Mario Kart WiiNow don’t get me wrong, I love Mario Kart Wii. However, I feel like it has quite a few things going both for and against it. First of all, is this Ridge Racer? What’s with the overuse of drifting? Mario Kart has had the drifting aspect for quite some time, but no other game in the series has treated drifting like a thirsty infant adores his mother’s chest for nutrients. While I know how to take advantage of the drifting, it seems like even quite early on you have to master the art of drifting at nearly every turn just to stay ahead of the curve.

What happened to those days when Mario Kart was more about the racing and not hitting the walls and an occasional turtle shell? There are far too many destructive items in Mario Kart Wii for casual gamers to really feel the same way we did when we first started playing Mario Kart in the old days. Yes, there was a problem in the DS version about getting hit with the blue turtle shells when you were in first, constantly. They’ve actually fixed that, and you don’t get hit by those as often anymore. However, there is the recently introduced POW item which when used three times makes everyone spin out and lose their items. I suppose there’s more of a challenge, but in the end the new items just start to get annoying for everyone involved.

A few other things I should mention before wrapping it up, is that there are now motorcyles and tricks. The motorcycles are actually pretty fun to mess around with. They obviously handle differently, but it’s a fresh experience in the stale world of simply using karts, I suppose. The tricks are pretty handy as well. Whenever you get a decent amount of air you can do a trick, and it’s just like getting a mini-boost.

In summary, this is a good title in the Mario Kart series. It does some annoying things, but it also brings some fresh ideas to the table. Personally, I feel like Mario Kart Wii just doesn’t have the same pizazz that Mario Kart DS gave me, but that’s ok. I still have plenty of fun with Mario Kart Wii.