First and foremost, let me put this out there: If you own a Wii, you should own this game.
Mario Kart is one of the Wiis best single and multi-player games. The controls using the Wiimote are simple and easy for anyone to pick up. You hold the Wiimote sideways, then push 2 for the gas and the directional to throw a weapon. Its as easy as that. Theres a lot to do in the single player mode. For example, there are eight “courses”, and each course has four tracks to race through. So thats 32 different tracks the game offers. Now in single player, you have to race through all eight courses three different (50cc,100cc, and 150cc) and place at least 3rd in the end. Doing this unlocks additional characters and karts, as well as other stuff.
Multiplayer is a lot of fun too. When playing against friends on the same console, its a good time. The split screen isnt too bad, and you can still see whats going on. When you take the game online, however, its a totally different experience. For starters, lets say you and your friend want to race online. So you log onto the games online screen and find your friend. It isnt that hard. However, Nintendo made it so that you and a friend could not race against strangers together. Thus, you and your friend cannot join in a public race, you have to create a special room and invite other friends to race. Now lets say that none of your other friends are around (or that you have no other friends for this game), then there will only be you and your friend racing. Just two characters. Nintendo didnt even give an option to fill the race with AI characters. So its just your guy and your friends guy driving around. Not a whole lot of fun. As far as the WiFi for the game goes, Nintendo dropped the ball.
So yeah, Mario Kart is a lot of fun…if you play it by yourself or with friends at home. Its when you go online, and only then, that you will be disappointed. But this game is still one of the best for the Wii, and everyone should own a copy.
