Mario Kart Wii

I love the bikes, not because they control different (because they don't ), but rather for their wheelie option. You can pull a wheelie at any point on a bike to get a speed boost at the expense of turning ability. With either the karts or the bikes you can do stunts off of jumps, be they large or small. Stunts give you a speed boost upon landing but some jumps are out of the way, so you have to balance the speed boost you get versus taking the shortest line.  Each weight class, of which there are three (large, medium and small) has three karts and three bikes to start with, with more unlocked through play. There are also a total of 32 tracks, with half being available at the start while the rest need unlocking. 16 of the total tracks are retro courses, and while the art styles are fun and hold the look of the old games, I do wish they'd spruced them up more for the Wii.

There are a  number of hidden racers available as well, including the Mii tied to your racing ID. This is a fun idea for me and really should have been in Smash Bros. Brawl. Battle mode, a staple of the franchise, is fun as well with a number of new and retro battle mode stages and 12 people battling at once, but you're forced to battle in teams and I dislike the points system. Losing all of your balloons means nothing since you're immediately respawned to continue while the only perk for your enemy are points on the board. All battles are time based now and the maps are HUGE.

I do have a problem with the difficulty, though. Time and again you'll be thwarted when racing in the Grand Prix when you get hit by a slew of items just when you're about to win. All I can think of is all the time I put in to playing NBA Hangtime when the AI would artificially keep things close by screwing the player over with cheap baskets for itself and lowered abilities for the player. The AI here uses similar tactics and you will lose repeatedly through no fault of your own.

Mario Kart DS is still my favorite in this series and Mario Kart Wii has some serious flaws, but it's still fun. Don't bother playing by yourself, other then to unlock more karts, racers and tracks. Get a couple friends, some snacks, and a couple wheels to experience this game the way it was meant to be played. Alphasim out.

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