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| From: Nintendo
Category: Video Games
Buy New: $49.99
New (88) Used (9) from $49.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  405 reviews
Sales Rank: 14
Platform: Nintendo Wii
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Nintendo Wii
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: WI-RVLRRMCE
Model: rvlrrmce
UPC: 045496901004
EAN: 0045496901004
ASIN: B000XJNTNS
Release Date: April 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 If you have a Wii, you need this game May 6, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
First things first: I'll admit this game is not perfect. However, if you have a Wii, there is absolutely no reason you should be without it.
Let's get the bad news over with first. I don't seem to be seeing this in any reviews, but the graphics seem surprisingly weak. After the polish of recent 1st party titles like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros Brawl I was not expecting such a stark down-turn in visuals. The geometry seems to be pretty low-poly (blocky), and everything in general seems to be blurry (perhaps to try and hide the blockiness). Mind you, part of this "blur" is a depth-of-field atmospheric effect, which is cool and pretty at times, but it seems to be used as a crutch to hide sub-par graphics. I'm sure these weaker graphics are a trade off, probably to allow more more features and more reliable online play, but that doesn't speak very highly of Wii's technical potential.
The other weak point is the local multiplayer. There seems to be no way to customize this. In racing mode, your only option is VS (no multiplayer Grand Prix, a personal favorite of mine), and as far as I can tell, there is no option to turn off the CPU characters. There's no way to have a simple race against a friend without having 10 other computer players tag along. Same goes for the battles, only here you have the added annoyance of being forced to play on teams. Again, there's no way to simply set up a basic, one-on-one match.
Once you get past that, it's mostly good news. The Wii-Wheel works great. It's not quite as accurate as steering with a d-pad or joystick, but it's much more fun. If you've played Mario Kart before there's really no need to go into the gameplay in detail. Grand Prix mode here is pretty much flawless, and the new "Ghost" racing feature is even somewhat enjoyable.
The biggest reason to own this game, though, is the online play. This is pretty much perfect. I thought the lack of voice-chat would be painful, but I don't really miss it. It's the little details that really shine here, like how before a match you see your opponents' Miis waving at you from a globe (this naturally shows you what part of the world they're playing from). The golden wheel icon you can earn from playing enough matches with the Wii-Wheel is a nice touch. Another great addition is the ability to locate a friend who's already playing online and join them in their next race. Just one click and you'll be racing along with them in a matter of seconds (depending on how soon they finish their current race).
All in all, it's a very fun game. It's not very pretty to look at, sadly, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable.
 mario kart back on track! May 6, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
man wow what a new car disins and characters. while steering u feel like your realy driving a car the bikes are so nice graphics are good controls are pretty much easy and sound is loud(well not so loud but it is loud!) man i wish if u can ride 2 in a 1 car but i now i dont baby!being alone in the car without 2 people like the 1 one the game cube the style of cars are AMAZING u now wat i mean by amazing?i mean amazing and im giving u an idvice bye it with super smash brothers these 2 will be your ultimate games from hell never not argue with your mum or dad if they say:no why do u want this game its a waste of time your gona be learning how to drive a car when ur 16 or something like that!dont listen to them beg them pay them money kill them just do anything to bye the game this game is best for children from 6-16 10 years of fun like hell well bye the game!sory for my spelling damn i spelled sory wrong dang again kk IM SICK OF THIS SEEYA!
 A ruined classic May 6, 2008
77 out of 112 found this review helpful
I have owned every Mario Kart game, and consider myself to be a bit of an addict, spending embarrassing amounts of time practicing things such as power sliding on straight aways and downing suckaz with simple items such as banana peels. So needless to say, I was very excited for a mario kart game that would allow me to showcase my skills online, and relive memories with old multiplayer comrades who have since moved to other parts of the country.
Imagine my surprise when I put the disc in and discovered that there was no multiplayer grand prix mode! Working in tandem to unlock new classes, tracks, carts, and racers had always been one of my favorite parts of Mario Kart, and it was something that Double Dash did to perfection, allowing up to four people to get in on the challenge.
I had invited the friend whom I played through all of the double dash grand prixs with over to do it again on the Wii, so after we found this out it sort of killed the buzz... but whatever, we had always spent a lot more time on battles than grand prixs anyway.
We found surprise again when we couldn't do a free for all battle! After messing around with some vs. races on motorcycles we decided to ditch this game, and spent the night on the SNES, and playing bob-omb blast on double dash.
The bulk of my issues with this game can be condensed to three items:
-Lack of options
-Lack of skill
-Lack of creativity
Double Dash was filled with options, you could combine characters in various ways to get certain unique items or racer attributes. You could choose the number of laps in vs. races, and take your choice of three unique battle styles. In Mario Kart Wii the lack of options is mind numbing quite honestly. It makes the game feel as though it was rushed to production. Why can't I choose how many computer characters participate in a battle or vs. race? Why isn't multi-player GP available? Why are there only two battle modes, one of which is hell of lame? Perhaps most annoying of all... WHY CAN'T I CHOOSE TO TURN THE STUPID RACER NAME TAGS THAT SUBMERGE HALF THE SCREEN OFF WHEN I PLAY ONLINE!?!?!
