Mario Kart – Not for the faint of heart

Arguably the #1 Mario Kart Wii fan! As a casual gamer (with addictive features), I never thought I would have so much fun playing a driving game! As with my skepticism when we first purchased our Nintendo Wii, I was extremely reluctant to purchase my husband’s choice of Mario Kart game for the Wii. I was so sure that I would not enjoy what I thought would be a boring driving game that would only appeal to children. But as hard as it is for me to admit it again, Shaun was proven right. I love it!

Mario Kart has it all. You can play up to four players, or more over the Internet. You get to choose great Mario characters to play as, along with plenty of ‘promoted’ karts and bikes. And the more points you get in different levels, the more karts, bikes, characters and tracks you will unlock! For beginners you will start in the 50cc range of vehicles and soon progress up to the 150cc range. You will also be graded on your driving ability. If you’re good enough to get into the Star Class, more goodies will be unlocked, such as expert ghost data to fight and competitions to ‘power up’.

Surprisingly, all of this is just for starters. If you have the Internet and other friends with Mario Kart, you can go online to play against each other. You can also play against other Mario Kart fans from around the world. Improve your ratings and rankings if you can win these races. I can ‘lose myself in Mario Kart space’ for hours when I go online!

My favorite additional feature is the competition section. Here you can compete in crazy time trials and fetch missions against other players online. Nintendo is constantly running new contests, so you’ll always be spoiled for choice. Just yesterday I was playing a new competition where I had to find 15 coins among the virtual autumn scenery while trying to avoid the stampede of giant caterpillars! Mario Kart Wii is truly fun for all ages!

Mario Kart is not for the faint of heart though, as it can get very fast, hectic and dare I say a bit vicious on the track. If you’re like me and don’t like to lose, you might find yourself yelling at your TV screen!