Why mariokart Wii is a insulting piece of ...

[ex0du5]

This game is an absolute abhoration, IMO. Played for about 2 hours with some buddies last night.

1) The graphics are downright pitiful, for one. Although the N64 version looks worse and ran much worse, the track was very visible and readable. In MK Wii, it's somewhat hard to read the track since there seems to be a lack of texture filtering, and there's a whole ton of shimmering making it hard to distinguish track elements. I'd say 1/4 of the screen in 4 player mode is harder to read and looks worse than the DS version of the game.

2) Battle mode! BATTLE MODE! WTF! You can no longer free-for-all with your friends. You only have 1 choice, and that's to play team battle mode. You choose either the Blue or Red team in a 6v6 matchup, and no matter what, the rest of the spots are filled by computers. I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY BATTLE WITH CPUs! Battles just feel like a random cluttered mess, and there's no real tension or competition whatsoever since most of the time you'll just be targetting computer players. On top of that, it's not the 3 lives and you die scenario anymore...it's simply a time limit in which your team tries to get the most kills.

I can't begin to express how disappointed I am with this game. SNES Mario Kart and Mario Kart DS will remain the best entries in the series at this point. Although the N64 version was tainted with overpowered items and bad framerate multiplayer, at least it didn't feel like a cluttered mess that is MK Wii.

Mario Kart is dead.

 

[pjbliverpool]

Battle mode! BATTLE MODE! WTF! You can no longer free-for-all with your friends. You only have 1 choice, and that's to play team battle mode. You choose either the Blue or Red team in a 6v6 matchup, and no matter what, the rest of the spots are filled by computers. I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY BATTLE WITH CPUs! Battles just feel like a random cluttered mess, and there's no real tension or competition whatsoever since most of the time you'll just be targetting computer players. On top of that, it's not the 3 lives and you die scenario anymore...it's simply a time limit in which your team tries to get the most kills.

They gimped battle mode??!?? Whats wrong with these people!

 

[fearsomepirate]

Why would they force you to play with bots? That's ridiculous. It must be because those "blue ocean" people get all scared and fretful when they see multiplayer options. I never cared about Mariokart after the SNES, and this just reinforces my not caring.

 

[StefanS]

Motorstorm is terrible for this.

The number of times I had to repeat the level 4 and 5 races because of this was painful.

Actually, I've had exactly the same experience. IMO, The AI in Motorstorm is probably one of the worst examples of rubberband AI I've yet encountered.

 

[PellePlutt]

Why would they force you to play with bots? That's ridiculous. It must be because those "blue ocean" people get all scared and fretful when they see multiplayer options. I never cared about Mariokart after the SNES, and this just reinforces my not caring.

I've actually posted here before that they force you to play with bots, but since noticed that they can be disabled (in the aforementioned multiplayer options :smile. You do seem to be forced to play in teams though, and balloon mode is most points rather than last man standing. Oh, and the maps seem much larger, so I've only ever managed to hit someone with red shells, which makes it a random battle of getting the most red shells..

So it's ruined, but they haven't been THAT stupid about it.

 

[NERO]

I have just barely dipped a few toes into this game and have thoroughly enjoyed the tracks, both new and old school, but have already seen some of what the posters have foreshadowed. I finally lost a cup (the 100CC Banana Cup) due to getting hit with 2 blue shells, a red and some lightning with about 20 kart lenghts to go (Gadzuks)! I still haven't touched online nor have I cared for the battle mode since I played 4 player multiplayer on the SNES (it was really novel back then). I come in expecting cheap AI, but am curious as to how much cheaper it could be. 150CC here I come.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Sounds like regular computers cheating to me. And they do! In FIFA if the computer is losing with seconds to go, it'll pull off a load of never-before-seen manoeuvres, muck up the player switching, and readily cruise in a blinder, the sort which you won't get one in ten, but the computer gets whenever it needs one. .

Huh? Fifa AI does not do any crazy moves when their loosing other than trying to attack like any normal football team would do. And it never has done. This is 100% BS.

I play Fifa 08 on legendary, and i have never seen the AI do anything special when their loosing. I have played the other fifa's on WC and not really seen anything there either. On WC\Legendary the computer will be incredibly good (90% pass completition often) but they do not cheat at all. I can do all the moves that the AI can.

Anyways.

