Mario Kart Wii (Review)

Mario Kart made it's obligatory appearance on the Wii last year, changing up the formula by adding motorcycles to the mix and what could possibly be the best online mode that Nintendo has to offer. The motorcycles are well balanced in the context of the game, though in my opinion their much better to race with than the titular karts. The new tracks as a whole are pretty good, with most of them showing off something intriguing or different (Coconut Mall, Koopa Cape, and Bowser's Castle are the highlights). The retro tracks are a mixed bag. The stages coming from the N64 game are some of the best from that entry, while the DS game is represented with some dull choices from a game that was full of unique stages.

Sadly the game has an extreme problem with continual item abuse. The dreaded blue shell returns along with more overpowered weapons like the POW block, mega mushroom, and a stupid cloud that makes you speed up but shrinks you if you can't pass it off to another player. These items appear way too often and even strip the unlucky victims of their own items. This causes any form of strategy to be thrown out the window in favor of pure luck, especially in the single player grand prix where the A.I basically cheats by using any of the overpowered items every 3 seconds. As a result, I ended most of my play sessions due to sheer frustration and a desire to break things. This item abuse had been a severe problem in the Mario Kart series for 3 games now and while everyone has been constantly complaining about it, it completely baffles me that Nintendo has not only ignored the problem, they've made it worse than ever.

The game still has that excellent gameplay the series is known for and it's a blast to play with friends, but Nintendo really screwed up with the items. I understand that Nintendo is trying to give casual gamers a chance against seasoned players, but giving them super weapons isn't the right way. If this is the direction Nintendo wants to take the series, I seriously doubt I'll want any to do with it anymore.