| Unlimited Gamer » Reviews » Mario Kart DS Review |
| Review Submited By Staff Member archard |
Mario Kart DSEveryone wins in this game; except those in place 2-8.For a DS game, MarioKart DS has great graphics. They arent' stunningly beautiful or anything, but they are very smooth and very clean. Coming from a system that supposedly has roughly the graphical capablilities of a Nintendo 64, the graphics are superb. In fact I highly doubt the N64 could create these graphics at the same framerate that the DS does. Overall the graphics do their job perfectly because they fit the style of gameplay that MarioKart DS offers. Sound I am surprised sometimes that what I am hearing comes from my DS. I never thought a handheld could have such amazing sound! MarioKart DS has a great mixture of songs and sound effects (some new, some old) that are entertaining and yet do not get annoying. They really take advantage of the great sound capabilities of the DS. It's almost as if sometimes you feel like you're not even playing on a handheld. Control One word. Intuitive. I can quite honestly say that I have never before seen a better control system in any racing game, period. The control is so good it almost feels as if you are actually driving the kart. Try playing MarioKart DS for a couple hours, then try to play any other MarioKart game - or any other racing game for that matter. You won't be able to. The physics engine put into this game is unbelievable. I refuse to buy any other racing game unless it has the type of control shown in MarioKart DS. I realize I am being very adamant about this but I believe you will feel the same way once you start playing this game. Gameplay This is the best part about this game. Although it is the 5th title in the series, it feels like a whole new game. This time around I feel like they have made the gameplay MUCH more item-oriented. What I mean by this is that the outcome of the game often is decided by what - and how well the the player uses - items. In this sense whole new strategies arise. For example, I often intentionally move to last place at the beginning of the race (the lower place you are in the race, the better chance you have of getting a good item) so that I am almost garunteed a Bullet Bill or a Star. You may also make a case that because the races are so item-intensive, that they are actually a lot like battles rather than races. There is no doubt that the intensity of the races is increased dramatically in this game. I often find my heart beating much faster than usual after winning a tight race - because you know that at any second a blue spiked shell could come along and ruin your dreams. Levels I thought they did a very good job with this. There are 16 new tracks and 16 retro ones from previous games. The selection of retro tracks was good, but I thought they could have picked some better ones. They may have opted not to due to lag issues though. As for the new ones, some of them I love, and some I really hate. Some are original and great, such as Luigi's Mansion, Delfino Square, Waluigi Pinball, Tick-Tock Clock, Airship Fortress, DK Pass and the new Bowser's Castle. Some are old, recycled ideas, such as Desert Hills, Mario Circuit and Cheep Cheep Beach. Overall though I really like the very wide selection of levels - although I wish they added more to online mode. My favorite = DK Pass My least favorite = Yoshi Falls Online This was the only real flaw I can find in this game. Nintendo's first shot at online gaming was awesome yet dissapointing at the same time. For one thing the online version doesn't offer all 32 tracks and leaves out some of the best ones. This is probably due to lag issues though. Only 4 players can play at the same time. Again, probably lag issues. But the big gripe I have is that the players who come in last place almost always turn their DS off and leave the race. Rarely ever do I finish 4 races with all 4 players still connected. Also, it is somewhat difficult to actually find a race. Sometimes I have to wait several minutes just to find one player. Sometimes I get all four in a matter of seconds. But probably the most controversial thing about the online game is that there is absolutely no way of communicating with your opponents. Immediately, this seems like a very bad thing. But in some ways I think it is a wonderful thing. How many times have you played on online FPS (Counter-Strike for example) and played with 20 thirteen your old boys that go "OMFGZ!!!!!! WTTTFFF THATS BS!!! OMFGGG!!!!!" every time they die? Chances are, everytime you play. What's worse is when they use the microphone to vent their frustration - something MKDS online does not offer. Well, when you play this game, there is no whining and bitching. You don't have to put up with any of that crap. You just race. And it is beautiful. However though, sometimes you would just like to say "Good game, buddy" or "Nice powerslide, bro". Or maybe you wanna exchange friend codes? Well, too bad. But hell, it's free. Can't argue with that. Final Score - 9/10 |
