Tainted Report

Whenever I talk about the flaws that I see in Mario Kart Wii, people seem to be on my case, calling me a "Mario Kart DS fanboy" and some names that are a bit less pleasant. To be fair, I am pretty stubborn when it comes to Mario Kart DS, but at the same time, it's hard not to notice some of the glaring issues with Mario Kart Wii. I'm going to use this post to talk about some of those things and what I want to see in future Mario Karts.

First, I will admit that Mario Kart Wii is a good game. If you want to casually play a racing game, you need not look farther than MKWii. It's a really fun game, especially with friends. Online can be a blast when you just want a few rounds for fun. The controls are tight (the Wiil is clunky at times, but the Gamecube controller is awesome) the action is fast, and the items are as zany as ever. I'm not here to argue that it's a bad game, because it's not.

However, it's clear that the game is made with the casual gamer in mind. Which, again, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Multiplayer is where you'll get the most enjoyment out of this game, with four players racing onscreen at once. It's a blast to trash talk friends when you hit them with a well placed banana peel, and boost into first place. But, the whole experience is almost too fun, and there is very little room for competitive players to shine.

I have a few reasons as to why I think this. My primary reason is that items are used WAAAY too frequently during online and Grand Prix races. Seriously, I've been a half a lap ahead of the rest of the people in a race, but fall to 6th or 7th because I was bombarded by seven thousand blue shells. I understand that the game is about the crazy antics and over-the-top items, but at the same time, it gets obnoxious having eleven other players hurling items at you constantly.

And also, getting the better items give you a much bigger advantage than in previous Mario Karts. A Bullet Bill in Mario Kart Wii might take you halfway around the course, passing six or seven racers if you are lucky. In Mario Kart DS, you may only pass one person and will never travel halfway around the track. There isn't much balance to this game, which I think stems from the casualty of the game. Bad racers who are new to the game still have a fighting chance because of these godly items.

One of the things that bothers me most is that there is not any sort of competitive tactic that separates the best racers from the adequate. There isn't snaking, there isn't ticking, there isn't anything that can only be mastered by the best racers out there. Some may find that argument ridiculous, citing that it's good to not have any sort of "competitive tactic" but the lack of anything to master made me lose my drive in becoming good at Mario Kart Wii.

Some might sight stunts as something to master. Stunts seem cool at first, until you realize that they are incredibly easy to do, rendering them anything but competitive. All you do is flick the Wii Remote up and boom, you get a boost. I think that this is, once again, a move to get away from competitive play. Since stunts are easy to pull off, everyone can do it, which means that those who aren't so great at the game can feel like they are good racers by gaining that tiny boost through a stunt.

I think the lack of balance that I mentioned early might stem from the addition of four more racers on the track. Having twelve people racing at once sounds awesome at first, until you realize that more people equals more items, and more items equals a much less competitive race. Races are now won and lost by your items, and not your skills. With more people filling up the bottom half of the places, you are much more likely to get hit with a blue shell or one of thousands of bananas left on the track. It's more hectic, definitely, but not more fun.

Now I've really covered all of my gripes with the game. But if I want this post to be constructive, I should probably mention what I think should happen in the next iteration of the series.

First, I want to see the return of an online leaderboard. That was the best aspect of Mario Kart Wii, in my opinion, and is basically necessary in the next Mario Kart. Let me keep up to date on my favorite course in Time Trials, so I can see how they did it and what time I have to beat. People already do this on sites like the Player's Page, so it would be awesome to keep an official tab on times.

Also, give me some sort of competitive tactic to separate the great from the good. I don't mean that I want snaking back. People always assume that I only hate Mario Kart Wii because I can't snake, and that's not true at all. I do, however, want something that I can spend time learning and mastering, so I feel like I am an accomplished racer once I have learned it.

One thing I also would like to see is the option to turn items off in Online Play. I know items are half the fun to most people, but on the competitive racing scene most racers try to avoid using items during online matches. It would be nice to just have the ability to turn them off when racing, to make races fair and fun to those who don't really like items.

And finally, let's return to eight racers. I feel that eight was the perfect number of people racing at one time; it game balance in races but didn't get too much power to those at the rear. Races were still hectic and fun without being stupidly gimmicky. I know Mario Kart thrives on gimmicks, but there's a limit.

Take from this what you will. Maybe I am just a stubborn Mario Kart DS fanboy who dismisses Mario Kart Wii because I'm not good at it. However, I feel that Mario Kart Wii is another example of Nintendo dumbing down games to appeal to the casual market, and I'm not really fond of it.