The 360 Needs a Good Kart Racer
April 29th, 2008Look, I’m a big Mario Kart fan, and the latest is no exception. They’re a lot of fun to play even in single player, and a blast in multiplayer. But as the console world evolves, so must Mario Kart. The latest in the series, of course, has online multiplayer, and while it’s still fun to race online, it could be a hell of a lot better. In short, as far as online multiplayer games go, Mario Kart Wii fails to do some of the most basic things right, things that have been done (well) since the last generation. To give you an idea of how stupid the online implementation of Mario Kart Wii is, here are a few snippets of IM conversation between Geoff and I while playing our first “Friend” game:
Jeff: how the hell do we do this?
Geoff: haha
Geoff: let me reconnect
Jeff: I just created a room
Jeff: see if you can connect
Geoff: there we go
Geoff: i had to back a menu
Geoff: so slow
…
Geoff: you know what would make this better?
Geoff: if it were xbox live
Geoff: whoa
Geoff: all the bikes are here
Geoff: crap
Geoff: i have no idea what i picked
Jeff: it sometimes makes you go too quickly
Jeff: wtf..
Jeff: didn’t I do a team game?
…
Jeff: ok, we need to get out of this
Geoff: this one isn’t great
Jeff: because it’s not what I want
Jeff: need more people
Geoff: my thing just froze
Geoff: awesome
Geoff: is there a way to make it give you more time to pick a racer?
Jeff: your whole game?
Jeff: no…
Jeff: I have no idea why it rushes through like that
Jeff: your game froze or just WFC?
Geoff: just wfc
Jeff: hmm
Jeff: you know…
Geoff: i’m reconnecting
…Geoff: hmm
Geoff: having connection issues
Jeff: strange
Geoff: checking on the error
Jeff: Hmm..
Geoff: 61070
Geoff: supposedly it’s a temporary network issue
Jeff: odd
Geoff: the wii is a pos
…
Jeff: I still have a room open
Geoff: hmm
Geoff: it says you’re not connected
Jeff: ugh
Jeff: let me reconnect
Jeff: ah, that’s nice
Jeff: it just let me sit in the room
Jeff: but actually..
Jeff: I was disconnected
Jeff: as it told me as soon as I closed the room
Jeff: created a room again
Geoff: haha
Geoff: okie
Geoff: hmm
Geoff: “you couldn’t meet up with this friend. try again later.”
Geoff: god, nintendo sucks
Jeff: sigh
Jeff: it says your playing a friend now
…Jeff: sigh
Jeff: just us again?
Geoff: why is there no way to go back??
Jeff: in between races
Geoff: ok
Jeff: try quitting or whatever
Geoff: let’s try that
Geoff: let’s just race
Geoff: this is ridiculous
Geoff: not even computer players
Geoff: wtf
Geoff: it goes straight to preparing the race
Geoff: where’s the option to quit?
Jeff: hit B
Jeff: to go back
Jeff: maybe..
Jeff: I dunno
Geoff: it just lets me go back to picking a course
Jeff: isn’t there a way to join up with everyone else?
Geoff: argh
Jeff: well, this is fucking awesome
Geoff: i don’t want to play a two person race
Geoff: what the hell
Jeff: neither do I
Geoff: people said online was good
Geoff: …
Jeff: can you hit start or whatever?
Jeff: I mean, it’s fun to just go online
Jeff: but…
Geoff: nope
Geoff: nothing works
…
Geoff: but this is ridiculous
Geoff: i don’t even know how to quit!!!
Geoff: no button i press does anything
Geoff: i may just have to turn off my wii
Jeff: Home button?
Geoff: nope
Geoff: doesn’t work
Jeff: there’s no option for me to quit either
Geoff: ok
Jeff: I guess we’re just forced to eternally race each other
Geoff: i’m turning it off
Geoff: wtf
Geoff: this sucks
Jeff: No shit
Jeff: so, which option was that?
Geoff: “power”
Jeff: I meant when you started
Geoff: i’m not sure
Jeff: is there a way to go online and play other players?
Geoff: i think if you race friends you can only race people who join your room?
Jeff: that’s horrible
Jeff: what a joke
Jeff: This is the best they can do online?
…Geoff: ahh
Geoff: you have to finish 4 races
Jeff: I dunno why the team race didn’t work..
Geoff: before it will let you quit
Jeff: Why?
Jeff: What brilliant Game Designer thought of that one?
