Mario Kart: Double Dash (GCN)
Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo
Since the SNES days, Mario Kart has taken the world of racing through the Mushroom Kingdom. Little has changed over the years, and the basic game is still the game. You simply select your characters and race. The courses are all beautifully designed with many details. The items are the same items from the previous games, and the controls are basically the same. Despite being similar to the SNES and N64 versions, Mario Kart: Double Dash for the GameCube is still quite fun to play.
Gameplay: 9
As always, the game is broken down into 3 cups, being the Mushroom Cup, Flower Cup, and the Star Cup. You've got a choice of 50cc, 100cc, or 150cc, with each level being faster and more difficult. The game layout hasn't really changed much.
One minor difference that I've noticed though, is having a partner. Now, you're traveling in pairs, and your buddy can switch off as the driver. One person drives, as the other handles throwing stuff at the opponents. This is especially fun in multiplayer mode, as two people can control the same cart. I like games that use teamwork. For some reason, it just seems like it's a little more fun to share the enjoyment of throwing banana peels on the track with someone else. I know that when I'm driving my real car, it always spins out when I hit a banana peel. <grin>
Double Dash plays very similar to the previous games. You're racing to the goal, and of course there are item boxes everywhere to help you out. When you find a box, it can contain a number of items including: red or green shells, a lightning bolt, banana peels, and a few others. It's not a huge variety, but there's enough to get you by.
Of course, the game supports four player multiplayer, via split screen. For some unknown reason, however, they've totally overlooked allowing online play. This game screams for online play, and it would have been a perfect title for Nintendo to get their feet wet in the online market.
Playing through the game will allow you to unlock additional cars, all of which have different speed & weight attributes. I don't remember this being a feature in previous games, so I rather enjoyed experimenting with the different teams/cars.
Graphics: 8.5
The graphics were solid throughout Mario Kart: Double Dash. Nothing looked blocky, and I thought that all of the levels were beautifully detailed. It's just too bad that you're zooming by too fast to see any of the little things that you're passing.
Sound & Music: 8
The music was nice and upbeat, and got faster as you got closer to the finish line. This was a nice touch. The sound effects were also good, as you were able to tell when you've caused damage by the hollers of the other players.
Story: N/A
There's not much of a story here. It's all about the racing, man!
Replay Value: 6
Double Dash has good replay value if you've got other people to play with. Once you've beaten all the cups in the different classes, you've already unlocked everything and there's not much left. Playing multiplayer is always fun, but beating the computer gets old after awhile.
To buy or to rent?If you've got multiple gamers in the house, then Double Dash is something that you would definitely want to own. If not, then you could still rent it and enjoy it every few months.
Overall: 8
Overall, the game was very similar to it's previous releases, but still loads of fun to play. I had fun playing it for several hours, and I'm certain that it won't be the last time I play. I'd recommend it to any one looking for a racing game that's not serious like Gran Turismo or Need for Speed. Sometimes it's just nice to have a little fun!
Additional Information:
Genre: Driving/Racing
Players: 1-4
Memory Required: 3 Blocks
Rating: E (for Everyone)
Extras: Dolby Pro Logic II
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