Mario Kart (Wii, 2008)

In an age where games are becoming more and more graphic with their realistic violence and mature with their subject-matter, it's great to know that there are some video game standbys that you can fall back on. Although Mario had his humble beginnings battling the wicked Donkey Kong in the early 80s, he really became the face of family-friendly video games when Nintendo started issuing Super Mario Bros. with its 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) back in the mid/late 80s, and the franchise has grown with each Nintendo console release. First, there were the simple platform games, which eventually evolved into 3-D exploration when 3-D gaming hardware took the mainstream. Then, there were the Mario Kart racing games.

Mario Kart Wii is the latest installment in the Mario Kart racing games, and it delivers all the expected joys of racing familiar characters and skewering them with turtle shells and bombs...ooh, nice animated violence! I have to admit that I skipped a generation or 2 of the Mario Kart games simply because I never owned a Game Cube or any of the portable handheld game systems (i.e., Gameboy, DS, etc.). If you are going to play Mario Kart, I strongly suggest that you play this with the Wii Wheel. I recall that back in the N64 days, learning to drive on a Nintendo controller had a bit of a learning curve. The Wii Wheel really smooths and eases that learning curve. You'll still have to deal with the occasional steering sensitivity problem, but I got the hang of driving with a Wii Wheel much faster than driving with a controller (which is still an option, by the way). Although gameplay is fairly straight-forward, there are a few nuances here and there (particularly maneuvering tips) that reading the manual beforehand helps out with. All in all, there's really nothing to complain about here. I absolutely love this game. Mario Kart Wii is a great game that both adults and children will enjoy thoroughly.

Now, let's just hope I don't envision turtle shells as I'm driving to work in my Civic.