DigitalBattle.com

Mario Kart Wii Game Review–Time For Hyperbole

I’m generally not given to hyperbole, especially in the headlines of pieces I write, but there’s just no other way to put this.  Mario Kart Wii, for the Wii, may well be the best racing game I’ve played yet.

There really isn’t much of a plot here to speak of, but basically, you play as one of the various characters from the Nintendo universe, from King Boo to Wario to Diddy Kong and all the way back around to the standards.  You’ll then mount a go kart, or a motorcycle, at three varying levels of engine power and proceed to run amok on a series of wild tracks.

That may be it for the plot–and yes, by any standard this game has virtually no functioning narrative to speak of–but that’s not it for the game itself.  The game itself, you see, is a riot of fun things to do as you drive your go kart or motorcycle on a panoply of tracks with all sorts of different designs.

There’s a whole lot of fun involved in driving through a shopping mall (the Coconut Center) at breakneck speeds, whether you’re doing it on a go kart, or the admittedly much more fun motorcycle.  Seriously–who here hasn’t pictured the sheer amount of mindless fun involved in riding a dirt bike through a mall?  Bouncing up stairs and escalators, jumping fountains, tearing around columns in a beautiful slalom?  It’s fun on a bun, that’s what it is, plain and simple.  Though I have to admit, my time spent driving on the Rainbow Road left a lot to be desired.  Just try driving on a track several hundred miles above the Earth’s surface with no rails or anything else to keep you on the track and a whole bunch of lunatic drivers looking to get ahead of you?  I still get chills.

The controls are what make this really special.  If you don’t want to shell out for the Wii wheel, which is pretty ridiculous when you look at it, then you can simply hold your Wiimote like a steering wheel at nine and three and steer that way.  The controls are almost shockingly smooth and responsive, if a little twitchy at the higher engine levels, and do a pretty solid job of approximating actual steering.

Even better, there are tons of characters and karts and bikes and tracks and everything else that you can think of available to unlock, so there’s lots of value in charging around all the various tracks in single player mode.  For the completionists in the audience this will be an absolute nirvana.  There are those who’ll be turned off by the fact that the unlockables are only available in single player mode as opposed to any of them being found in the multiplayer modes, but this is a fairly small issue when compared to the sheer amount of stuff to do here.

It’s great to find a Wii game that has plenty to it and doesn’t result in a sore arm or a general feeling of disappointment, and Mario Kart Wii is just that game.  Single player or multiplayer, you’re sure to have a good time with this one if you even vaguely enjoy a good racing game.

School Using Wii To Teach Driving Safety

Cellphones have been lambasted for their impeding of drivers since they became widespread. Many states have instituted laws requiring hands-free devices while driving and studies have shown that the mental distraction of talking on a cellphone is no worse than having a conversation with someone present in the car. Generally the most dangerous group on the road are teenage drivers, prone to reckless thinking and lacking the experience of seasoned drivers.

One of the biggest trends amongst teens and young adults these days is text messaging. It’s the instant messaging generation taken wireless and they’re taking it on the road as well. Parents are of course concerned, so the National Organization for Youth Safety is sponsoring a contest challenging schools to teach their students how dangerous texting while driving is.

Colorado’s Vail Christian High School is going about this in a manner that is likely to get their attention: by having students play Mario Kart while attempting to read and send text messages. As you might expect students are using the Wii wheel to simulated a somewhat realistic driving experience. If this program works we’ll soon be seeing teenagers who avoid the temptation of on-road texting and gaze fearfully at their rear-view mirror every few moments, watching out for blue shells.