Mario Kart: 8 Hour Review

When I make my spaghetti sauce every few weeks, I like to change up something in the ingredients. Just one or two things and just enough to make it stand out. A new flavor. A new texture. Just for kicks.

Mario Kart has been made eight times now and with most of the same components. Each one has virtually all the same characters, the same controls, and with the introduction of the GameBoy Advance version, tracks from games past have added to each game to double the number of tracks available to play.

But each iteration has had just one or two things different to make them stand out. Holding two items (weapons), power-sliding, network play, different karts, a new weapon or two, two drivers per kart, and now, motion controls. Not all the changes stay in each version, but usually there is some mixing of ingredients from past games into the newest one.

Mario Kart: Wii hasn't been getting super high review scores for mostly that reason. But for me, I think the games change just enough to keep them fun and fresh. It's a tried and true formula that works well. And with the Wii having such a drought of hard-core games for non-casual gamers, Mario Kart is a taste of something fresh from what we've been playing for a long time.

Mario Kart: Midnight Launch

What a bust. Here's my Twitter for the evening (in reverse chron):

thrustinj: looking for Wii Mario Kart friends. Send me your friend codes! less than 5 seconds ago from web

thrustinj: on my way home. 38 minutes ago from txt

thrustinj: happy the employees finally got back to the store. I'm still the only one here. No one love Mario Kart? about 2 hours ago from txt

thrustinj: so bored. But I'm watching a father and son panic about why the store isn't open yet. about 2 hours ago from txt

thrustinj: still the only one here. At least in hiding in my car. about 2 hours ago from txt

thrustinj: feeling Mario Kart doesn't need a launch like this. And why didn't I bring my DS? about 2 hours ago from txt

thrustinj: watching two guys with a big box walk into Gamestop. Mii thinks it's Mario Kart for the midnight release. about 2 hours ago from txt

About 30 people ended up showing up during the last 15 minutes before midnight. The store guy had a few Mario Christmas ornaments to give out as prizes, but he couldn't think up 3 "Nintendo related" questions, so he randomly threw them out to the sparsely populated queue. Yeah, we're all going to jump around like a bunch of wedding idiots. Then he told us that he had a list of upcoming Wii releases and told us that he highly recommended the new Facebreaker boxing game. I know he's never played it. So why is he recommending it. Stupid.

When I finally got the game back home, I hooked up with a co-worker and we were pretty quickly online and playing. Then after one race, my Wii gave me an error message and said I needed to restart the console. We played a few more and it did it again. I'll have to check the web and see if others are getting this error. If it happens again, I'm taking it back for another disk.

Oh well. We'll give it the weekend to see how it goes.

What I'm Playing: Not the Wii

I'm not really sure what the deal is. Mario Galaxy is one of the most creative and fun Mario experiences ever. It's certainly the best title on the Wii right now (with Metroid Prime 3 on it's heels). But I'm not totally sure why I've been so nonchalant about playing it.

Getting Rock Band definetly put a hurt on the Wii. My underlying desires to be a drummer have put many hours into the game. I'd say I'm pretty efficient and sight reading is second nature now. I think I could play a real drum set playing some basic stuff and getting used to real drum set notation .

Puzzle Quest also still has Nicole and I deeply entrenched in it's RPG-Puzzle goodness. The idea behind the game is probably one of the best gaming mashups ever. A card game (Magic the Gathering), a puzzle game (Bejeweled), and an role playing game (Dragon Warrior). If you like even one of those games or genres, you'll like playing this along with the other two.

But there's Mario, sitting in the Wii in low-power mode. I don't know if it's the fact that it's in the back room. If it's because I'm jaded on Mario-collecting-star games, or what. Mario Galaxy definetly deserves some more love than I'm giving, but when your at the point of forcing yourself to play a game, does it then lose it's purpose and meaning of existence? A game you HAVE to play. A game you HAVE to enjoy?

