Mario Kart: Double Dash Review by Happybuddah311
Gamecube Reviews
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Mario Kart: Double Dash Review

When I first came home with this game, my little brother came into the room asking what I had got. Remembering the great fun I had OWNING him at the Nintendo 64 Mario Kart. I told him and asked if he wanted to play. As expected I schooled him, even when I had left the room and was playing without looking thanks to my Wavebird. This game is one of those games that's great fun alone, but a lot more fun among friends (especially if you're better then them).

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Yes it is spelled with the two exclamation points) is another version of a great series that continues to be known as one of the best ''Party Games'' with every new version it turns out. The game doesn't stray much from it's 3 predecessors, but the changes are quite interesting. However even great games like this aren't without their flaws, the lack of levels is some what frustrating when you start to get bored with the game. All in all, this is definitely worth getting.

Something about playing games with real humans just makes games more fun, this game is no exception to that rule. This may be the first game where I'll actually use a LAN/System Link to play with the max amount of players possible (8). The best party of this game is obviously the multiplayer, where you can play the Grand Prix mode and unlock things, or you can play the battle mode (my favorite multiplayer) which has some new modes inside of it. There is also just the plain head to head racing that you'd expect in a racer. Though in my opinion it's more fun to throw shells at your friends.

As I've said before, this game doesn't really stray from the formula that has produced 3 of the best kart racers in existence. Get in the kart, race, and beat down your opponents with weapons you pick up along the way. There is some new twists however, for example you have two characters in each kart now, one driving, and the other throwing stuff. You can switch whenever, but it doesn't effect the game at all like the drivers did in the last one. The only thing the two characters does, is it allows them to get their ''Special'' weapon that only they can get (appears at random) and you can now hold two weapons. Now these special weapons aren't anything to write home about, The Mario Brothers have fire balls of corresponding colors, Yoshi and Birdo have eggs that hone on and hit people and throw some obstacles on the track, nothing too important. However, there is some new weapons, and some of your favorites have been replaced, and you can no longer ''Hold'' weapons outside of your kart to protect you, making ''blocking'' much harder. New weapons include the Character Special weapons, the Big Banana (which may be a special weapon) and the ''Leader Bomb'' (finds the leader and blasts him). The other new thing is that because the characters no longer influence the driving, the karts do. Each character has a kart (some need to be unlocked) and they all have different stats that you can see, this adds some more strategy too the game even though the differences in stats doesn't have much affect at all.

Well, there has to be some flaws in every game, and if you don't see them, then you're a fan boy! This game is no different. There is less levels then the last installment only 12 instead of the 16 of the N64 version. However you may need to unlock some levels (I don't know, I've mostly been bashing on my friends in the battle mode or doing time trial modes to see if that unlocks anything). Alas even my favorite mode (battle) has only 4 levels to screw up your homies on. BLARGH! There is also the removal of my favorite weapon (the three honing shells), I could get that and move up three spots if I timed the shots right. Alas, these little details aren't that noticeable in such a great game, but it starts to hurt the game as you've been playing longer and longer.

All in all this is a pretty great game, nothing too innovative, but it doesn't feel old and stale. The changes they have made are great, I really like the custom cars for each character, and the special weapons are pretty F'ing cool. The greatest thing about this game is probably the simplicity of the controls, allowing even your parents to pick up the controls in a few races (that doesn't mean they'll be doing good =P), which allows your friends to have no problem, making this a great multi-player party game. Oh, and one more thing, that damn shrinking lighting thing still sucks (Unless I get it BWHAHAH!).

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