21st April 2010, 2:57 AM
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/...eature.ars
I know others liked it, but playing Mario Kart Wii felt like it tried way too hard to give people who weren't in first a "fighting chance". The balance was fine in Mario Kart 64. Double Dash pushed things but a good player team could still be counted on to win most of the time. Mario Kart DS is about the same. Mario Kart Wii? I have to say it feels broken. That is, you can be awesome going against terrible players, and you have a 50/50 chance of winnning, and it'll just about always be by a hair's width at the finish line. I tried to like it, I liked the new vehicle type, but that combined with the art looking like a bunch of lifeless "phoned it in" toys made me just plain give up on this one.
This game seems to recognize that allowing people in last place a chance to play catch up shouldn't be so completely overpowered as to remove the effect of playing WELL from the equation. Read it, the mechanics of how to use powerups seem very well thought out. Someone in last can still catch up, but they'll need to play really well to do so instead of bullet billing into the lead instantly.
I know others liked it, but playing Mario Kart Wii felt like it tried way too hard to give people who weren't in first a "fighting chance". The balance was fine in Mario Kart 64. Double Dash pushed things but a good player team could still be counted on to win most of the time. Mario Kart DS is about the same. Mario Kart Wii? I have to say it feels broken. That is, you can be awesome going against terrible players, and you have a 50/50 chance of winnning, and it'll just about always be by a hair's width at the finish line. I tried to like it, I liked the new vehicle type, but that combined with the art looking like a bunch of lifeless "phoned it in" toys made me just plain give up on this one.
This game seems to recognize that allowing people in last place a chance to play catch up shouldn't be so completely overpowered as to remove the effect of playing WELL from the equation. Read it, the mechanics of how to use powerups seem very well thought out. Someone in last can still catch up, but they'll need to play really well to do so instead of bullet billing into the lead instantly.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)