And that's just it. I'm not enjoying it. It's levels are entertaining bits at a time, but the overall goal of the game, to earn enough stars for a chance to fight the final battle, has permeated through the many layers that make up a video game (graphics, sound, fun, controls, etc.) and I'm seeing the forest for the trees.

Metroid Prime 3 suffered the same fate. Since it's graphics and gameplay are merely rehashes of the past two games with a different story and humans, it feels like a repetitive chore. Like the third chapter in the longest game ever.

I'm starting to think that it's because they are games made by Nintendo, but I know that can't be true because while these to games are collecting dust in my game room, the newest Zelda was played probably every available day until it was completed. I don't think it was the fact that I bought the GameCube version over the Wii version either. The new Zelda game had such a great new aroma too it. It was the new hearty chicken soup that made you forget about Cambell's version. The same thing, for sure, but energized and given mood and feeling and more character. Spice.

Mario and Metroid have somespice. Maybe it's just the wrong kind for me. Or not enough of what I do like.

Halo 3 Stats

Bungie finally loosed some stats from their all powerful game servers. It's been almost two months (right?).

• Campaign Complete: Normal: 43.28%
  
• Campaign Complete: Legendary: 15.14% done!
  
• Graduate: Graduated from basic training: 66.92% done!
  
• UNSC Spartan: Promoted to Sergeant: 52.07%
  
• The most found metagame skull? Black Eye skull with 34.26% done!
  
• The least found metagame skull? Tilt at 22.98% (Go find it, jerks! It’s one of the best skulls in the game!) done!
  
• At 6.21%, Steppin’ Razor is the hardest multiplayer Achievement to earn, with Two for One right behind it at 6.77% and Overkill nipping at its heels (6.75%)
  
• 8.68% of players have unlocked the Marathon Man Achievement done!
  
• 1000/1000 Gamerscore: 2.07%

Personally, I think shooting the guy off the roof as he jumps across the street to be the most fun skull. Tilt was just plain hard to do, jumping on all those small ledges.

I haven't played Halo 3 since Otis got Crackdown and Mario Galaxy came out of the Wii. I'm 4 orbs away from getting all 500 in Crackdown, and Mario is turning out to be quite a fun platformer.

Tomorrow Mass Effect hits the shelves. Halo 3 has less of a chance of getting back in my 360 every day.

But seeing that I'm 50 points away from getting all 1000 Gamerscore is pretty tempting to make me want to go back and play online. I could be one of those 2.07 percent!

2 Hour Review: Super Mario Galaxy

In short? Meh.

Since Mario went 3-D, Super Mario games have followed a pattern: collect stars (7 in each level) to gain access to new areas, all while keeping levels entertaining and fun. Defeat three-hits-to-win bosses. Save the princess.

Mario 64 was the first game. It was such a change from 2-D Super Mario World. It revolutionized platform gaming.

The second 3-D Mario game, Sunshine, added a water pack to shoot things with and shoot yourself off the ground. It was an interesting change that fans didn't like. It didn't change the game much, but at least it was a change. I liked it. I just didn't like the return to collecting 7 stars in each level. There wasn't anything new. But two games of the same title on the same console usually are pretty similar.

So when Galaxy came out, I was expecting something different. What I knew: tiny planets to run around 360 degrees on, collecting tiny "star bits" to shoot at enemies by pointing at the screen with the Wii-mote. So far, this sounds really cool. The only thing I didn't know was how the game was supposed to progress.

Suprise! Collect stars to gain access to knew areas. The thing I was getting tired of.

In all fairness, I'm only 8 stars into the 100 possible stars game (though you apparently don't need them all, like other games). I'm going to play the whole game through because, well, it's a Mario game. Their fun. They are good challenges for hand/eye coordination. The levels are usually very creative, inventive, and beautiful. Their classic without even trying.

So far, the 360-degree levels are a lot to deal with. Hopefully, as I get used to it, the game will keep throwing me new things to do and ways to do them. I guess only time will tell.