18th November 2003, 9:52 PM
I actually love how the karts control. I actually prefer it to previous incarnations. To each their own anyway.
As for the tracks, they are new enough for me. Love the racing tracks because they are just fun to go through. It helps that I first played this in multi with some siblings I suppose.
As for battle mode, I love those new modes, especially shine get :D. That's just fun there, regardless of the track designs. As for the actual battle tracks, don't really have too much of a problem with them. Never really liked Double Decker from MK64 anyway myself, so I don't miss it. It was just too easy to get completely seperated from the action and have the match take forever there. Things are a bit more closed in, which I think is good in a battle match. Keeps things moving and interesting. However, I must admit I wish some of the oldest tracks, from Super Mario Kart, would be realized in 3D instead of them making new ones. I especially loved that one on top of the building with the pits you could ramp over. Not sure why, just reeked of fun. Then again, that might just be my naustalgia... Anyway, the GCN track is actually something I've been waiting for :D. I always wanted ONE track that was completely barren with not a single thing in it except the racers themselves :D. Not all of them of course, just one, just for the heck of it. Sorta like Final Destination in SSBM, it's sometimes fun to have an arena that's completely ambient, with only the competitors mattering. Then again, I would have preffered it if it was what I originally thought it was. That is, I would have enjoyed a cube I could have circled around on any side, suddenly switching angle. Could lead to some nasty surprises when that shell suddenly comes up over the horizon :D. Then again :D, that might mean the level would be TOO big, which as I said I find a problem for battle mode.
Well, with the 3 battle arena levels I've played, I can say I didn't find them all that terrible myself. The cookie one I loved, but that might just be my bias towards delicious sugery confectionaries. Actually, thinking about it, it reminds me of those little games where you navigate a bead through a maze to the center of a disk. Sorta... I found it rather fun myself anyway. Already said my confusing opinion on the cube thing, well, actually that wasn't much was it? Okay, I found the match fun while the level didn't really add or remove anything from it. I suppose that's a nice quality in and of itself, or it would be if there were more than 4 levels. The last one I played was the funky warp pipe level. I actually rather enjoyed it. Had multiple levels, and that odd warping thing going on.
Well, to be honest overall I love this game. I really can't complain about anything I've seen thus far. It's all been very enjoyable. A great multiplayer game to be sure for me. Single player? Well, if there's stuff to be unlocked, I'll play it, but generally I've ALWAYS found single player mode to be the least enjoyable part of the games. This is how I felt with MK64 as well. I didn't see the flaws others did with it. I actually liked it more than SMK due to the 3D nature. Never had a problem with the track designs. They were and still are VERY fun to me. I just liked the 3D nature. The one thing I could come to a flaw with in the sequels compaired with the original would have to be the lack of the coins. I understand why they were removed. It allows anyone to take a lead at any time as opposed to someone having no chance only because they failed to get a lot of coins. However, at times that sort of thing can be fun too. I do wish they had added a nice multiplayer option for "coin mode". Also, in the future it would be nice if Nintendo went the way Rare went and really made a fun single player experience. Finally, I wish that in the future, Kart games would include all the previous game's tracks in addition to the new ones. It's more of an upgrade than a true sequel after all, and as such this should be expected. However, as it stands I find MKDD, personally, to be the greatest in the series so far. Perhaps I just am not able to really critic on kart racers. I dunno, I just know each new game has been an improvement to me. Note I haven't played the GBA game for but a few seconds in a store somewhere (the full name of the game I don't even recall), so I can't say anything about that.
I'll only say that so far I find it to be everything I wanted and an improvement. This is without playing co-op control mode I should add. I've heard this is a very fun mode, so it should make me like it even more. Also, when everyone at TC gets together for some online matches when one of those tunnels is released (Really? One says the other stole code? Hmm, a serious accusation, I wonder...), I'll be sure to love it even more.
I'll only say this. I can expect I'll be playing a LOT more battle mode in this game, if only because my friends enjoy battle mode a lot more in this incarnation. They are partly why I formed the opinion that many tracks in MK64 were just TOO large thus leading to a lot of boring "searching" (especially Double Decker, just too large), though I think I would have come to this myself anyway. These smaller levels more than make up for lack of detail in the designs (which come to think of it, I did notice) simply because of how much more often I spend actually fighting than trying to find someone to fight.
In any case, that's just my opinion. Obviously a lot of people don't quite agree, and with such a large number that means there must be merit to it. However, it's enough for me if my friends and myself love the experience.
