It took a few years, but Mario Kart has finally made its way onto the Gamecube, with some interesting results.
Basically in the last few years, Nintendo has really started on an innovation campaign, which can be seen through such projects as the Nintendo DS, Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, and the Mario Party microphone. This game can count as one of those innovations as it took one of Nintendo's best game series and added a new twist to it.
The goal of this game is the same as every Mario Kart game. You race computer or human players to the finish line in different Mario character created courses, using items from the Mario universe. However, one visible difference can already be noticed. There are now 2 racers on each kart. Here is how it works! The person in front is the driver. The driver will be doing all the accelerating, braking, and turning, while the person in back will be using all the items you get during each race. However, positions can easily be switched during the race just in case you get tired of driving (except in 1 player mode, where you will have to be doing all the driving and item chucking yourself). This is an interesting concept, the controls are easy to understand, and it just plain works.
The same modes from all Mario Kart games are here. There is the tournament style Grand Prix races, the time trials, the multiplayer racing, and the multiplayer battling. The battle mode has more options this time around, which includes a very fun "bomb-omb blast" game.
One thing that is very interesting about the Double Dash concept is how it can work in multiplayer. You still have the option of doing 4-player split screen matches, which are really fun. However, since each kart can have two people on it, you can also do a 4-player match with only 2 karts (being on a team). Try it if you get the chance, as it can be very fun.
Now for some of the in the game stuff. The graphics in the game are really good. You won't be seeing any realism though (this is a Mario game after all), but for cartoony graphics, this is one of the best places to look for it. The Music and Sound is also well done.
Now, you can breeze through every cup on each difficulty level very quickly. It didn't take me long to beat the entire game and unlock everything. One thing that the game does provide though is good replay value. You will constantly play over and over again to find which characters will work well on a team, as you combine them more the best power up combos. Also, with the new addition of a 16-race All Cup Tour, it feels like you are participating in a real racing tournament. Now if only this game would have online play........... :(
Overall, this game is really something special. It proves that Nintendo's innovations can lead to some of the best games ever made, and Double Dash is only the beginning of this. I look forward to seeing what else Nintendo has up their sleeve.
I gave this game a 10 because of reasons stated in review.
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