I agree that Mario Kart Wii completely sucks, because of the way pick-ups are set up, and the way AI suddenly actively tries to kill you with pick ups, when in front you cannot get any good pick-ups (best thing is x3 bananas) while the people in the back get all the crazy boosts and rockets, which will take you out.

The most annoying one is the helmet with the wings on it, or whatever the hell it is, (its the blue homing thing, that knock out the guy in the lead no matter what).

While its not impossible to win (my and my GF has won all gold in all races except for the 150cc cup with the rainbow road, where we have a silver medal), its pure luck on some tracks, as you need to be lucky with what pick-ups the ai gets.

I found out that on the 150cc races, the best tactic is to be in 2to4th place until the last lap, as the computer will kill the guy in the first place anyway.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Huh? Fifa AI does not do any crazy moves when their loosing other than trying to attack like any normal football team would do. And it never has done. This is 100% BS.

Or a lot more light-hearted tongue-in-cheek than you took it to be...

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Or a lot more light-hearted tongue-in-cheek than you took it to be...

Why make up stories about Fifa AI cheating when it doesn't? Light hearted or not.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It's an anthropomorphization with exaggeration for comical effect.

 

[MulciberXP]

...

 

[kyetech]

It's an anthropomorphization with exaggeration for comical effect.

And thats called side stepping with long words that no one gets, and since no one can be bothered to google the word, it potentially makes you right by default ;-)

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Nintindo should have made Mario Kart Wii a physics accurate racing sim with photo realistic cars where you tediously upgrade parts and paintjo.......oh wait we already have plenty of those.

I think youve missed the point.

Nobody here is complaining about Mario Kart physics and driving model. We are complaining about that Nintendo basically made it a game of luck in the 150cc challenges. You can lead from start and up to the 3rd lap, but 99times out of 100 you will get nuked, over and over on that last lap, resulting in you not winning.

And these nukes, is not something you can escape, they are flying homing things, that allways hit you. It stops Mario Kart from being a game where you can win on skill (you still can but 9\10 times "luck" will have more to say on the outcome than your driving abilities).

As far as catch-up goes, i dont think there is any in the traditional sense. If i use the highspeed vechicles and drive well, nobody can keep up with me. Of course, this doesn't help all that much if you get nuked 4 times in a race on the last lap...

 

[AndY1]

I don't have MK: Wii and I don't intend to get it.
I have MK: DD and MD: DS. My strategy in case of a blue shield flying your way is to break and let the 2nd place AI in front of you, so the blue shield hits him or in case that can not be achieved, I try to take as many players down with me with the blast radius, when it hits me.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

That doesnt work because in MK Wii all cpu players are extremely close. Basically if you get hit while #1 you will be #8 when you get moving again so braking takes more time than you will win with it. On the DS it could work, but the DS version is much much more balanced.

 

[NERO]

That doesnt work because in MK Wii all cpu players are extremely close. Basically if you get hit while #1 you will be #8 when you get moving again so braking takes more time than you will win with it. On the DS it could work, but the DS version is much much more balanced.

Summed up correctly. I am near-frightened to touch 150CC and have been trying to beat dev ghosts in the time trials while testing out the online functionality (which is pretty damn good for Nintendo).

In the GC version I looked at the number of blue shell hits as a badge of honor (of sorts) because I would still pull off a win 95% of the time. But as T_o_c has described the penalty is much worse due to imbalances.

 

[sevanig]

Motorstorm is terrible for this.

The number of times I had to repeat the level 4 and 5 races because of this was painful.

Amen, I need like 3 gold medals to get 100%
They are impossible...
I even downloaded a "100%" game save from the net and that one was worse than mine :0

I just gave up, I was so close to all gold medals

MK was the title that was going to make me to buy a wii (every console gen, I cant resist MK)
But I think i'll sit this one out...
DS version is enough for me

 

[infinity4]

In Pro Evo 08 I always feel they cheat on me. It is not that computer gets better. It is they screw your moves. Like you kick a ball slightly and it always go over. You can never intercept a ball properly as you used to be able to most times. And so on... I guess that gives more sweat but when you know you are MEANT to lose something...

 

[swaaye]

I almost picked this game up. I need a 3rd game for my launch Wii, lol. I have fond memories of Mario Kart SNES and am a big racer fan, but I'm simply not interested in playing cheater racers. Not in the slightest. Oh well.