Mario Kart Wii

Kourses

Though the game begins with four different cups of tracks to choose from, a lot of fancy driving lies between the player and the entire selection of courses. The makers of Mario Kart Wii have put together 16 new courses, all of which have elements of originality plus the "same-old same-old." The first course of the first cup is, as expected, a basic circle/figure-eight style track with few or no surprise elements, and the last course of the final cup is, once again as expected, Rainbow Road (and it's kind of a doozy). In between are some truly memorable tracks that take the player on adventures through treetops, into pipes, and down a ski slope, as well as the somewhat forgettable daisy circuit, the typical desert stage, and the obnoxious volcano course.

Ahh, my old nemesis, we meet again. Perhaps this time I will figure out some way to get to your island to defeat you once and for all! (N64 Sherbet Land)

A not-so-new but still welcome change to the Mario Kart set up is the offering of 16 retro tracks (reconfigured to work with the current standards). While this is a nice bone thrown to the serious Kart fans, I can't help but wonder how hard it might have been for the makers to provide more. Some old ones translate really well, such as DK Mountain from the GameCube version, but this opens the door of comparison and makes it more noticeable that the graphics from the last title to this one haven't really changed.

Not SSX

A new feature is the half-pipe style jumps added here and there to new and old courses. The driver can head up the side of a wall, take a quick jump, collect an item box and/or do a trick and be catapulted back into gameplay with little lost time. Some parts of some courses require the use of these jumps for fluid driving, but other ones are completely avoidable. While this element seems new and exciting at first, I've found myself avoiding them more and more as I get used to the courses. Sometimes even a fraction of a second counts.

Lovely foliage (Maple Treeway)

As players take to the tracks, they can see some of their personalized Mii characters watching the races. In the mall course, some Miis are even in posters on the walls. Attention to detail isn't at its peak in Mario Kart Wii, though. In the mirror cup, it seems the programmers simply flipped the vertical axis, leaving writing on walls backwards and everything else noticeably reflected. It seems like a lazy move, but perhaps I long too much for the past courses that had karts driving backwards through a course that seemed more creative.

It's like DK Mountain in the Winter (DK Summit)

Players familiar with past course glitches like the wall jump in Mario Kart 64's Wario Stadium might be able to find one or two in this one as well. Some patience and item manipulation may be required, but keep your eyes open and you might be rewarded.