Buy or Sell : Mario Kart Wii with the Wii Wheel

I've been playing Mario Kart ever since Super Nintendo. I happen to love cartoonish racing games (along with uber-realistic racing games). Even games on other systems, such as Crash Team Racing for Playstation back in the day, had my friends and I playing for hours. 

The latest version of Mario Kart is for the Nintendo Wii system. It's more advanced than any Mario Kart game to date, with better graphics and more in-depth gameplay, which I didn't even think was possible for a cartoon racer. 

If you're buying it new, most of the places where they sell Mario Kart for Wii sell it bundled with a Wii wheel. Despite the inclusion of the wheel I haven't noticed Mario Kart selling for a higher price than other Wii games. You will need a regular Wii Remote to dock inside the wheel, but I would hope you'd have one of those already if you own a Wii. If you buy extra wheels just remember that you will need extra Remotes to put in those wheels. 

Gameplay: Mario Kart allows you to play as a variety of popular Mario characters, including Mario and Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong and of course Toad. You can even put yourself in the game. Yes, you can import your Mii character right into the game and you'll see him/her in your little car. Pretty cool stuff. Mii characters that you do not put into the driver's seat will show up in the crowds cheering you on as you race. 

Multiplayer: Mario Kart is all about the multiplayer aspect of the game. You can play with up to 12 players over the built-in Nintendo wifi connection. This is just ridiculous and means if you've got friends with TVs and Wiis and copies of this game you'll be able to throw the ultimate Mario Kart party. If you're an adult you can put some money on it so it doesn't seem quite so strange. 

Graphics: The graphics in this game are good for Mario Kart, but for this current generation of video games they are nothing special. I feel like these graphics would have been possible on a Gamecube or any of the previous generation systems. They really aren't that much better than what we saw on Nintendo 64. This game franchise has never been about graphics, though, and you won't notice that the graphics are unimpressive when you're racing against a bunch of your friends. 

Overall review: 8.5 out of 10. The game might get boring if you're playing by myself, but if you've got extra controllers (note that the Wii wheel is not necessary) and this game, you've got a party.