Mario Kart has always been the original and best of the Kart racers and this one is no different. The game has the same principle as the older versions, race to the finish line before anyone else. It has drastically improved graphics, easy to learn controls and hours of fun.
The thing that sets it apart form the others in the series, is that this time, you are two characters on the same car. You cans witch between the two characters as you wish by pressing that always hard to find Z button. The controls are simple, with not much of a learning curve. The circuits are all new and provide the usual pits, ice, fire, enemies, short cuts and other things found in the originals.
As with the others, there are several classes of carts, 50CC, 100CC and 150CC, each of which gets faster and harder to control. As you progress through the game, you get to unlock new characters and new tracks. There is also some new battle modes. One is the bomb mode, where you simply throw bombs at each other and the first to four wins and the other is a hold the star game, where you have to keep hold of the star for a certain period of time, if you get hit, you drop it.
Having two people on the cart also causes some annoyances and changes. The person in the back can fall off if you are hit too hard, slowing you down for a few seconds. Based on which character you choose, you have a specific "Special" attack, which are really not evenly distributed. For example Mario has a fire shot, that simply send a few balls of fire forward or backward. While another character, has a ball and chain that drags him perfectly around the course for ten seconds and then disconnects itself and goes around the course killing everyone for another twenty seconds. Also, you still can't both choose the same characters, which prevents a truly balanced competition.
The power ups have not really changed much. The shells, star and bananas are all back, with some minor new ones added. The characters are basically the same also, the usual Nintendo characters that we all know and love. It would be nice to see some third party characters, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
There is also my favorite annoyance, the fact that the person in last or third is given much better power ups and the fact that you are in first the whole race means nothing. The last lap really determines the winner since there are attacks that always go after the leader, it is too easy to be past at the last second. This makes it so that even a newbie can win and there isn't really much the leader can do about it. It does keep the game close between all players, so that the same person isn't always in last, but takes away from the driving skill of the leader.
The game also offers system link play, but you need to buy the adapter, not included with the Cube ($60Cdn). The game is a lot of fun and a nice addition to any Gamecube library. Great for parties and if you have more than one system and television available, all the better.
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