Geoff: maybe they didn’t want people quitting because they lost a race
Jeff: but they’re your FRIENDS
…
Geoff: maybe we should just meet up and play =)
So, that pretty much sums it up… we may as well just meet up and play, because the online mode, with no voice chat, limited options, inability to go online with your friends against other people, and annoying technical issues, is pretty much a bust. That’s not to say that it’s not still fun to have the ability to play Mario Kart online… it is, but it could’ve been so much better. As in the past when Nintendo refused to move to disc media just as developers wanted the extra space, or refused to incorporate a DVD player just as DVDs were becoming more popular, Nintendo is still stuck in their old mindset that they know better than everyone else. They don’t… a much better example of how to do online is out there in the form of XBox Live, and they should try to emulate it.
And that’s why the 360 needs a good kart racer. As much as I love Mario Kart, Nintendo refuses to learn. I want an online kart racer that works basically like Halo 2 and 3. I want the ability to create groups of friends (or hell, just random people I meet online) and have all of us go online together against other groups of people. And Microsoft even has a team that’s created a pretty damn good Kart racer in the past. Rare created the, in some ways superior to Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing. I don’t care if it’s Halo Kart Racing or Banjo Kazooie’s Krazy Kart, but Microsoft should task SOMEONE with creating a kart racer that shows Nintendo what online racing really means.
Posted in Impressions, Jeff, Online, Wii, Xbox 360 |
April 29th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Haha. A good kart racer on the 360 would be fun, and I’m *sure* the online would better (at least for retail games — there have been some XBLA games with horrible, unplayable netcode)… but most of the charm of Mario Kart is in the Mario characters. I’m imagining the kinds of characters Microsoft would put into their kart racer, and they’re cringe-worthy.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Hell, I’ll take a sequel to Crash Team Racing… that game actually wasn’t half bad.
Bring the gameplay and the sales will follow, with or without Mario.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Wow, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I’m loving the online, best part of the game IMHO. It actually gives me faith that Nintendo hasn’t completely abandoned online. Works great. Guess it depends on what you want out of it. I had trouble getting connected at first, but since then haven’t had any trouble. I’m really happy they’ve marginalize the friend code issue, that’s nice.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Cisco-
The online works… but it’s ridiculous that you can’t form a group to go online with… you can only play with friends or with everyone else. Considering Halo 2 has let you do this since 2004, this is a huge failure in my opinion.
It’s not that I don’t find the online play fun… it’s just that it’s so limited, and not nearly as good as it could have been. I suppose I shouldn’t fault Nintendo for only having 3.5 years to figure out how Halo 2 did it.
April 30th, 2008 at 5:55 am
In fairness, very few people have copied the lobby system even on the 360, despite the fact that it’s the best idea ever.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:05 am
“you can only play with friends or with everyone else.”
I’m not sure I get it. I was racing with a buddy last night, mixed with lots of regional racers I didn’t know.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hmm.. how did you do it? We can’t seem to figure it out.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:54 am
I just hopped online to see who was on from my friend list. My buddy was already racing and I just went to “find a friend”. I don’t even recall technically “doing” anything. At first, it put me in spectate mode where I was watching my buddy race in third person, which was very cool. As soon as the race was over, I was automatically queued up in the next race with him(and his wife as it turned out). It was pretty slick.
I definitely wish there were some in-game communiciation options, but other than that omission, I’ve been really pleased. I love seeing where everyone is on the map, the functional lack of friend codes and the ability to hop in and hop out, the mario kart channel enabling you to see your buddies online without having the game disc in as well as the ranking system similar to Wii sports. These are a lot of features that I personally never expected. I think the major issues will arise when you attempt to do things the way you may have done in other games and can’t. It also doesn’t hurt that my best friends and I are all on verizon and have headsets for our cell phones. Free evening minutes and cell phone headsets essentially add very high quality voice chat options to any online game. I haven’t felt the need to use that for MK yet, but I used it extensively for Battalion Wars Wii as well as Strikers. I would probably EXPECT voice chat in a paid service, but not as much with free online.
Much like I EXPECT basic online gaming to be free if the game offers it.
And humorously (or not depending on your point of view), I was reading a thread where some guys booted up a lobby in CoD4 and used that for voice chat while playing MK. A bit redundant, but it apparently worked great.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Cisco-
I’ll have to give that a shot. It still seems a bit roundabout and random. What if your friends game is full?
And I should mention… when I tried to do a “Team Race” with Geoff, it didn’t work at all… we ended up playing against each other.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
“What if your friends game is full?”
That’s what happened. I went into a spectator mode, hovering behind my friend in the race till his race was done, then it put me in the next one with him. I’m guessing when it picks racers it prioritizes friends or something. Honestly, it was so simple and I didn’t have any preconceived notion of how it SHOULD work so I didn’t really pay much attention.
I haven’t tried team race yet.