Score
Gameplay:	6
Graphics:	9
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	6
PlasmaFactor:	6
Overall:	7.2

Mario Kart Double Dash Review
December 6, 2003 by Mike P

by MikeP - December 6, 2003

Mario Kart Double Dash is the latest installment of the Mario Kart series, produced by Nintendo, and exclusive to Game-Cube. It has new features including having two people in a car, and new types of battle. So why does it feel like a rehash?

A new twist on a classic game.

Don't get me wrong; I love Mario Kart games. Before sitting down to write this, I played a little bit of each of the three, just to make sure that I'm not crazy in thinking this. Mario Kart DD, while it�s a fantastic racing game, didn't excel much over Mario Kart 64, which was released for Nintendo 64.

Mario Kart Double Dash creates a new style of playing. Unlike the other Mario Kart games, in this one you have two characters per kart. The one in the front is the driver, and the one in the back throws the weapons or items that you pick up while driving. You can also switch the characters around, because different players have special weapons (which we'll discuss later). There's also a new style of play, because of this, and you can play with two players using the same cart. One player is the driver and the other uses the items. They can also pass items between each other. Because there are two characters, you can hold two items at once.

Now, you may be wondering "Two characters? What are the selections?"� Because of the variety in characters, another feature has been implemented. The characters have different weights, based off of their size: Light, Medium, and Heavy. Baby Mario, for example, falls under light, while Bowser is heavy.

The different characters have what are called �Special� items. It�s when you have an item pick-up that�s exclusive to your character. For example, the Mario Brothers can pick up fireballs, and throw them. Bowser can throw a giant, spiked, spinning shell. The koopa character can hold three of either the green or red shells. Which, unfortunately, don�t spin around your kart anymore. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong can drop giant bananas, while other characters can only drop smaller ones. The Character specific power-ups are cool, but are poorly implemented, and you get far too many in a race, which results in the even the last few seconds of the race being crucial. There�s nothing more annoying then being on the last race, in 150cc, and being barely in the lead, or even not in the lead, at the end of the race, and having lightning or a blue shell knock you all the way back. And the AI does this, quite frequently, in fact. They aren�t intelligent, or fun AI, mind you. If you play the grand prix tournament mode, and you don�t do anything drastic, the other opponents almost always finish in the same order. If Wario wins the first race, he�s likely to win the second, and the third. It�s rather predictable.

You can pair up based on the different sizes. light with light, light with medium, light with heavy, medium with heavy, and heavy with heavy. If you have two light characters, you get to use a light car. If you have a light and a medium, you use a medium car. A heavy character gets a heavy car. In grand prix and versus modes, the different cars affect your speed, acceleration, handling, and how well you do driving off-road.

In relation to this, power sliding is a little different. It feels rather iffy and unsure, which requires you to plan your turns ahead of time, and isn't nearly as cool as in Mario Kart 64. On top of that, they got rid of the ability to hop.

Even after completing the game, you're not done.

You can also unlock more cars by completing grand prix in different difficulties. Another fun thing is, you can use two players in grand prix. Whether you�re in two cars, or in the same car is up to you. I'm a little angered that they still haven�t figured out how to do 3 or 4 player grand prix, myself, but to each his own.

The game sounds pretty fun, right? And it is. The graphics are remarkable, the music is repetitive, but not in an annoying game, and it�s an all around fun concept for a game. The problems come in with the levels, and the Battle playing mode.

One of the fun things about the Mario Kart games has always been the variety of levels that you can access. In Double Dash, it's a little different. Double Dash has the same number of cups, and the same number of levels per cup, so theres still 16 levels, which is pretty good, but a lot of the levels are repetitive, and similar to the old levels. You now have Luigi Circuit and Waluigi Raceway. Some levels still have shortcuts, though they aren�t always so helpful. Unless you have mushrooms or are good at going off-road, you may find that they slow you down more than help you. There are new levels, one of my favorites is Daisy Cruiser, in which you�re on a boat. But other than that, nothing new was really opened up. There�s a desert course, an ice course, a castle course, a beach course, and more, but they aren't new courses. The levels in battle aren't any better.

Nintendo needs a slap on the wrist.

The game sounds pretty fun, right? And it is.

The graphics are remarkable, the music is repetitive, but not in an annoying game, and it�s an all around fun concept for a game. The problems come in with the levels, and the Battle playing mode.

One of the fun things about the Mario Kart games has always been the variety of levels that you can access. In Double Dash, it's a little different. Double Dash has the same number of cups, and the same number of levels per cup, so theres still 16 levels, which is pretty good, but a lot of the levels are repetitive, and similar to the old levels. You now have Luigi Circuit and Waluigi Raceway. Some levels still have shortcuts, though they aren�t always so helpful. Unless you have mushrooms or are good at going off-road, you may find that they slow you down more than help you. There are new levels, one of my favorites is Daisy Cruiser, in which you�re on a boat. But other than that, nothing new was really opened up. There's a desert course, an ice course, a castle course, a beach course, and more, but they aren't new courses. The levels in battle aren't any better either.

Ready...Set....Go!

Battle is the one thing that doesn�t get old. Even after you complete grand prix, and do everything there is to do, you can still have fun in battle�right? Mario Kart Double Dash�s Battle Mode features three different types of play. There is the standard �balloon� one, from the other Mario Karts. In this mode, each player has three balloons circling them, and being hit by a weapon loses a balloon. The player to keep all his balloons and make his enemies lose theirs is the winner. In �shine� mode, there is a single shine placed in the level. Once a player picks it up, a timer starts counting down. Getting shot drops the shine. The winner is the player who has the shine when the timer runs out. It becomes a rather fun, mad scramble. The final mode is a �bomb� mode. In this, picking up items gives you bombs. The object is to bomb your enemy three continuous times before he bombs you. That means, if he bombs you while you�re working on the three, then he has 1 bomb point, and yours resets to 0. While it sounds fun, this match tends to be over relatively quickly.

Invite your friends over, or play on LAN

The levels in Battle mode are also an issue, as they�re no better than the ones for racing. They have the same basic structures as in Mario Kart 64, but they�ve varied too. The Donut level is still there, it hasn't changed at all, except for some texturing. There is also a level that is just simply, the top of a Game-Cube. It's the most pointless, simplistic, boring level imaginable. Another level is a two story one. The top floor is wire mesh and runs only partly over the ground. There are ramps to get up, and you can also travel by driving in and out of pipes, Mario style. The final level is the classic Block Fort. Block Fort was my favorite level in Mario Kart 64. It had multiple layers, each with its advantages and disadvantages. I expected this level to be great. And it wasn't. Not only are there no longer layers. There are no longer even buildings! Each of the four corners of the map has a square that you drive around. It definitely ruined the level. There are also two locked levels, Luigi�s Mansion and Tilt-A-Kart, which aren't anything special either.

 

Worth at least a 5 day rental.

Barring the complete and total failure of the Battle Mode, Mario Kart Double Dash is still a fun game. As with all Mario Kart games, it�s rated E, and fun for the whole family. If you're a Mario Kart fanatic like I am, you�re going to be both pleased and disappointed with this game. But it's your job as a Mario Kart fanatic to go and figure that out on your own. If you're looking for a fun little racing game to pass the time, I recommend you pick it up.