MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Mario Kart - Blazing Wheels, by DJ Coco
Review Author	FibS
Created	Mar 23 2015, 5:15 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Mario Kart: Blazing Wheels is a classical Mario Kart game that is probably most similar to Super Mario Kart, and is only slightly inferior to it in terms of game physics and polish, which is a significant accomplishment for a fangame.

Pros

- Utilizes 3D scenes with 2D sprites similarly but superior to the classical Mode 7
- Has start boost, but only with extremely good timing

Cons

- Contains only the staple Mario Kart cast(?)
- Behaves oddly / glitches on some systems
- Missing MANY sound effects (may be related to above)
- Music varies wildly in quality between race tracks
- Overly simple driving physics / no inertia
- No collision detection between racers and each other / most sprite obstacles
- Course unlocks require coin hunting
- Can't hold items behind you (shells / bananas)

Impressions

Gameplay 7 / 10	Blazing Wheels is a classical Mario Kart game that is probably most similar to Super Mario Kart. It is a standard Mario Kart game with the following quirks: Coins are on the track and may be gathered, but they don't seem to affect your speed. There does not appear to be a Blue Shell (I may just have been very lucky.) Items I encountered include Red and Green shells including triples, bananas but not lines, Starman, and Lightning Bolts. Items cannot be held behind your character and triples do not orbit you. Characters do not have inertia - they turn direction immediately. Thus, players can't drift or slide around turns, and may take turns too sharply or otherwise suddenly veer off into things when turning. Characters do not have collision detection with one another, nor with most sprite obstacles - certain rocks bounce you, but crashing into piranha plants, Goombas, Shyguys etc. just spins you out like a banana It's possible to perform a starting boost, but very difficult to time, especially as Lakitu and your engine have no sound effects. In addition to earning 3rd place or higher on previous courses, the player must obtain 150 coins PER COURSE in order to unlock the next one. I don't like this requirement, and it has caused me to (for the time being) stop playing after the Flower Cup rather than grind coins over and over.
Graphics 7 / 10	The sprites themselves appear to be largely ripped from the GBA era of Mario Kart (can't be sure because I didn't play them.) They are adequate; their lack of detailed animation is entirely forgivable due to the limitations of the medium. The primary graphical flaw is that characters only respond to (non-Lightning) item attacks by spinning out, as with Super Mario Kart. Mario Kart games afterward also added characters getting bounced into the air, and it would have been okay in my eyes if this just spun their sprite around as they bounced up and down.
Sound 5 / 10	The game's largest shortcoming is in its sound. What sound is there is usually passable, but there is a massive and clearly noticeable lack of sound effects for things that ought to have them - most glaringly, Lakitu's starting light is silent, and there is no audio when hitting an opponent with an item. DJ Coco has stated that he was unable to find sufficient-quality Mario Kart sounds, but I say (almost) any sound is better than none; it would also be passable to use sounds from the well-documented Smash Bros rips (though they may be too crisp) or manufacture them with soundfonts. The music, which I believe to be all rips, varies in raw sound quality between levels, with some tracks being very high-quality and others sounding like *.midi files.
Replay 8 / 10	As a Mario Kart game, Blazing Wheels does not skimp on screwing the player out of first place at the end of a race, and also keeps track of how many coins the player has gathered from each track. There are the usual four tracks - Mushroom, Flower, Star, and Special - visible at the start of the game; if there are any more, I have yet to discover them.

Final Words

A competent effort with noticeable but tolerable flaws. Possibly as fun as the worst official Mario Kart games.

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Comments

	TheTwelfthRocket Mar 1 2016, 6:20 PM
So are you sure that two pros and eight cons can give this game a 8/10? Maybe you should do something about the pros and cons or maybe even the final score.

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