Mario Kart Wii - A Belated Review

If the call of Grand Theft Auto IV wasn't enough to keep you students out there from missing your homework assignments and failing your exams, I’m sure the near simultaneous release of Mario Kart Wii was. With its release, we saw the return of another great first-party Nintendo franchise on the Wii, as well as a new peripheral the Wii Wheel.

Now for the review:

Mario Kart is without a doubt the most well-known Mario spin-off franchise around, ranking with, if not beyond Mario Party. Needless to say, its release is a fairly significant one for the Wii as a console. This is a title that could potentially work towards selling Nintendo more systems (if you can find one) or if nothing else, more Wii Wheels.

Graphically, Mario Kart Wii is solid. I was running the game in 480p and I never had any complaints. That said, Mario Kart is not a game that needs to rely heavily on graphics and new or experimental control schemes. It is for that very reason that I find myself time and time again racing with my friends on our Nintendo 64. It is in the gameplay mechanics themselves that Mario Kart needs to shine. The graphics don't push the system by any means but are still nice and don't detract from the experience in any way.

The racing is fun. All three control schemes work very well depending on what you are used to and your skill level/familiarity with the franchise. I started with the Wii Wheel, but found myself graduating to the nunchuck configuration after just the first few cups. The Wheel was clearly designed with children in mind, not to say that you couldn’t blow all your friends out of the water when using it. It just feels looser or almost sloppier than what can be easily achieved with the analog stick of the nunchuck. There are 16 new tracks with some being near remakes rather than entirely new tracks (I’m looking at you, Rainbow Road), as well as 16 retro tracks from all of the franchise’s previous titles. All of the tracks are solid as well, although the new tracks seem the most full-fledged of the bunch, but I was happy to see some of my favorite DS tracks making their way onto the Wii.

Online play was an absolute necessity for this title and Nintendo delivered on that. The Wi-Fi supports 12 player races and battles, as well as full ghost-tracking and time trial statistics. The game plays fluidly with little to no visible lag despite racing other players at an international level. Out of everything this title is offering the inclusion of internet play is perhaps the most tantalizing of the bunch, although truthfully it is little more than the DS title has to offer as well.

At its core though, the game is the same. Much in the vein of the Mario Party franchise, Mario Kart Wii feels like a different Mario Kart, but not a new one. The old is simply replaced with the new, but nothing is learned from the previous titles nor does the game feel like an evolution of its predecessors.

After shooting countless shells (both red and green), bananas, and bobombs over several cups, it quickly became apparent to me that Mario Kart Wii is Mario Kart 64, nothing more and nothing less really. The inclusion of bikes and 16 new tracks with the 16 retro tracks were both nice touches, but added very little to the gameplay. For the diehard Mario Kart fan or the family that wishes to enjoy simple racing aided by the Wii Wheel peripheral, this title is undeniably a must-buy title for the Wii, but for many, this purchase may warrant a slight sting of regret. Mario Kart Wii is a solid title, but all the same things can be found in Mario Kart 64 that will only cost you 10 dollars on Virtual Console or better yet, will cost you absolutely nothing and give you a reason to finally go dig up that old 64 again and get together with your friends for some split-screen action.

7 Bananas Dodged out of 10

Team Fortress 2 - Goldrush Update and Future Predictions

On Tuesday evening (the 29th), Valve released the Goldrush update for Team Fortress 2. This update added a new map (shown above), new game mode, 36 new medic achievements, as well as three new unlockable medic weapons. The new weapons include: The Kritzkrieg (a medigun that gives the target player 100% criticals instead of the momentary invulnerability), the Blutsaugher (a syringe gun that can't hit criticals but saps health from the enemy and heals the medic), and the Ubersaw (a bone saw that is slower to swing but recharges the medic's uber meter). By accomplishing 12, 24, and then all 36 of the achievements, a new weapon is awarded. This update was free of charge, something quite refreshing in today's world of microtransactions and downloadable content. There were many initial problems with the update. It caused some windows-based servers to crash entirely, as well as locked up some computers while connecting to a game requiring a re-install. These were fairly easy to correct though and the game was quickly up and running within just a few hours. There was one thing though that wasn't so easy to clean up:


VALVe's Medic Massacre:

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning (the 30th), it was discovered by an unknown individual that it was possible to unlock all 36 achievements and all 3 weapons with one simple console command: achievement_unlock_all Within the hour of discovering this myself, it was posted here. This exploit traveled from server to server like wildfire with many individuals even changing their in-game names to the console command for ease of explanation to other players.

