en Whan gaming le dan de nota un 9,5

Mario Kart goes global

By Andy Barratt -- WHAM! Gaming

Sat, November 12, 2005





As you can see, even Mario himself knows the latest Mario Kart game is going to be awesome.
If the hype were to be believed, we ought to consider all DS titles thus far to be mere prefaces to what is the main story; Nintendo finally taking their flagship handheld console online - and what better way to travel there than with Mario Kart?

Yes, the 13-year-old karting franchise finally hits puberty and grows planet-sized; for with Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection, Mario Karter's all over the world can wirelessly hook their DS's up to internet and race one another as part of a global community.

Never one for realism, Mario Kart is obviously a racing game that pits the various Mushroom Kingdom celebrities against one another; Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Luigi and of course Mario. Whilst some driving skills greatly benefit success in Mario Kart, the availability of weapons and power ups go a long way in redressing the balance of play amongst the varied talents of both character and player, which in no doubt is what has made the karting genre so popular over the years - though no-one has ever quite perfected it quite like Nintendo.

And in the DS outing, it really does feel like Nintendo has striven to make the perfect Mario Kart, taking gameplay elements from previous versions (the boost from Double Dash, the kart hopping from the SNES original) and also, in addition to a whole new set of original tracks, a good helping of classic tracks from the last 13 years, all tweaked for the new platform.

And with the new hardware comes opportunity for new strategies. Whereas the top screen houses the race itself in, as always, gloriously fast and crisp 3D I might add, the lower touch screen carries an overhead map. A quick tap of the screen switches from a zoomed view showing the environment (obstacles, water etc and also any incoming weapons) to an overall course map showing the location of all racers. What's more the lower half also shows whatever weapon anyone is holding at any given time.

And at last, Nintendo have actually found a decent use for the mic. The extra Battle Mode features ballons as per usual, but this time they actually require blowing up.


Of course it's the multiplayer option that is going to shift the most units, and Nintendo have all bases covered, with single card download play, multi card play and of course online. Both local options are as quick to set up as we've come to expect from the DS, but the biggest interest is surely how Mario Kart performs online.

Nintendo are latecomers to the online gaming arena; both Sony and Microsoft's current consoles already hook up, and obviously PC gamers have been playing online for years. But where Nintendo differs in their approach is in their presentation and execution, and you really get the feeling their lateness is entirely by design. They've obviously sat back, studied what works and tailored their online system to suit. If you've already got a wireless router - and these days more and more people are seeing the advantages of such hardware in their homes - you're good to go. Mario Kart DS will look for and find your network, ask for a password and is online in seconds via Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection. And those who have no need for a wireless router fear not, for the big N has thought of you too in the shape of a tiny USB adaptor for the same purpose.

The key here is simplicity. No messy settings (though hardcore tweakers will be satisfied to know that every detail you could possibly want to mess with is available behind advanced options buttons), it just works. Right off the bat, you're presented with a few simple options for play. Friends - for playing against people you actually know, Rivals - which connects with players of a similar skill level, Regional - for playing against anybody from your own particular continent, or Worldwide.

There are some limitations in online play however. Only four people can race at a time as opposed to the eight in all local modes, and only 20 of the 32 regular tracks are available. And the biggest complaint will surely be the total absence of communication. Whilst I admit, I initially felt very cold and mercenary having walked away from a race victorious, without (metaphorically) sportingly shaking my opponents hand. But I got over it quickly. After all, the DS doesn't lend itself to typing messages quickly, and even some stock 'Woo! Yay! Hoopla!' type congratulatory responses would get very tiring very quickly. So whilst it might seem that Nintendo only half-baked Mario Kart's online capabilities, realistically they didn't miss any 'really' important ingredients.

The depth of what appears to be an initially incredible simple and one dimensional game is astounding as always with Mario Kart DS, and the delivered promise of online opponents only adds to the overall incredibly rewarding experience. All the addictive qualities of titles past are present and accounted for, and the opportunity to take home honed strategies out into the world is surely what makes Mario Kart DS so appealing. It's not just the best karting game Nintendo have ever developed; it's also quite possibly the best DS game they've made.



WHAM! Rating: 9.5 out of 10
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Official Web Site: www.mariokart.com


y aqui os dejo otras paginas para veais las puntuaciones que le estan dando a esa maravilla del mario kart ds

Game Pro 90

http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/ds/g...ws/49814.shtml

Yahoo games 90

http://videogames.yahoo.com/gamerevi...amp;eid=412526

y atención a esta ultima,que creo que le dan la mas baja puntuación:un 60 >

http://cheatcc.com/ds/rev/mariokartdsreview.html

saludos