As for the tracks, they are new enough for me. Love the racing tracks because they are just fun to go through. It helps that I first played this in multi with some siblings I suppose.
As for battle mode, I love those new modes, especially shine get :D. That's just fun there, regardless of the track designs. As for the actual battle tracks, don't really have too much of a problem with them. Never really liked Double Decker from MK64 anyway myself, so I don't miss it. It was just too easy to get completely seperated from the action and have the match take forever there. Things are a bit more closed in, which I think is good in a battle match. Keeps things moving and interesting. However, I must admit I wish some of the oldest tracks, from Super Mario Kart, would be realized in 3D instead of them making new ones. I especially loved that one on top of the building with the pits you could ramp over. Not sure why, just reeked of fun. Then again, that might just be my naustalgia... Anyway, the GCN track is actually something I've been waiting for :D. I always wanted ONE track that was completely barren with not a single thing in it except the racers themselves :D. Not all of them of course, just one, just for the heck of it. Sorta like Final Destination in SSBM, it's sometimes fun to have an arena that's completely ambient, with only the competitors mattering. Then again, I would have preffered it if it was what I originally thought it was. That is, I would have enjoyed a cube I could have circled around on any side, suddenly switching angle. Could lead to some nasty surprises when that shell suddenly comes up over the horizon :D. Then again :D, that might mean the level would be TOO big, which as I said I find a problem for battle mode.
Well, with the 3 battle arena levels I've played, I can say I didn't find them all that terrible myself. The cookie one I loved, but that might just be my bias towards delicious sugery confectionaries. Actually, thinking about it, it reminds me of those little games where you navigate a bead through a maze to the center of a disk. Sorta... I found it rather fun myself anyway. Already said my confusing opinion on the cube thing, well, actually that wasn't much was it? Okay, I found the match fun while the level didn't really add or remove anything from it. I suppose that's a nice quality in and of itself, or it would be if there were more than 4 levels. The last one I played was the funky warp pipe level. I actually rather enjoyed it. Had multiple levels, and that odd warping thing going on.
Well, to be honest overall I love this game. I really can't complain about anything I've seen thus far. It's all been very enjoyable. A great multiplayer game to be sure for me. Single player? Well, if there's stuff to be unlocked, I'll play it, but generally I've ALWAYS found single player mode to be the least enjoyable part of the games. This is how I felt with MK64 as well. I didn't see the flaws others did with it. I actually liked it more than SMK due to the 3D nature. Never had a problem with the track designs. They were and still are VERY fun to me. I just liked the 3D nature. The one thing I could come to a flaw with in the sequels compaired with the original would have to be the lack of the coins. I understand why they were removed. It allows anyone to take a lead at any time as opposed to someone having no chance only because they failed to get a lot of coins. However, at times that sort of thing can be fun too. I do wish they had added a nice multiplayer option for "coin mode". Also, in the future it would be nice if Nintendo went the way Rare went and really made a fun single player experience. Finally, I wish that in the future, Kart games would include all the previous game's tracks in addition to the new ones. It's more of an upgrade than a true sequel after all, and as such this should be expected. However, as it stands I find MKDD, personally, to be the greatest in the series so far. Perhaps I just am not able to really critic on kart racers. I dunno, I just know each new game has been an improvement to me. Note I haven't played the GBA game for but a few seconds in a store somewhere (the full name of the game I don't even recall), so I can't say anything about that.
I'll only say that so far I find it to be everything I wanted and an improvement. This is without playing co-op control mode I should add. I've heard this is a very fun mode, so it should make me like it even more. Also, when everyone at TC gets together for some online matches when one of those tunnels is released (Really? One says the other stole code? Hmm, a serious accusation, I wonder...), I'll be sure to love it even more.
I'll only say this. I can expect I'll be playing a LOT more battle mode in this game, if only because my friends enjoy battle mode a lot more in this incarnation. They are partly why I formed the opinion that many tracks in MK64 were just TOO large thus leading to a lot of boring "searching" (especially Double Decker, just too large), though I think I would have come to this myself anyway. These smaller levels more than make up for lack of detail in the designs (which come to think of it, I did notice) simply because of how much more often I spend actually fighting than trying to find someone to fight.
In any case, that's just my opinion. Obviously a lot of people don't quite agree, and with such a large number that means there must be merit to it. However, it's enough for me if my friends and myself love the experience.
"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)