{"id":554,"date":"2016-01-30T15:36:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T20:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/stories\/?p=554"},"modified":"2022-07-17T18:34:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T22:34:09","slug":"mario-kart-64-1q2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2016\/01\/30\/mario-kart-64-1q2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Kart 64 \u2014 1Q2016<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mario Kart\u2019s grow\u00ading pains<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mario Kart has always been an inter\u00adest\u00ading expe\u00adri\u00adence. Com\u00adbin\u00ading go-kart\u00ading and Mario <\/span>has and is a recipe for suc\u00adcess for Nin\u00adten\u00addo, quite hon\u00adest\u00adly. And, by the time Nin\u00adten\u00addo got around to mak\u00ading the sequel to the smash hit Super Mario Kart, they knew they had a sure\u00adfire mas\u00adsive hit on their hands. <\/span>
\nMario Kart 64 takes every\u00adthing you loved about the first game and immea\u00adsur\u00adably increas\u00ades it. The Mario char\u00adac\u00adters, the tracks, the secrets; every\u00adthing about Mario Kart 64 is bet\u00adter than the orig\u00adi\u00adnal in every respect. Dri\u00adving has improved with bet\u00adter steer\u00ading qual\u00adi\u00adties for all char\u00adac\u00adters includ\u00ading the bonafied intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of pow\u00ader\u00ads\u00adlid\u00ading. Mas\u00adter\u00ading pow\u00ader\u00ads\u00adlid\u00ading means a world of dif\u00adfer\u00adence in race times, espe\u00adcial\u00adly when you have brag\u00adging rights at stake. Old mechan\u00adics, such as the weight class con\u00adcept, are still present but it seems every\u00adone has a bet\u00adter rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion with respect to how a class real\u00adly con\u00adtrols. The light\u00adweights feel like, well, light\u00adweights. The heavy\u00adweights actu\u00adal\u00adly feel like they\u2019re heavy to handle.<\/span>
\nWhile I\u2019m an admit\u00adted long-term Mario Kart afi\u00adciona\u00addo, I have to admit that if you\u2019re going to get into Mario Kart, this is the title to do so with. It\u2019s not hard to pick up MK64<\/span> and grasp the mechan\u00adics. It\u2019s also easy to play with friends who under\u00adstand the nuances of Mario Kart so that you\u2019re not left behind for very long. And it\u2019s the play\u00ading with oth\u00aders that makes this one of the best par\u00adty games ever cre\u00adat\u00aded. MK64<\/span> has Bat\u00adtle Mode as its ace in the hole and it makes it one of the first quin\u00adtes\u00adsen\u00adtial par\u00adty games, along\u00adside Gold\u00aden\u00adeye, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Party.<\/span>
\nWith all that it has going for it, how\u00adev\u00ader, there a few minor draw\u00adbacks. First, if rub\u00adber band AI<\/span> both\u00aders you, this is not the game for you. MK64<\/span>\u2019s AI<\/span> is one of the worst offend\u00aders of the rub\u00adber band\u00ading prac\u00adtice and it gets worse as you go through the sin\u00adgle play\u00ader race cam\u00adpaign. Com\u00adbine that with the pun\u00adish\u00ading dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adty of 100cc and 150cc races and you have a frus\u00adtrat\u00ading, con\u00adtroller-throw\u00ading mess. Sec\u00adond, this is the sec\u00adond game after Mario 64 where Mario char\u00adac\u00adters are vocal\u00adized. I promise you will get tired of hear\u00ading char\u00adac\u00adters say their favorite phrase long before you fin\u00adish any of the modes. It gets old quick\u00adly and makes one wish they could turn the sound off, except that you\u2019ll real\u00adize quick\u00adly that the sound\u00adtrack is actu\u00adal\u00adly great. This, how\u00adev\u00ader, is the game that turned me against Mario char\u00adac\u00adters talking.<\/span>
\nMario Kart 64 is polar\u00adiz\u00ading to some play\u00aders: Some think it\u2019s one of the great\u00adest kart rac\u00ading games ever made while oth\u00aders hate it. I tend to be in the mid\u00addle; it\u2019s a great entry in the kart rac\u00ading genre, but there are some fair\u00adly major quirks with how it plays to throw a wrench into things. I like to think that the fun and the qual\u00adi\u00adty asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with Mario Kart boosts it out of the mid\u00addle of the pack.<\/span><\/p>\n