The lack of skill required in this game was evident from my first GP race. Every other Mario Kart game did a good job of making item boxes scarce, and the occurence of items such as blue shells and lightning very infrequent (although there was an OPTION in double dash to change this). There are several tracks on the Wii version that are nearly unplayable because of the volume of items. With 12 players, and the stupid items like the thwomp and lightning cloud that don't really help anyone... it just isn't racing anymore when there is absolutely no value to your place in the first 90% of the race. Coming back with items is one of the great joys of mario kart, I understand that (I still have fond memories of hitting the super ramp on Mario Circuit 2 with a mushroom to cut a corner and jump up two places to secure first over ten years ago), but there is something else going on entirely in tracks like the Luigi Circuit on the Wii (which might be one of the worst mario kart tracks ever), where every racer gets ripped to shreds on every lap because of the overwhelming volume of items.
This gripe could easily branch into things like how the power slide boost, for the first time ever, is not controlled by the player (and I'm not talking about the manual vs. auto drift), but simply by the length of time you hold the slide, and how they reverted to the "hold and wait" technique of blocking items that existed in Mario Kart 64, as opposed to timing a reverse release to block such as in Double Dash, and how the "get a boost when you are right behind someone for awhile" time has been cut down to almost nothing... but I think I have said enough on this.
The tracks and items in general though... where is the creativity? I'm not expecting the wildly refreshing array of tracks we were greeted with in Mario Kart for the GBA, or the slew of new items that required poise and tact to make decent use of that showed up in Double Dash, but there is nothing new on the Wii version. Let me re-phrase that; there are a couple of new things, but they are quickly beaten to death via recycling (soooooooooooo many figure 8's), or in cases such as the mega mushroom, little more than repeats of other items (in this case, the star). The half pipe thing is new... but I don't really see the purpose when it is faster to not go up the ramp? And the motorcycles... who cares/if the drift controls were the same as in double dash no one would choose them for the cheap wheelie boost?
Then there are the lazy re-hashes of the classic tracks. Changing the placement of item boxes, and other key features of the tracks (such as making the walls solid in the ghost valley track, and removing the rock throwing natives on the N64 DK track)... I just don't see the point. I mean, I know that most people probably don't have every Nintendo console (sans Virtual Boy) within 5 feet of eachother in their entertainment room so playing Ghost Valley 2 on SNES isn't really an option... but seriously. Some of these re-hashed classic tracks aren't even worth playing in the form they are presented here.
There are a few nice features. Toad's Factory, Grumble Volcano, and Koopa Cape are amazing tracks. There are a lot of karts to choose from (although the differences, as I can tell so far, seem to be negligible... unlike the kart selection in Double Dash where the differences were quite obvious). And it's not like the game is unplayable, quite the contrary, it can even be enjoyable for short periods of time. As part of the Mario Kart franchise though, I just expect more.
I honestly don't know why though, as every big franchise title aside from Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess has been like this. No options, dumbed down game play, terrible online game options and matching features, basically just leaving a ton of potential on the table and all of my expectations largely unfulfilled.
This is easily the worst Mario Kart game, and definitely the last Wii game I pre-order.
Oh, and the Wii Wheel... don't buy extras of these. They aren't worth the hassle. After struggling with getting my kart to power slide correctly through two grand prixs I dug out the cube controllers (ps - why is there no option to configure buttons how I want? Or... better question, why does the GCN controller layout not match that of GCN Mario Kart when the only new feature is wheelies, which could easily be added onto the unused c-stick or d-pad or... even better, onto the L trigger that items are incorrectly assigned to!?)
Great Party! May 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How many of us have enjoyed the past Mario Karts? This game has had its mixed reviews with the pros. But what about us 'normal people'? I think this game is great--especially with the new steering wheel--it's very creative, refreshing and fun. While some people didn't like the gamecube DoubleDash version, and instead liked this version, I like both. I do miss the fact that we can't play as two people in one kart, but this game is still fun. The items are more unstable, more routes to take, and new karts/bikes! A big PLUS to this game is that there is the online racing. We can always challenge ourselves against people rather the computers now! This game is entertaining--replay value is there. Great for parties. 5 stars for fun. 4 stars for the overall because the lack of the partnership.
How do they keep doing this? May 5, 2008
Recently, there has been a story going around how the Wii has so many bad games for it. It was a blog that was picked up by many news sites. What it did not address is the fact that when a game is good for the Wii, it is simply amazing. Mario Galaxy and now Mario Kart fall into this category.
I have now had time to play the game for a week and am totally hooked. I have been playing Kart since it was out for the N64. This game has many, many things going for it including new courses but even better, some of the best courses from the past reappear.
The game play itself is fun. I had read some previews slighting the game because the wheel created control problems. I assumed that the problem would be that it is too sensitive causing the driving to constantly overcompensate and go off course. WRONG! I have found the wheel to have just enough `play' in it to allow for a great experience. It is also really quite fun to be sitting on the couch holding this wheel and steering. The best part is when you catch yourself leaning into turns as if it will help.
For the Wii, I would list this as a must have. One of my keys being that you can sit and play for hours or if you just need a quick fix, you can play a couple of courses in 10 minutes.
The main reason I give it 4/5 overall is the multiplayer but the issue is not one with this game but rather a Wii issue and that being the lack of a headset. I am still surprised that they provide no way to communicate with your other players. I am scheduled to play against my nephew this weekend but I have not figured out how we will chat during play to decide on courses or what have you. This seems to be a huge weakness in the online options of the Wii and unfortunately, I am reflecting it on my rating. In the future, if the headset does come out, I will try to remember to reflect that here.
If you have a Wii and want the full range of experiences the must have games now include:
*Mario Kart
*Mario Galaxy
*Link's Crossbow Training
*Wii Play
With just these 4 games plus the included Wii sports you will have many, many hours of great Wii fun.
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