OK here we go... this will take a looooooooong time
(you have been warned).
So you know I have Mario Kart DS as evidenced by my posts when I got it. I was quite chuffed when I managed to unlock the new title and ending screens:
It will be no surprise to learn that I LOVE this game. It's just very addictive and I think, one of the "must haves" for the DS.
Yet I
do have complaints. My biggest complaint is the cheating AI. By cheating, I am of course referring to snaking (gaining a power boost after a slide) and Blue Shells.
Example....a very close race between me and 2 other CPU's:
I'm in the lead.......along comes a blue shell
I therefore lose the lead........no blue shell appears for the new leader
I gain the lead again.......within 1 corner another blue shell just for me
I therefore lose the lead........no blue shell appears for the leader
I gain the lead yet again.......lo and behold, another blue shell just for me
I lose the lead and have to regain it again....this time no more blue shells till end of race
....something that's happened quite a few times where I get the lead.
In fact, the record in one race for me alone has been 5 shells.
I'm not much of a snaker myself (in fact, I still can't do it
).....my problem is that it feels so "wrong". I simply have to race clean smooth racing lines...minimum tyre spin, maximum grip and judging entrances/apexes/exits from corner to a tee.
Despite my complete inability to snake, here is my current standings for each of the cups (I don't think I can improve on any of these):
So yes, I hate blue shells.....but there is an EVEN BIGGER problem with the whole Mario Kart franchise imo (and seeing as Mario Kart Wii is just around the corner, I would hope it's been fixed). Yes, the biggest problem with these is the textbook Rubber Band A.I.
Rubber Banding
It all kicked off big time with the advent of MK64. It had a crap method of making the game "challenging" by gifting the A.I. opponents with supersonic (?) speeds in order to allow them to catch up.
This was highlighted due to a well-known glitch on the track Wario Stadium. You see, if the player hit the track wall at the right place, jumping just as they collided, it was possible (with practise) to leap over the wall and get sub-8s laps. This made the AI go a little bit "mental". It artificially sped-up the closest points rivals to utterly unreachable speeds, trying in vain to catch you and make the race a challenge. Any person looking at the map could see this.
Now.. on paper this sounds like a good idea. It should make the game more challenging .....make even hardcore gamers come back for more......right?
...wrong!
The problem is, that it is assumed that all gamers want is a never ending challenge. After all, in any footie match you see, the one that goes to the line and is won in extra time is usually an exciting one isn't it?
The problem is, that when translated to games, it is as silly in reality as creating one with a never ending storyline.
The idea was simply that the gamer would ALWAYS relish the challenge, but the problem remained that we don't really relish the long winding road if we NEVER get to see a reward at the end.
Once we had successfully travelled the learning curve and spent sufficient time on the game (and hopefully a well balanced game treads the correct path between long enough campaign to getting very very bored) then we wanted to KICK THE CRAP OUT OF THE GAME and win by a country mile.......to truly OWN it. THIS was the reward we were all promised when setting out on that long journey beginning with the game tutorial after we first opened the packaging.
After all, we had played for hours, learned every position of every power-up, every coin and every "perfect" racing line. We'd even gone to the trouble of checking the "walkthroughs" to ensure we hadn't missed anything out.
Now the sh1tting A.I. comes along, and BLATANTLY cheats their way to the finish line. Some reward that is --- Great one there
.
...and of course, it works both ways. Not only does Rubber Banding ensure that people behind you speed up when you get ahead, but it also ensures that when you fall behind they slow down!
What kind of a challenge is that? What did they think I would feel when (after the 7th Blue Shell, falling off the course, and ending up 8th) I would easily saunter over to challenge for the lead again without so much as a "Thank you"?
For the devs information, NO it does not give a sense of "satisfaction" in a game when I feel I gained 7 places so easily......in fact, it feels almost as though I've somehow cheated.
Yet such is the function of Rubber Band A.I. ......opponents speed up when behind you (thus making it difficult to create a decent lead) and slow down when in front of you (thus making it too easy). Hence the term - it's as though you're connected to each other via a rubber band.....the larger the gap, the harder the game tries to close that gap by "cheating" (for want of a better word).
Wikipaedia even has a page dedicated to this poor programming "art".
So my question (to quote elsewhere) really boils down to this:
- Do you want to be challenged all the time? Do you want to fight tooth and nail for every single victory..................................forever?
- Or, once you have learned, sweated, cursed and blagged your way to the top, do you want to beat the 7 bells out of the AI, cruising to victory, rocketing over the line, and flicking Vs at the opposition?
Now despite a lot of poor reviews, I seem to remember
Wipeout Fusion for the PS2 being brilliant in this respect. No, the SAME 2 closest rivals were NOT always 2nd and 3rd, no the super missiles that seek you out were not plentiful when you were winning yet spar5e when you were not, and most importantly, NO it didn't have massive and obvious Rubber Band A.I.
I remember completing and unlocking all ships and tracks and continuing to play to always try to get the longest lead......in fact, I had a sense of "achievement" in having completed the game without either overwhelming help or hindrance from the computer. Overall I felt that it was a great game (I mention Wipeout as I feel the similarities (racing with weapons) means it's closer to MK than to F-Zero in many respects).
Let's just hope that Mario Kart Wii learns more from Wipeout than it does from Mario Kart DS, and these shortcomings are remedied before release.