Mario Kart DS Review (DS)

I really doubt that anyone reading this blog has never heard of Mario Kart but if you haven’t then it’s a kart racing game filled with characters from the Nintendo universe. Add child friendly weapons such as banana peals and turtle shells and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what this game has to offer.

           

Story:                        These games don’t really have stories. If you want one I can make one up for you. Someday Mario wants to marry Peach but she keeps getting stolen and stuff never works out. So this is like his fourth bachelor party and they are going kart racing because its more fun than getting drunk and his female friends wanted to come along too. Does that make sense? Not really but it’s a racing game, its not about the story.

Gameplay:                         Just like every Mario Kart title before this one, the gameplay is why you will enjoy it. As you go through the levels you will have many obstacles thrown at you and enemy fire to avoid all while trying to win a race. Depending on the character you choose you will have different abilities that match well with your style of gameplay. For example if you can’t avoid hitting things you might want a character with fast acceleration but if you are an excellent driver then go for top speed. The controls are very tight and rival the Gamecube version of the game. Obviously you have a D-pad instead of a joystick but the levels are also easier to compensate.

Art Style:                         For a DS game it actually looks pretty good. The problem here is that the system can’t handle as many on-screen items meaning that the level will look rather linear and boring compared to other titles in the series. This might not bother the children out there but if you have been playing since SNES then this might get to you. It bothered me.

Difference:                        The game is a lot of fun while it lasted but I beat the whole thing in a few hours. I never lost a race and didn’t really enjoy the experience like I did on other systems. I guess the reason for me is because I like these games almost exclusively for multiplayer and I prefer to play with friends on a TV then try to mess with the online options.

Buy it?                        Probably not. If you are going on a short plane ride but need something to do or if you see a good deal on it come black Friday and have always wondered that its not a bad game its just really short. I give it a 7.5/10. It doesn’t really do anything wrong there just isn’t enough of it to warrant the price. If I were you I would find a used GameCube and copy of Double Dash. If you search online you can probably find both for the same price as this game alone. They won’t be portable but the single player will be better and you add a better multiplayer component as well.