Initial DS: Mario Kart DS Review

There's racing, there's drifting, then there's Mario Kart. Sometimes simplicity wins out over complexity and Mario Kart proves that case. I was pretty skeptical about how well the game would play after the somewhat disappointing showing of Mario Kart: Double Dash, but my fears were quickly dismissed as I entered the first corner in a nice power slide.

Visually Kart is about the same as the N64 release, though the inclusion of tracks from the various earlier titles and the GBA version are a welcome addition. The games use of the split screen DS is actualy done fairly well. A map view on the lower and the action on the main display. Unfortunately there are only two map displays, but overall they do the job.

As the first WiFi enabled title for the DS Mario Kart has a lot of freshman problems. The Nintendo WFC service appears to still have a few hiccups as of this writing and connecting to specific friends has proven problematic for me at least (granted I'm over in Hawaii)

While Kart is an enjoyable, care free racing game where crazy full speed drifts are the norm don't expect it to take things too seriously. GT4 fans can probably pass this title if they're thinking its about quot;racing"