Mario Kart Wii - All done. Every GP circuit in every mode is starred, every fast staff ghost unlocked, all karts, all bikes, all characters, etc. TOADETTE was the last, weird.
There's still more to do, like actually -beating- those expert ghosts (I beat one on my first try, that being the highway stage). But I'm not sure I like the game quite enough to bother. I'm more likely to go back to F-Zero X.
Well okay. So I'm a pretty big Mario Kart fan, you should all know this by now. The original is god, 64 I didn't like, then Double Dash came back and also ruled. Super Circuit seemed good too but I've not played too much of it, and DS I've yet to touch. So how does this one stack up?
First of all, I felt it took a number of needless steps back from Double Dash. In particular,
-Okay, I can kinda accept that two people in one kart was a bit of a game-specific change, hence "Double" Dash and all that. But why remove it entirely like it never existed? The pairing of drivers was a great idea, for multiple reasons. One, there was more strategy in how you could hold onto two items. Two, having both a driver and a backseat wrecking crew partner made for a great multiplayer experience. Three, you got to use the character-specific items of two characters. It was wonderful. Why is it no longer even an option?
-I just touched on this, but it deserves its own point. Where did the character-specific items go? Now the only thing that makes, say, Birdo different from Luigi is some very small stat differences which I didn't even notice until a FAQ pointed them out (vehicle stats are much more important). It's cool that the game has 24 characters, but it seems pointless beyond aesthetics.
-It's slow. This seems to be all the rage these days: SLOW 'DEM DERE MULTIPLAYER GAMES DOWN! THE KIDS CAN'T KEEP UP! It's a bit slower than Double Dash, which was already way slower than Mario Kart. I definitely don't enjoy playing it on 50. 150 is okay, at least. I like my action games fast, and it's a bit insulting to watch good ol' Mario Circuit 3 take notably more time to complete three laps than it used to to complete FIVE in the original.
-Blue Shells! Lightning! POW blocks! They haven't gotten any rarer. Quite the opposite, with 12 computers to throw them around, and the POW block is new (though there's a stupid trick to make it not hurt as bad, at least) Bullets add to the terror if you're in the middle ranks, since you don't really get adequate warning for them I've found. On another item note, dodging red shells without items no longer seems possible, unless there's a new way I haven't found. With items? Well now it's very, very easy, since you can just drag items behind you like a braindead idiot (I have no idea why they brought -that- back). Basically the improved power and frequency of items has made the game very random. GP is definitely less enjoyable this time out. Time trials, at least, don't suffer; I never saw the need for them in previous games, but I do now.
-Tied to the former, but enemies are now much more packed together, which seemed needless since I was still quite capable of finishing in any position. This means if you get blue shelled towards the end it really, really hurts. Very annoying.
-Bowser Jr. no longer says "He he he!" whenever he hits someone with an item. And he lacks his horrible, wince-inducing bawling when he comes in a low position. I DO NOT ACCEPT THIS! (Yeah I miss Double Dash's awesome VA. This game isn't horrible for it, though, and does have more quantity at least.)
But it's not all bad. Indeed, the game does some things very right, things the series has needed for a while.
-Options! Sadly not available for the standard GP, these are a great idea. Things like CPU agression and more importantly, ITEMS can now be governed. Yes, you can turn off all the broken items (or increase their rate if you are insane). Great for upping the skill level of multiplayer. Speaking of said multiplayer, it can now be played with more than two karts, without a link cable! So yeah, these are the most important improvements.
-Bringing back 16 old tracks in addition to the 16 new. They did a pretty good job with these, in particular the oldest ones (though why only two SNES tracks, given the popularity of that version, I don't know...). Very nice attention to aesthetics, as the 2D stages still retain that old semi-2D look while being rendered in 3D. And some of these tracks are pretty rockin' too, such as GBA Bowser Castle and DS Peach Gardens. N64 stages unshockingly are too long and boring.
-Track design was generally solid. Better than Double Dash? Same area? I dunno. But there was a lot to like here. Rainbow Road's a fun romp as always, Koopa Cape and its water streams are a blast, DK Summit does a terrific job of recreating a ski-hill. A bit disappointing that they didn't vary the lap count, and one map (Bowser Castle) is a bit too newbie-unfriendly for my tastes (it murders you relentlessly if you haven't mastered using the vertical booster areas), but otherwise, good stuff.
-For the first time in the series, balloon battle mode is FINALLY playable with more than two people, as they actually figured out a worthwhile points system (+1 for a kill, -1 for losing all three balloons, but then you respawn with three new ones). Also more options. I'm still not much of a fan though; SNES is the only one I can get into due to its superior speed and smaller battlefields. And I do miss Bob-Omb Blast. But yeah, enough about battle modes; they're not why I play Mario Kart games.
-I wouldn't have thought I'd care about an expanded roster, but Rosalina, Funky Kong, BABY DAISY, and ZOMBIE BOWSER are all pretty fun additions. We also lose Petey Piranha but gain Baby Peach, and I can't say I really care about either.
Overall? Mm, 8/10 game maybe. It's solid and I don't regret purchasing it, even if it is only the #3 console Mario Kart game to me. Also has online capabilities, which aren't really my thing, but I'll probably look into 'em someday, and I'm glad they exist.
