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Wii | Driving | Mario Kart Wii

Boxart for Mario Kart Wii
Mario Kart Wii 128 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.00
  • SOUND: 3.75
  • CONTROL: 4.50
  • FUN FACTOR 4.75
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.7
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.8
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Nintendo Takes The Checkered Flag With Mario Kart Wii!

Review by Tae K. Kim | 05/02/2008 | 11:01:37 AM PST

Nintendo may not have a lot of street cred with the elitist "hardcore" gaming crowd but there's no denying that the Big N has established itself as a major force in the current generation of gaming.

After seeing its status in the industry suffer at the hands of Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo returned to the scene with their revolutionary Wii, a console that is breaking all the established rules and filling the company's coffers with what the hardcore crowd would call "phat l00tz".

Mario and his cohorts are back for more racing action on the Wii!

Mario and his cohorts are back for more racing action on the Wii!

But the true secret to Nintendo's success is this: they produce amazing games. As interesting and unique as the Wii Remote is, and as novel as the motion sensing controls have been, the Nintendo Wii would be nothing more than a gimmick if it didn't have a solid library of worthwhile titles.

Mario Kart Wii At A Glance

PROS:
  • Addictive and fun racing action. It's like Lay's Potato Chips: you can't play just one round.
  • The roster of characters is great. Just wait until you see some of the characters that you can unlock!
  • Seriously, it's Mario Kart, people. Do we really need to convince you of how awesome this game is? We didn't think so.
CONS:
  • Some of the items are way too powerful. How the blue shell made it through beta testing is beyond us.
  • The game rewards stragglers too much. Trying to maintain a lead is way harder than it should be.
  • The graphics won't blow you away and they get worse when you go to split screen.

And as we've long maintained, no one does Nintendo better than Nintendo. Take a look at the best-selling titles in the Wii's library and you'll see that more often than not, it's a first-party game. And fresh off the heels of their immensely successful Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes yet another guaranteed hit: Mario Kart Wii, a title that's dripping with charm and stars an all-star cast of loveable Nintendo characters.

The refined gameplay, the super slick presentation and the flexible controls all add up to one of the finest racing experiences ever. Sure, it has its fair share of problems but they're easy to overlook because the game is just plain fun. Whether you're blasting around a track in a souped up kart or pulling insane tricks on the slick motorbikes, Mario Kart Wii has that same sense of magic that made all the other great Wii titles such a blast: it's instantly accessible, incredibly deep and insanely addictive.

Reviews Editor Tae K. Kim was given the honor of being the first GamePro to take Mario Kart Wii for a spin and he still hasn't taken his foot off the gas pedal. So click through and see why Mario Kart Wii is yet another must-own Wii title!

And don't be surprised if you hop online and see us in your rear-view mirror. We'll save a red shell just for you!

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