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Breakdown of Mario Kart 64's Game Elements:
Graphics:
4.8 out of 5: The graphics in Mario Kart 64 are
a pleasant surprise. The motion in the one-player mode is silky smooth.
The frame rate slows a tiny bit in the multi-player modes, but it's not
that bad. The textures and courses are varied, interesting, and make good
use of the N64's abilities. Even the character select screen is impressive,
with well animated pre-rendered mug shots of each playable character. In
multi-player matches, it can be slightly hard to distinguish some of the
course details, but this doesn't hinder gameplay much and it's still a
huge improvement over the original Mario Kart. The only major let-down
in the graphics is the sprite-based representation of each character during
a race. The characters look like funky little porcelain or vinyl dolls,
and they can be pretty blocky and blurry up close. The animation of these
sprite-based racers is disappointingly choppy when shown against the polygonal
courses that they're competing on. Fortunately, the less-than-great quality
of these characters does not in any significant way diminish the overall
impressive feel of the graphics in the game (other than to lower the game's
graphics rating from 5 to 4.8 ;-).
Music:
5 out of 5: OK, so a few of the tunes are your
typical hyper and annoying Mario fare, but overall I was very happy with
the music of Mario Kart 64. The quality of the music puts to rest the argument
that Red Book quality audio isn't possible on a cartridge. A substantial
amount of the synthesizerish sound of Mario 64 and Wave Race is wonderfully
absent from Mario Kart 64, and the clarity is definitely Red Book quality.
The track for Bowser's castle has wonderfully clear choir ahhs that set
the mood perfectly. Quite a few of the melodies are very catchy. Some of
them remind me of the early days of Nintendo gaming, when good melodies
endeared the music of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda to many
a gamer. In fact, I'm almost sure that I've heard the wonderful snow course
theme in a game somewhere, long ago. The desert course's theme has portions
that are vaguely reminiscent of one of the tracks from the original Metroid.
Too bad there isn't a sound test.
Sound FX:
5 out of 5: Wonderful voices really make the game
fun and different. They're so hoaky that they're fun. From Peach's compulsive
"thank you"s, to Wario's wonderfully sinister snicker, the voices
are sure to make you chuckle quite a bit while playing. The other sound
effects in the game are also of a high quality, and the go-carts have pretty
good engine effects.
Play Control:
6.5 out of 10: The control of Mario Kart 64 is
extremely loose and extremely hard on the life of a controller. The loose
steering is slightly compensated for by the ability to power slide through
tough turns, but it's still pretty loose, and you're still going to put
lots of wear on the control stick of your controller. Backing up after
hitting a wall is difficult, as is successfully launching a special item
toward your rear instead of toward your front. Hit detection on the sprite-based
characters can be a bit off sometimes.
There are quite a few faults to the control, but none of these faults
make the game hard to play. In other words, I was able to play just fine,
but the control didn't feel as good as it should and took its toll on my
controller. One more thing: after playing Mario Kart 64, I have found it
extremely difficult to adapt back to the more precise control of Wave Race.
This is a most frustrating side effect of Mario Kart 64's loose control!
Overall, the control in Mario Kart 64 isn't horrible, but it's not all
that good either.
Frustration Factor:
4 out of 10 (10 being the worst): This
score goes for the one player game only. There are a number of elements
to Mario Kart 64's gameplay that could easily make trying to win at it
frustrating. The good people at Nintendo must have realized this, because
they have turned most every instance of frustration into an opportunity
to advance in the game. For example, if you don't finish 4th or better
in a race (meaning you don't get to move on to the next race), there's
no need to be upset. You can replay that race (without having to go back
to the first track in the circuit) until you do finish 4th or better. If
you get socked by an enemy lightning bolt and drop back four places, you
may very well pick up an item just down the track that will help put you
back in the lead. Despite these positive features, the one-player mode
can get very repetitive, and once you've beaten it (four circuits of four
races each), you're left with little to do except improve on your time
in the time trials mode, or play through the game again -- which is kind
of dull.
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