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Gaming, In My Opinion
To me, Mario Kart is a bit of a mixed bag. As football commentators have a habit of saying, “It’s a game of two halves.” Whatever relevance that has EVER!
The first half is the Single Player. Coming in three forms (Grand Prix, Quick Run and Time Trial), you belt around tracks that seem to be caught somewhere between the SNES and N64 championships, in order to win trophies (Gold being the ideal prize -that takes a genius, dunnit?). Successfully completing the first four cups will unlock the fifth special cup. Five cups, four tracks per cup makes for twenty tracks almost instantly accessible. And as usual, you can choose any of the three difficulties (50cc, 100cc and 150cc) Added to this, rather interestingly, is the grade system. At the end of each race, your performance is graded (A through to E) based upon where you place, the amount of times you hit an enemy/bumped into an enemy/bumped into anything and the amount of coins you collected. Yup, coins are back from the SNES version; collect ‘em to go faster, hit another racer to lose them all. Something that will happen often. Earning an A-grade on every track in each cup will open the original SNES tracks, four for each cup. Another twenty tracks. Two games in one, good huh? However, this is where the problem arises. To some it may not be a problem. To me, it is. To earn an A-grade is seemingly impossible. You mustn’t hit a single rac…sorry, none of the racers must hit you. Which is like saying “none of you must fall if I push you out of a plane.” You must collect every coin available, something that takes months to perfect for some (well, me) AND you mustn’t lose them. And you have to finish first in EVERY SINGLE RACE. And so on. Plus, as with any version of Mario Kart, only the lightweight racers (three people out of eight) are capable of WINNING the race. Of course, upping the difficulty level makes you go faster, but also makes your rivals more aggressive. Add to this that I don’t particularly enjoy racing games, and you can see why I gave up trying to open the SNES tracks. With so many time-consuming and ENJOYABLE games out there, I traded my copy in. This may have had something to do with the second half; the multiplayer. Let’s face it, the multiplayer is what Mario Kart is all about. Blasting around courses that can take your victory away in the blink of an eye while hoping that none of your mates have caught up with you. Or zooming around fairly small arenas with familiar and ridiculous weaponry to pop each other balloons. THAT’S what we love about the plumber’s karting antics. And unfortunately, you NEED friends WITH COPIES to appreciate the full multiplayer, otherwise you all have to ride as Yoshi. Maybe it’s because nobody wants to play with me (whoa, nursery school flashback!), or because I really am not into racing games, but to me MK:SC is nothing special. Racing fans and Mario Kart fans will lap this up, but for those who would buy it for the multiplayer, make sure your friends do too, and for those buying it just because it’s Mario Kart, don’t bother if you have the SNES or N64 versions. VISUALS: The best looking racer on the GBA. 10/10 SOUNDS: Among the best on the GBA, complete with voices, sound effect and cheery tunes. 9/10 PLAYABILITY: Takes a while to get used to your favourite racer (which, if you want to win, will be one of three), but after that, you’ll be soaring. 7/10 LIFESPAN: Depends on how much you like Mario Kart and how many GBA-bearing friends you have. 5/10 VERDICT: It really depends on what you enjoy. For me, it’s fun to begin with but without the multiplayer it lacks replay value. 78% |