Mario Kart Wii Impressions
April 27th, 2008, 4:35pm by GeoffI’ve just played through a round of Mario Kart Wii and I thought I’d share some impressions of the game. In general, I think the metareviews on Gamerankings are pretty accurate; it feels like a B+ title so far. I’ll separate my thoughts into good and bad elements (I haven’t tried online yet, so I’m going to leave that portion out for now).
The Good:
- The Wheel: Although something of a mixed blessing, I was pleasantly surprised by the steering wheel. It was extremely awkward for 2-3 races, but after having finished the 50cc Grand Prix it definitely feels far more natural. I’m not 100% convinced that it’ll ever be better than the analog control, however: the analog stick has the advantage of being far less sensitive as well as more familiar, so I think the Wheel might be best for more casual players.
- New Items: The new items are definitely more useful than you might have expected. My favorite so far is the Bullet Bill, which turns you into said Bullet Bill and lets you rocket ahead while knocking over other karts in your path. I also like the Stormcloud, though, which allows you to selectively lightning-bolt a player by touching them. I don’t think they really negatively impact the balance, either, which is saying something.
- New Tracks: The new tracks are both attractive and interesting, with dynamic pieces that move and change based on time and player action. It’s nice to see some fresh blood, and some of the tracks are actually beautiful (like the new Rainbow Road).
- Drifting Changes: I really hated the Double Dash drift mechanic - it required far too much practice and skill to use, and as a result made the game much less accessible to friends and family than it might have been. MKWii offers an optional (but crippled) automatic drift control, as well as a scaled down manual mode that I find both more intuitive and more fun. It also eliminated snaking which was equally annoying.
- Tricks: The trick system isn’t particularly deep (and I wish it had a little more to it) but it is fun, helpful, and an intriguing addition to the Mario Kart oeuvre. I like pulling them off and looking for new areas to use them.
The Bad:
There are a few elements that keep MKWii from being a breakout game, and unfortunately I think a lot of them are lessons that the development teams should have learned by now. In no particular order…
- 1st Place Disadvantage: It’s more than about time that the developers figured out that making a game that isn’t fun to win is a problem. Like almost all of its predecessors, being in first place is the worst possible place to be in MKWii. You’re on the receiving end of an endless pile of crappy weapons - banana peels and ! blocks are not fun - while simultaneously guaranteeing yourself a continuous stream of blue, red, and green shells. (The one thing MKWii does right is allow for a periodic red shell for the leader - this was actually impossible in earlier iterations.) While I’m not sure there’s an easy answer here, I would have to assume that a skill-based mechanic could be added here: either the leader could get weapons that would require more skill to use but allow him to maintain his lead effectively, or a defensive system could be added that would allow him to avoid offensive weapons if he was able to perform certain actions correctly. Regardless, I find this problem endlessly frustrating and it renders good driving all but obsolete. 12th to 1st place finishes are far too frequent.
- Originality of Tracks: The older tracks are a mixed bag at best, and graphically are pretty crappy. I appreciate a retro look, but it should be used sparingly, not integral to the game.
- Graphics: On the same subject, the graphics here are on the low end of GCN-lite. Super Mario Galaxy showed what the Wii could do - the lack of effort here smacks of laziness. If you’re going to include older tracks as 50% of the tracks in the game, update them!
- Difficulty of 150CC: Due in part to the difficulty of being in the leader roles, higher cc’s are incredibly tough, and more because you have to be lucky than skilful. Many of the tracks are incredibly punishing of mistakes, and more to the point, often cause those mistakes through some of the too-powerful items like the lightning bolt and the POW block. Rainbow Road, as usual, is a prime culprit here, but in general you often feel like you lost not because of anything you did but because the game is taking some cheap shots.
- Lack of Secrets(?): I may be missing secrets here, but aside from the unlockables, there just aren’t a lot of secret paths through most of the levels. I remember Beetle Adventure Racing fondly for the 64, and there were all sorts of hidden routes and interesting eye candy if you went off route. It’s disappointing that more easter eggs weren’t put into place here… I miss the feather.
In general, I don’t think the game is dumbed down per se. It’s simplified in some areas, but I think for the best. MKWii is a lot of fun, but it’s flawed, and for reasons that I don’t think are very good.
Posted in Wii, Geoff |
April 27th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
New Items: The new items are definitely more useful than you might have expected. My favorite so far is the Bullet Bill, which turns you into said Bullet Bill and lets you rocket ahead while knocking over other karts in your path. I also like the Stormcloud, though, which allows you to selectively lightning-bolt a player by touching them. I don’t think they really negatively impact the balance, either, which is saying something.
It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure the Bullet Bill has been in at least one previous Mario Kart game.
