GAME REVIEW: Mario Kart for Nintendo Wii

By Scott e. Fresh

Okay, we realize this review is a little late but we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sing the praises of such solid stoner recreation. Mario Kart for Nintendo Wii is a lot of fun and extremely addictive. With over 15 million games sold, we know that a lot of people are playing this game after smoking a big fattie. This game has more tracks and characters than any of the previous Mario Kart games, and it also allows you to play against your stoner friends from around the world in WFC mode. Included is a plastic Wii wheel that you pop the controller into and it allows you to better control the steering of this game.

One cool feature of this game is that your skills will actually “unlock” certain characters, as well as karts and bikes you can choose from. The better you are, the more choices you have. One of the characters that you can unlock, Funky Kong, looks as high as a kite! Must’ve been that Banana Kush he found in the mountains! There are plenty of tips and tricks online that will give gamers all of the instructions on how to unlock these bonus characters, rides, and tracks.

In addition to the popular Grand Prix mode, in which you race against the computer trying to unlock all the tracks, karts, and bikes, there are many other play options. Time Trial mode allows you to practice against the experts and see which route around the track is quickest. VS mode is great for a group of two to four people as it allows you to play against each other (assuming you have four Wii controllers, and preferably wheels). The only downside to this mode is that the graphics and game play are much slower when playing with three or four people. A large TV is also necessary because of the split screen in this mode – each player only gets a small square to view their action.

Battle mode is a timed race where you try to collect as many coins as possible within a few minutes. There are different stages, and it’s fun, but it’s not the highlight of the game. 

So what is the highlight of the game? Unquestionably it’s the WFC mode, which gives players the ability to create friend lists and to play friends from all over. Setup takes only a few minutes and once a friend code is entered, you can easily locate and challenge friends whenever you are both online. Win and Loss records are kept, so be sure to practice and unlock all the fast karts and bikes before you play.

If none of your friends are online, you can also play folks from your region, or from around the world. It’s really cool to be playing people from Japan, Brazil, and Australia right from your living room.

Please note that while in WFC there is no option to pause, so if you intend to play for a while be sure to pre-roll some extra blunts that can be easily lit!

Overall, Mario Kart for Nintendo Will receives 4 out of 5 pot leaves. This is just good, old fashion gaming fun.