For as many layers "legitimately" accomplished the achievements, there were countless more that farmed then in private servers with their clan, farmed then on public servers to their team's outcry (Heavies get frustrated when a medic pass them by and uber a scout), or used any combination of other console commands to receive the weapons. It was an epidemic.

Within 24 hours VALVe issued an update, removing the console commands and attempting to reset the achievements of players who took advantage of the exploit. According to the forums, some people had their medic achievements wiped clean after using the command, other retained their weapons alone, some retained everything they had received from the command, while others, myself included, actually gained achievements that they had never recieved previously. Needless to say, it was a mess and VALVe's attempt to correct the problem has utterly failed.

Some players felt that those who used the exploits were cheaters and deserved to have all of the achievements and weapons revoked, while many casual and non-clan players felt that the achievements are something that only hardcore players with a large number of friends in a clan. One specific achievement requires the player to join 10 of their steam friends in battle and deploy an uber on them, something that would be very difficult or impossible for many players to do without simply adding random acquaintance to your friends list.

This entire situation has become a very controversial topic amongst the TF2 community. The most hardcore of players feel that as "better" medics it is only fair for them to receive the special weapons, while there are those people who think that, in order to be truly fair, everyone should have access to the same weapons. In addition, many people are also fearing an added RPG feel or leveling-up system similar to games like Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 4.


Personally, I am finding myself on both sides of the issue. I feel that one of the strongest aspects of Team Fortress 2 is its dynamic team and class mechanics that could be greatly added to by the additional of new, but not necessarily stronger/better weaponry. This would allow all players and teams an additional level of strategy and thought when they are caught in a sticky situation on the battlefield. I love achievements and I must say after hours and hours of Xbox 360 gaming that they do have a very satisfying appeal to them, but I do not think they should be used as a means of unlocking or accessing additional content, so I propose a happy medium:

• New weapons are open to all players immediately
• 36 achievements are added for all classes
• Completing different levels of the achievements would allow access to costume changes, accessories, taunts that would make those who are more experienced and more accomplished clearly stand-out amongst the crowd.

I feel that this system would work to add greater depth to the already splendid gameplay while also rewarding those players that are part of the hardcore and clan scene.

Tell us what you think and we'll do our best to respond or use your thoughts in future TF2 posts.

Team Fortress 2 Update - Get All Medic Achievements!

Here is a quick post for all you cheaters out there:



Type this into the console:

achievement_unlock_all

You will have all the achievements and the three new weapons!

Bada Bing! Bada Boom!

Maybe you only play occasionally and wanted to be able to be on the same level as other players (to be fair) or you simply never play as Medic and just wanted to see the weapons for a few rounds of fun. Either way, we won't judge you.

DISCLAIMER: RiKtS does not support cheating or hacking in any way. We only felt the need to display the option to our readers, as well as call out Valve on its critical miss that would have been posted all over the net eventually.

UPDATE:

If you want to keep the weapons unlocked, but would like the challenge of completing the achievements you can type:

achievement_reset_all

This will remove all of your achievements though so be ready to re-do them all. I am actually looking forward to re-unlocking all these achievements.

UPDATE:

VALVe has released a patch that removes the achievement console commands. This information will no longer work.

We will have a full article about this unfortunate incident and what it means for the future of TF2 coming Friday.

Coming Soon: Mario Kart Wii Review

Keep checking the site for our review of Mario Kart Wii coming very soon!





Here are some unboxing pictures to quench your thirst until we can all get enough play time in with the game itself to put up a worthwhile review.

While you're waiting, laugh away the time with this!

Stay Tuned!