Mario Kart DS

On the DS. Online.

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Mario Kart is one of Nintendo's great licenses, it has graced everything from the SNES to the Gamecube so it's no surprise it made it to the Nintendo DS. This new incarnation of Mario Kart delves deep into its roots bringing not only fresh new tracks to the mix, but reviving all of your favourites from previous incarnations making the total list of available tracks as long as a dull Friday but one hell of a lot more exciting.

The tracks, new and old, are split into two race types; Normal and Retro, with the traditional four cups to beat in each. As usual the 50, 100 and 150cc modes are available giving a total of 6 sets and 96 races to complete. Not all 96 races are on a unique track, mind, which is a good thing in the sense that you will have to master each track to compete in 150cc without a crushing defeat.

In addition to the traditional race modes there's a mission mode which challenges you to complete sets of tasks and then defeat a boss. There are 6 sets of missions which get progressively harder and serve the additional purpose of training you to master the Mario Kart courses and better handle races. Think Mario Kart boot camp, only you're driving. However, whilst the missions are useful as a training mechanism and fun in their own right, they quickly get repetitive and you will find yourself playing several distinct mission types with higher goals and lower time limits as you progress. As the missions are a welcome addition to the very solid and fun racing core of Mario Kart I find it hard to criticise them and I'm sure you will be able to let the lack of diversity slide and enjoy them as they are.

The racing modes include the standard Grand Prix, and then on top of that there are Time Trials, great for perfecting your mastery of each track, and VS mode, which does the same only with the additional challenge of AI drivers. Also there's the classic Battle mode which has Balloon Battle and Shine Runners modes. Balloon Battle places you in an arena where you are tasked with bursting your opponents balloons with the typical arsenal of Mario Kart weaponry with the additional DS-only feature of being able to inflate your balloons manually by blowing into the microphone, Shine Runners has you rushing for "Shines" in a bid to collect more than your opponents.

Like far too many DS games, Mario Kart makes fairly superficial use of the two screen design of the console. The upper screen displays your view of the race/mission/battle, and the lower screen displays a choice of maps which can actually be quite useful in helping you avoid your opponents' projectiles and keeping racers in your immediate area in check.

Like other Nintendo WFC compatible games, Mario Kart has an abysmal multiplayer matching system. You can either use an alternate method of communication to gather a group of friends to play together, or place yourself at the whim of the multiplayer matching system. However matching has almost always placed me in races against people who win the race whilst I'm still pottering through the second lap. Of course, with relatively few DS players online matching players of the same skill would narrow down the number of available players and make the long wait for a game even longer. In short, the system works but it's terrible, move over it might be tricky to improve - and we're stuck with it anyway. Another problem with the WFC is the lack of Battle modes, of course the same problem with skill matching might occur here - with not enough players choosing Battle at the same time it would be near impossible to get into a game.

Battle modes are, however, available via a normal wifi connection which supports download and play, although it unjustly limits download players to one type of kart - a somewhat dirty tactic which I'm sure has more to do with wanting to sell copies of Mario Kart than the limits of download and play.

Overall Mario Kart DS is the brilliant title that we've all been waiting for, making the DS that extra mile more appealing and helping seal my growing contempt for the PSP even though I'm not in the least bit a "fanboy". Sure, the online multiplayer might be inherently flawed, restricted to a meagre 4 players when single boasts 8, and completely devoid of battle modes, but get a group of friends organised and it's still top top fun.

90%

By Philip Howard