April 27th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I mostly agree with the impressions here, but let me add a few of my own (as well as a couple notes):
First, Bullet Bill was added to the DS version of the game, so isn’t entirely new. That said, while it’s obviously kind of fun to get when you’re in a low place, as it basically automatically pushes you up to near the middle of the pack (or even into first, as I’ve seen on more than one occasion) it comes FAR too often, and as someone that typically finds myself in 1-6 place, it’s incredibly annoying when a bunch of players not only move ahead of you, but knock you around, likely into a pit, AND make you drop your weapon. In fact, it seems like there are entirely too many weapons now that make you drop your weapons, and as the game is even more item-dependent than it has been in the past, it’s extremely annoying. If you take a red-shell, for instance, into first place, there is extremely little chance that you’ll actually get to keep it and use it.
Second, I agree with mistakes, or even just bad luck, is FAR too punishing in the game. With so many players in the game, if you end up dropping out of 1st or 2nd place (which will more than likely happen), you’ll find yourself in the middle of the pack at the mercy of random Bullet Bills, Giant Mushrooms, Red-shells, starred players, lightning bolts, etc, with hardly any help from the items to enable you to push yourself back into the top slots. In order to get back into competition, you basically need one of those items, or for bad luck to hit the top couple players (Blue shells, falling off cliffs, etc). Obviously, the timing is everything. How annoying is it to get a Blue-shell in the middle of the last lap, for instance, when you know it probably won’t even hit the top player until it’s too late.
Finally, as I sort of expected, the multiplayer is a lot of fun, but it also seems like a missed opportunity. No Co-op Grand Prix mode, for instance? That’s really unfortunate, as it made a really fun way to play through the GP modes in the older versions. Online is done pretty well with up to 12 players in each race and players basically automatically coming and going as they please… but no voice chat is kind of annoying, and Nintendo apologizing for it and saying to just use Skype or XBox Live instead isn’t much of a solution. Being able to bring an extra player into online mode with you via Split Screen is extremely welcome, although for some reason the second player HAS to be a guest (rather than using their own license), so only 1 player can play for their “VR” score at once. The second player has the ability to pick a Mii, why can’t they just pick the one they’ve attached to their license (and have it count towards their license)? And while I’m nitpicking about this, it would’ve been awesome if you could bring in a full 4-players into the online mode, instead of limiting it to just 2.
I haven’t had a chance to play Battle Mode yet, but from the reviews I’ve seen it also looks like they, for some reason, changed it for the worse. I’m sure it’ll still be fun, but considering they kept so many classic courses in the game, couldn’t they have at least kept “classic modes” in the game as well?
Overall, though, I’m enjoying the game… Probably moreso than Super Smash Bros, and I’m sure online racing will continue to be fun for awhile.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Hmm, I played the DS game and I didn’t remember the Bullet Bill at all. Was the POW block there too?
I’ll add one more pet peeve as well - a lot of the secrets that do exist in the game aren’t really accessible to the top 3 racers, because they often require trailing items to access; for example, in Delfino Plaza, you really need a mushroom to get through the muddy hidden path near the end with any significant speed, and you’re not going to get that in the first few slots. As a result, the interesting divergent paths that do exist are often non-starters for gamers with any experience with the game.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Delfino Plaza is a DS level too! =)
The POW block is new… and is also my nemesis. =) It does seem to be avoidable, though, if you can manage to go off a jump when it goes off you’ll actually avoid it.
And a mushroom isn’t a low-level item… In fact, at times, it seems like it’s the only thing I ever get… =)
April 28th, 2008 at 6:52 am
@Jeff: “as someone that typically finds myself in 1-6 place, [Bullet Bill’s] incredibly annoying…”
As someone who consistently finds myself in 6-12 place, I for one welcome my new Bullet Bill overlord.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I know Delfino’s a DS level - never said it was new.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:50 am
I agree with everything I’ve read above this. The part that especially bothers me is the fact that my friend and I can’t get online when he’s over and both earn/lose points when playing online. I also think that Nintendo was a little lazy to reuse so many of the old courses with minimal improvements to them. The game is incredibly fun, but so were the old ones. Worth owning and playing for sure, but falls short of modern day classic status.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
There is one way to negate the effect of a pow block - if you flick the wheel just as the pow block strikes, as if you were doing a trick, you will spin, but retain your forward momentum, rather than stop. You know you’ve done it right if you get a sort of blue wavy effect under you kart
Anyways, entirely agree with the fact that losing through cheap items is ANNOYING. I’m trying to double star all of the cups atm, and 150cc is ludicrous - only managed mushroom cup so far, one star on everything else
ho hum…