master. For those who don't know Mario Kart is an item based kart racing game set within the Mario universe. This version contains 32 tracks, 16 new and 16 retro and a multitude of characters including experienced racers such as Mario and Yoshi and new entrants like King Boo and Rosalina from Mario Galaxy. You can even races as your Mii once you've unlocked it.

Races involve 3 laps around the track with up to 12 competitors at a time and as you would expect the first to cross the finishing line is the winner. However it's not as simple as just being the fastest because techniques such as pulling tricks, popping wheelies and powersliding need to be mastered for the best results. The items are what really mix up the racing though. For example you could be at the back and seemingly out of it but pick up a Bullet Bill and you could soon be right in the action again. Likewise you could be streaking out ahead and a blue shell could come your way and send you toppling down the order. These and many other items serve to make the action exciting and allow for veterans and newcomers alike to be in the thick of the action. One criticism could be that at times the items can feel a little unfair or too powerful but it's the same for everyone and no-one has an advantage in the item stakes.

Mario kart Wii allows for a number of ways to play to fit each players driving style. You can use the packaged wii wheel, classsic control, gamecube pad or wii remote and nunchuck. Personally I prefer the wii wheel because it provides a fluid way to race and melts into your hand seamlessly. If you want the best time trial times and to really master techniques like powersliding I'd recommend the classic control or amecube pad though. There are two ways to race as well. Automatic means that you can't powerslide and the game will handle it for you however this forfeits the speed boosts powersliding can give you. Manual is harder to master but gives you boosts for succesful powerslides around corners. It comes in very handy against stiff online opposition.

If it's modes your looking for then Mario Kart Wii has them in abundance. Offline theres 2-4 player splitscreen, time trials, vs race, battle mode and grand prix. The main mode offline is grand prix. Winning the 8 different cups on each difficulty unlocks new racers and vehicles. Each racer is given a cateogry small. medium or large and which category they are determines which karts and bikes they can use. I feel this is a step back from Mario Kart DS though where each racer had their own unique vehicles. It's only a minor criticism though and can easily be ignored.

Now onto the online portion of the game which is where Mario Kart really comes into it's own. There's online vs race against friends, other players in your continent or other players worldwide, online battle mode with the same choices, time trial leaderboards, ghost races and competitions. The game is easily the deepest online offering from Nintendo to date and I'm writing this review over a year after it's release. The online vs race for up to 12 players is the best mode on the game and lag is virtually non-existent. It is so addictive that you will lose so many hours online without even realising it. I'm still playing it now and I've owned the game for 13 months. Online battle mode is also a joy to play and likeoffline battle mode can cater for up to 12 players split into two teams in either balloon battle or coin runners. Ballonn battle involes trying to pop the other teams balloons by hitting them with items and coin runners is a battle to collect the most coins. It's not quite as addictive as racing but still a fun mode. There's so much more I could talk about regarding the online portion of the game but you'll just have to discover it for yourself.

Finally I will discuss the games graphics, sound and presentation. The game has good, colourful graphics as you'd expect from a Mario game and is free from any glitches and they never falter online or off. The sound is fantastic from the sounds of the characters and vehicles to the nostalgic Mario music it's all perfect. As for the presentation the menus are easy to navigate and it's all bright and cheerful so nothing to complain about there.

To sum up Mario Kart Wii is the best Mario Kart yet and continues the tradition for the series with ease. The online is the best yet on any Nintendo console and newcomers and Mario Kart veterans alike will simply adore the game. If you haven't played it then you're missing out and I couldn't recommend it any more highly. A true classic.