By Kokonut Kong

Story: Well, it's Mario Kart. There is no story. It would be nice if there was at least some sort of intro with Peach inviting Mario, Yoshi, Luigi and the rest of the gang to a kart race, (Bowser, Bowser Jr. and the Wario Bros. would come along to cause chaos on their rivals.),but sadly, no. It's not a terrible problem. Most racing games don't have stories anyway. Gameplay: The gameplay in this game is just AWESOME. For single player, you can race in Grand Prix on one of 16 wonderful courses. When you win a Grand Prix Course, you'll unlock a new feature. These new features include new karts, characters, and battle mode stages which give a big motavation to keep on playing the game. The courses have interactive elements such as the barrel blaster on DK mountain and the fire breathing statue in Bowser's Castle. This makes it difficult to know what's coming. The controls are easy to learn (Good), but difficult to master (Bad). Also, there are "?" blocks on the road as you race. If you run into one, you'll get an item. You can use these to boost your speed, or to make your opponents crash and spin out. By now you've noticed that two characters ride the kart. This isn't pointless, as you can switch characters with Z. What's the point of switching characters? Each character can hold only one item. To increase your weapon selection, you'll have to switch characters a LOT. Also, each character has their own special item that only they and their partner can get. These items are very helpful/powerful and will give you the advantage in any race. Also, unlike the previous Mario Kart games, you can choose your own kart. Every character in the game owns one, so there are 21 karts (Only 8 can be selected at the start). Every kart has different stats, so pick your kart carefully. All the additions in this paragraph make choosing your kart and character much more strategic that choosing which characters "look cool" and generally make the game better. If you thought the Single Player was good, check out the Multi Player! It's loads of fun to race against your friends, and the old classic battle mode is here. There are three modes in battle mode. First up is the classic Balloon Battle from past Mario Kart games. In this mode, everyone starts with three balloons. Whenever somebody is hit with an item, they lose a balloon. The last player with a balloon left wins. Next would come Shine Theif. In this game a clock is always ticking down to zero, and whoever has the shine at the end wins. The key to this mode is to steal the shine from the other players with your items. Last would come Bob-omb Blast. This mode is for players who say "You only beat me because you got 10 stars!". Why? The only item you'll get is Bob-ombs which act very much like Wario's Bob-omb special. When you hit another player with a Bob-omb, you get a star and the opponent loses one. If you get 3 stars before anyone else does, (or 4 if you're playing with 3+ players) you win. Battle mode is great, but there's a problem. Only 2 of the 6 battle mode courses (2 of them which are secret) are any fun. One is Block City and the other is secret (No spoilers here). This really is a disappointment, but the rest of the game makes up for it. Replay Value: This game will last a long time. It won't take too long of a time to unlock everything, around 10-16 hours. However, this game NEVER gets boring! If you've got friends, prepare for a really good time on this game. Once you've unlocked everything and you think you're an expert, why not take the final challenge? In Time Trial, if you get a REALLY good time, a ghost kart will challenge you. These ghosts are programmed to race just like the Mario Kart staff, so good luck beating any of them. Graphics: The graphics aren't as good as some other Gamecube titles, but they're still very good. One of the main characters that could of been done better is Bowser, I think. He looked a LOT better on Super Mario Sunshine, but he looks good enough. The courses and karts look slightly better than the characters, which makes this game worthy of somebody saying "Hey, dude. This new game you got has great graphics.". Sound: The voices were very well done in this game. I just LOVE Bowser Jr.'s laugh when you pick him. Wario's losing phrases are hilarous. The noises for the kart are well done, and the classic happy-go-lucky music that's in nearly every Mario game is here. Summary: Story: 0/10 Well, there is no story. It doesn't hurt the game much, but a short intro would have been nice. Gameplay: 9.5/10 Wonderful single player, even better multiplayer. The only thing that kept the gameplay from getting a 10 was that there are only 2 good battle mode courses. Replay Value: 9.3/10 It won't take too long of a time to unlock everything, but this game is still very entertaining after you beat it. Graphics: 8.7/10 The Graphics are great, but I'm comparing them to other Gamecube games. Bowser and a few of the others looked better in Super Mario Sunhine but they look good enough in this game, too. Sound: 10/10 This game has better voice acting that nearly any other Mario game! The old happy-go-lucky music from most Mario games is here, too. Overall: 9.4/10 This game isn't quite as magical as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga or Super Mario Sunshine the first time around, but after it's beat, Double Dash doesn't lose it's glow. Of course, it still is great the first time around, just not as good as a few other games. This game has pretty good graphics and EXCELLENT sound. What are you still reading this for? Go to your nearest video game store and buy this game NOW!