Mario Kart Wii

I picked up Mario Kart Wii yesterday night at the Gamestop midnight launch. I waited until this morning, however, to open the packaging because I knew my son would just flip over it. And I was right.

The steering wheel was his main focus; he just thought it was fantastic. And it is very clever, and pretty easy to use. It offers a very direct input method, great for beginners. Also, as I suspected, the game supports a wide array of other input methods, including the Classic Controller and the Gamecube controller. Classic all the way baby.

The game itself is fantastic. I was first greatly pleased by the excellent menus system. Easy to use, pleasing to look at. Very good in a game that just has loads of options.

We jumped right into a game, and it's a blast. The action with twelve participants on the map at any one time is crazy. The items of course are insanely overpowered. Maintaining a lead is difficult, and you're never quite certain you can even stay on the track -- but that's a hallmark of the series. The action is very fun, and the twelve-player multiplay (with up to two on a single system) offers the best online experience you can get on the Wii.

Mario Kart Wii serves up so much fun, so many maps, characters, and karts, with so many game types both on and offline, it's a shame not to pick it up.