Mario Kart: Double Dash Review by Jono2004
Gamecube Reviews
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Mario Kart: Double Dash Review

Intro - Mario Kart: Double Dash(MKDD) has been a highly anticipated game since its announcement. Finally it is here to please us Nintendo fans. It is a nice advancement onto the Mario Kart series adding a lot of new gameplay styles. Okay now lets disect this game and see what's good and what's not.

Gameplay - MKDD offers a cool new gameplay style that has never been seen before in any other racing game. Two characters can drive on one kart. The 2nd racer can either be a second human player for co-op or just left in your control. The 2nd player is not controlled by the computer and this is good because I dont think it would be as good if a computer player was always using the weapons.

The game offers a pretty nice variety of play modes. There is the Grand Prix, which has 3 classes and 3 cups at the start. There is also time trial to practice the tracks out and aim for high times. Then there is multi player... and it is legendary! You can play grand prix mode with 4 players which is really cool and you can have different arrangements on the groupings for teams too(Ex. P1 can be with P2 and P3 with P4 or you can separate.)

Besides multi player grand prix there is also a battle mode with 3 types and 4 stages. The 3 types are balloon battle (from MK64), shine thief, and bobomb battle. All are quite fun. LAN is available to to make multi player many times better. The game also has a lot of unlockables including new vehicles, cups, battle stages, etc.
 

Mario and Luigi fighting Bowser and Bowser Jr


Graphics - The graphics in MKDD are very cute and colorful. Obviously much better than MK64 was, but not top quality for gamecube. A lot of textures are very basic, but character models are nice.

Sound - The music in MKDD is a mixed bag, some songs are catchy, and some will simply get on your nerves..(wait til you play baby park). The music is in MIDI format too which is a little disappointing but it really does not hurt the game much. Sound effects in MKDD are decent too.

Controls - Controls are relatively easy to get used to on single player because it feels pretty similar to MK64. It may take a little bit of time to master the mini-turbo though. When you have two human players controlling in one kart it will get more difficult in controlling because you have to communicate with each other well when switching and executing mini-turbos.

Lasting Appeal - The single player mode will not last very long depending on the skill level of the player. Multi player is the meat in this game, it has hours upon hours of play time in it. If you're a game perfectionist you will probably have fun playing time trial modes too. Overall the lasting appeal on this game is very good as long as you will be playing multi player.

Gameplay - 10 The Bullet Blaster kart
Graphics - 8
Sound - 8
Controls - 9
Appeal - 10(if playing multi player) 6(if no multi player)
Overall - 9 with multi player 7.5 without multi player.

Overall Get this game if you will be playing the multi player. If you wont be playing multi player often or at all then rent it first.

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