"Mario Kart Wii" received "generally favorable" reviews according to Metacritic. Reviewers deemed the gameplay to be familiar and more safe and predictable than that of "". Tae K. Kim of "GamePro" admired the variety of the character roster, though Bryn Williams of "GameSpy" felt that some of the unlockable characters were bland. Although Shane Bettenhausen of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" and Ryan Davis of "Giant Bomb" acknowledged that some of the new tracks were inventive, they and Williams determined the track roster to be weaker and less creative than in previous entries. "Official Nintendo Magazine" commented that the Wii Wheel worked very effectively and loved the different multiplayer modes. Lark Anderson of "GameSpot" praised the game for being easy to jump into for players of any skill level and stated that motorcycles provide a great alternative to go-karts. The additions of motorcycles and an online multiplayer mode were welcomed. The unbalanced items and rubber band AI, which were said to result in chance-influenced gameplay, were a common point of criticism, as was the truncation of the battle mode from previous titles.