Mario Kart Wii is undoubtedly the best Mario Kart game to Date. There is a large amount of characters you can unlock, including the change to be you own Mii. Each character has a weight classes including light, medium and heavy. Each class starts off with 3 different karts and bikes, you unlock more as the game processes.

The Wii Wheel works extremely well and is incredibly fun to use. The game can also be play using the Wiimote and Nunchuk, Classic, and Game Cube controllers, all working perfectly. Since Mario Kart 64 all Mario Kart games had a technique called shaking, which involve press left and right simultaneously as you drift round a corner, which gave you a speed boost. This technique has been removed on the Wii version. Instead the speed boosts depend on how far you drift. Karts can get a bigger boost then the bikes. Bikes however can gain speed on straights by doing Wheelies. Another new technique is the ability to do tricks whilst in the air and gaining a speed boost the moment you land.





There are many items on the game, most of them come from the previous Mario Kart games but there are three new ones like Mega Mushroom, POW Block and Lighting Cloud. The Mega Mushroom allows your character to grow bigger and flatten anyone you drive over. The POW Block makes a POW bar appear over everyone else heads and in three seconds causes a tremor which forces your kart to spin around. When you pick the Lighting Cloud up it appears above your head in a few seconds shocks you, the only you can get rid of it is by ramming an opponent.





Mario Kart Wii has 4 main game modes like Grand-Prix, Time Trial, VS Race and Battle. There are 32 races that can be played on Grand-Prix, Time Trial and VS modes. There are also 10 stages for Battle mode.



Grand-Prix is the main single player mode that involves racing for 8 different cups, all with 4 tracks each. This mode is divided into three different speeds, 50cc, 100cc and 150cc. This mode is the main mode you be starting of in and its quite long.



Time Trial is a 3 lap race around a track of your choice and you aim to get the fastest lap. Your personal best is saved as ghost data. You will never be left without a challenge on time trial mode as you can send your best time to an online leader board and download other people's ghost data.



In VS Race you compete against 11 different computer-opponents through a customised cup. The VS Race can be played through a Solo Race or a Team Race.

This mode is brilliant through both single player and multiplayer. It is similar to the Grand-Prix mode however if you thought 4 races per cup was not enough you can change it up to 32. You can also limit the vehicles used; change some item settings, difficultly level and the vehicle speeds.



Battle mode consists of 2 types, Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. Balloon Battle starts everyone off with 3 balloons. You have to pop other peoples balloons whilst at the same time protect your own. Coin Runners involves collecting coins that has been scattered all over the stage. The Battle Mode is a fun mode to play however the CPU characters can be terrible. This is definitely better to play through either WiFi or multiplayer.





The VS Race is slightly different when you are playing online, instead of a customised cup you start off with 5000 points. These points go up or down depending on the outcome of your race. It acts as a rating, to show if your good and usually the opponents are chosen based so your more likely to race someone with the same skill as yours.



The Battle mode uses a similar points system, but they are both recorded separately.



The VS Race is brilliant online and you can race up to 11 players. The Battle mode is also great, it is the first Mario Kart game with an online Battle mode and it is very well done.





Mario Kart Wii Is a highly addictive game with a great single player, multiplayer and online fun makes this a highly essential game.