| Mario Kart DS review |
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Everyone has a favourite Mario Kart game. It is a peculiar quirk of the series in that it polarises the majority of its fans towards one entry way above all the others. Whether it is the tight driving of the original, the intense battle modes of MK64, or the sheer fluid fun of Double Dash!!, there is something about each game that makes it stand out. The latest entry on the DS may well buck the trend; it is liable to become everyone's favourite Mario Kart game.
Bold statement indeed. The simple matter is that Nintendo has apparently gone back to basics for this incarnation. At its heart, the DS version has a lot in common with the SNES original in how it drives and feels, even down to the "hop" function returning. Driving skills are very much an important part here, with the weapons providing an equalising effect as opposed to being over-dominant. Indeed it could be said that MKDS is the SNES version disguised with better graphics.
That is not to say the later entries have been completely ignored. Add to this the slide boost technique introduced in MK64, and the choice of different specification vehicles available in MKDD, and it then seems MKDS is like the best bits of every Mario Kart game put into one program. The resultant whole makes it the most well-balanced and playable Mario Kart game so far.
All the usual driver characteristics such as top speed, acceleration, handling and weight are back, with the addition of a new variable: items. Put simply, the higher the item rating, the more likely you are to get better items. Whether or not there's any other hidden benefit is still being debated! Nevertheless getting for example a red shell when in second compared to the usual banana can make or break a race, so it does have an important role to play. Slipstreaming also has a notable influence on the game, whereby drafting another racer for a short period will induce a mushroom-like speed boost, allowing you to zoom past in a hurry.
Most of the familiar items are also back with a vengeance, including the dreaded blue shell introduced in MKDD. Two new items have been added for MKDS: a blooper item which partly obscures the vision of every other racer ahead of you, and a Bullet Bill, which has a similar function to the Chain Chomp from MKDD, but travels at a much faster pace. The latter is definitely something to watch out for; the former on the other hand is more of an annoyance than a hindrance due to the highly detailed nature of the bottom screen.
Ah, the bottom screen, perennial host to maps. Not much changed there for MKDS. It is the level of detail provided though that makes the difference. It is so good in providing an overhead view of the track, complete with locations of item blocks and any weapons currently in motion, that is possible to drive tracks just looking at this screen. It also allows everyone to see what items the other racers are holding and plan accordingly.
Thirty-two tracks are provided within eight leagues in MKDS, the most any in the series has ever offered. Sixteen of these are original, brand new designs; these include a simple figure-of-eight, a winding snowball-filled valley, a tour around Luigi's Mansion, and the chance to buzzcut grass in Peach's garden. All of them have the classic Nintendo design trademark to them, and the subtleties and racing line for each only become apparent through repeated play and time trial mode.
The other sixteen happen to be tracks pulled in from the other four incarnations. Thankfully Nintendo have chosen some of best and most fondly remembered circuits to use such as Mario Circuit 1 from the original (the first track any veteran would have raced), Choco Mountain from MK64 and Baby Park from MKDD. It's intriguing to see the SNES tracks in proper 3D now, but it works very well. Driving around them with MKDS physics is also impressively implemented; it appears Nintendo has fine-tuned and tested everything quite rigorously.
Whilst single-player mode is more enjoyable and longer than usual via more tracks, a bundle of mission modes and the endless quest for perfection by shaving tenths off your best times, inevitably the game is made or broken by its multiplayer modes. Battle is back, but this time each player has to manually inflate their balloons one at a time; either way it's still the frantic, calculated backstabbing experience it always has been.
The new mode is called Shine Runner, and is a "collect more than everyone else" time-limited, mad, furious mass of chaos and swearing feature that is actually a match enjoyment-wise for the ubiquitous Battle mode. Both are great alternatives to the staple of versus mode: the race-off. Like MKDD, all eight racers can be human controlled, but unlike MKDD, it will be a lot easier to accomplish on the spur of the moment. There isn't much more to be said here; this part is what keeps people coming back and has them playing and playing, until unconsciousness is likely to set in before wanting to stop.
For the first time, Nintendo has put Mario Kart online. If you have a compatible wireless router (or can find a wi-fi hotspot), then the rest of the world is literally just a connection away. Not to say there aren't problems associated with this. People are having trouble even with the official wireless USB dongle, let alone routers, and lag is evident at times. The process could also do with a game-based lobby system as opposed to either hoping for someone to be also waiting for a game, or organising via other means for friends to be online at the same time. There is also currently only minor punishment for "dropping" out of a game.
In a compromise to preserve bandwidth and reduce processing issues, only 20 of the 32 courses are available for play, only four players can wi-fi at the same time and items cannot be dragged behind a kart to protect from rear assault. This last point makes playing online a different experience to normal and requires a slight change in tactics and racing. Nevertheless for all its faults, online play is a step in the right direction for Nintendo, highly enjoyable, and hopefully the first tentative step in getting the Revolution integrated with this technology in the future.
MKDS is a classic reminder that Nintendo created the character-based racer and is still leagues ahead of competitors when making them. It is also the perfect panacea for those still harking back to the SNES days, and a brilliant new play experience for those who came in later. There is truly nothing to fault, apart from the fact that your hands are liable to start cramping due to the unchangeable button placements long before you want to put the game down.
Nintendogs caused DS units to fly off the shelves; this game deserves to put even that achievement in the shade.
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Racing
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-8
Version: United States
Reviewed: Dec 2005
Writer: Mat Allen
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Pros:
- The best Mario Kart ever..?
- The biggest and best set of tracks ever
- Online mode finally lets everyone find where they stand
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Cons:
- Online mode could do with a lobby system
- Your hands will give up before you do
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Mario Kart DS Video: 5.8MB
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