Mario Kart Wii. Now, I'm a fan of the Mario Kart series. It's not the best game around, but for a driving game, that's just plain fun, you can't beat it. Yeah, you can go with Gran Turismo or Need for Speed or another game that tries to mimic real life driving by putting you behind the wheel of a car that's far too expensive for anyone to actually own while cops may or may not chase you down as you cruise down what appears to be an open track but is in fact a closed circuit, all while safe in the knowledge that if you crash, not only will you walk away unscathed, it won't cost you more than a couple of seconds to get back on course.

If, on the other hand, you have friends, and any inclination to play a racing game with them, it's hard to do much better than any of the Mario Karts that have been released for Nintendo's various home consoles. Mario Kart Wii, however, dropped the ball on that one though. Yes, there is multiplayer, but compared to the next most recent Kart game, it's a huge step back.

My biggest complaint here is that when you play with friends, (max 4 without using wifi connection) you are forced to play with a total 12 racers on the track. What that means is that when you throw that bomb, you have a bit worse than a 1 in 3 shot of it actually hitting another player, and not just a computer. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but when I play a game with friends, I like to play a game with my friends. If I wanted to be constantly playing against computers, I'd have become a recluse and social retard after high school.

So you're constantly playing against computers. big deal right? I guess if you want to play with real people, you can always use the wifi connection, but here's the problem: unless you have a total 6 Wiis amongst you and your 11 buddies (that's two players to a Wii) you're gonna have to play with either computers or complete strangers, which can be even worse than playing against computers, for more on this subject, see any public counter-strike server anywhere. (I should mention that I have not yet tried the wifi connection for kart yet. I'm just not much of an online player.)

Ok, let's just put that whole problem on the back burner for now; if that was the only thing wrong with the game, I might have had a better chance. After all, there were certainly a number of steps in the right direction. The graphics are nice, if predictably cartoony for the series (hey, I like cartoony), there are plenty of characters, and lots of new vehicles so anyone's driving style can be accomodated. Speaking of which, Nintendo really hit on a good thing with the control system. You can use practically any controller made for the Wii on Kart, so even though the Wii wheel felt nice and natural in my hands, my buddies were happy with the GameCube controllers they're so used to.

I did have some trouble with the controls, but I worked it out eventually (it felt like every vehicle, no matter how small and agile, handles like a cow unless you drift on your turns. It takes a lot of getting used to.)

Two more points I'd like to cover before finishing up; first, and I know that it's been covered by other reviews, you have to play single player to unlock everything. I'm just going to say that they could have gotten away with having a lot more unlocked out of the package and people would have been just as happy, and that it wouldn't have been such a big deal if there were a co-op mode where you could unlock all that stuff.

Last, Bob-omb blast, and to a lesser extent, Shine Theft (both multiplayer battle modes from Double Dash) were a heavily felt loss. yeah, you there's the classic balloon battle which is fine for a while, but Kart needs a mode where you can hit your opponents all you want and the game doesn't end becuase everyone else gets knocked out. Coin battle tries to accomplish this, and I guess it's adequete, but Bob-omb blast will always be superior for two reasons; one, no computers to ruin your good time, and two, there's just something about blowing up your opponent with a barrage of colorful explosives that gives you warm fuzzies.

so there you go, Mario Kart Wii gets a resounding "meh." I guess it's an ok game if you like racing games you can play alone or online, but if you're that kind of person, I'm thinking that a different racer might be up your alley, so go check out Gran Turismo and Need for Speed. You'll be happier. If your the type of gamer who likes a fun game you can play with a bunch of friends, I'd say Mario Kart Double Dash would be a better use of your money.