Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel

This is probably my favorite Wii game at the moment. The wheel makes the gameplay more fun. I bought a second wheel to play against family members, all in all, tons of competative fun!

In short: Mario Kart Wii is my favorite game for the console. It's great fun to play alone, with friends and the online modes will keep you challenged for many months to come.

In detail: I've been a Mario Kart fan since the first version on the SNES. I can't count hour many hours I've dropped into this series over the years, but there's no game franchise I love more than the Mario Kart universe. This version of Mario Kart is almost perfect, and the few small flaws don't take away from it enough to give it a bad rating in my book.

What I love:

They've brought 16 classic tracks back, with a bit of updating that feels natural for the Wii. The new bikes and karts all seem to blend in to these older tracks like they were always meant to be there, and I loved playing with them. The 16 new tracks are great and several of them are downright fantastic. The bikes and karts can do stunts now, and while I've disliked some of the gimmicks they've introduced in the past (Double Dash driving for example)...the stunts actually add fun to this game.

The online mode is wonderful. Although it's difficult to find your friends at first, once you've swapped 12 digit PIN numbers and waited the required period of time for Nintendo to verify that you actually want to play together, you'll be good to go. The Mario Kart channel is packed in with this game, and it's a must if you like stats. The channel records your records, allows you to race your friend's ghosts...and the ghosts of the best racers in the world. I've had great fun just jumping into a race with 11 strangers and trying to win gold coins. The coins you win (or lose) in each race are added to your total overall racer score, which everyone sees when you enter a race. This essentially helps you figure out who the vets and who the new folks are....and new folks are awarded HUGE bonuses if they beat someone with a higher racer score. Nice touch!

What I didn't love:

Battle Mode. They've completely ruined what I loved about the old battle modes by turning it into a team-based game. Gone are the days when you and 3 friends could challenge each other to a free-for-all balloon popping match, now you must team up with a partner (sometimes a computer controlled teammate) and try for the highest score. If you're playing with odd numbers of friends, this is just the worst.

The Wheel. It was fun for 5 minutes, but after trying all the other controller options, I rate it dead last for accuracy. If it wasn't free with the game...I'd highly recommend buying a version without it. The only good thing I can say about it that it's great for new players. Two friends who had never played Mario Kart were able to jump right in on the wheel and get going. Veterans will be more comfortable with the classic controller, their Gamecube controller, or even the Nunchuck/Wiimote combo (my current favorite).

Overall..this is the best version since the N64. It's everything the DS version was, on a big screen with fantastic online play and no snaking. If you own a Wii, you must buy it.

This game is truly awesome. I bought it the day after it came out and have played it everyday. It is so addicting. I also love playing online, so far I have competed with people from 11 different countries!! They are good so it is challenging and fun! I highly reccomend this game to anone and everyone.

Being a series fan since the original SNES title, I had very high hopes for the Wii version. Nintendo did some things well, and severely missed the mark in other areas. For ease of reading, I'll just list my pros & cons in bullet format.

PROS:
1) 32 different tracks gives plenty of variability
2) online play is finally here!
3) graphics continue to improve from GC's Double Dash version
4) Easy to learn usage Wii Wheel (although I still prefer the CG controller)
5) Still LOADS of fun with plenty of "re-playability"
6) Plenty for advanced mario kart-ers. Loads of new characters & karts/bikes to unlock. Just type mario kart wii cheats into google to see them all.

CONS:
1) 16 of the tracks are rehashes of tracks from previous versions (SNES, GBA, DS, N64, CG) although with improved graphics
2) NO mutiplayer grand prix online! How could nintendo miss this???
3) Online interfacing is NOT as intuitively wasy as it should be. Nintendo should have bought an xbox to see how simple it should be.


Certainly more goods than bads, but the misses are certainly quite notable to those who have enjoyed this series for years. Still, worthy of your time & money. I'll see you online...

My family and I have owned every Mario Kart made and we are not disappointed with the new Mario Kart for Wii. Our T.V. hasn't been on for anything other than to play Mario Kart for the last couple of weeks. I like that it has so many tracks and our 9 year old loves that the retro tracks are on there. I am addicted to the on line play. Came in first for the first time last night ( I said I love the game not that I'm good at it ).

I was also very glad that they made it a bit harder to get all the extras. No more playing it for one night and getting all the goodies. So we should get lots more play time out of it before we erase it and start over again.