The track pack I'm sure most of us have known about for years, but very few have actually played. I was one of those people until around December of last year when I finally looked into playing these tracks for myself... and yeah it's about what you expect from them, which is both a good and bad thing.
First off, I'd say your opinion playing this will likely be influenced by what you think of base Mario Kart Wii to begin with. If you're a fan of the chaotic shenanigans the title offers then you'll probably be down for more tracks and options that add to the messiness, whilst I don't see those who aren't much a MKWii enjoyer getting a lot out of this. That by itself isn't a negative thing to be held against the mod though, as you'd definitely expect (and probably want) a Mario Kart Wii mod to play like... Mario Kart Wii, funnily enough. It's not like the abundance of Brawl mods that just make it into inferior Ultimate or Melee on Wii, so I appreciate very much the dedication to the game's original style.
Of course, you'll be playing this for the custom tracks. Imagine playing a mod pack with 200+ new tracks and still picking junk like Moo Moo Meadows, couldn't be me. Anyways, the custom tracks. Boy there sure are a fuckton of them, and that itself is another positive/negative splice for the mod; the positive of course being you've got a LOT of variety to pick from here. The negative being how much of that variety you'll actually like or even give half of a shit about, which itself depends upon a lot of factors. Are you here for fully original tracks? Would you prefer retro tracks recreated in Wii's style and engine? Do you play full anarchy and not give a shit about what comes from where? Well of the 200+ tracks, 56 are retro courses (bump it up to 58 if you count the CTR tracks, but I personally don't) which doesn't look like a lot and honestly did surprise me as playing the game it felt like there were so many more retro tracks that counting them all out to not even be a half of the total pack gave me a "wait what" moment. Whilst I'll admit I'm open to just about anything the game can throw at me, I have mainly been enticed by the original courses; retro tracks are cool to see but just about all of them have re-appeared in the official games at this point (not even counting Tour) so to see them come back is nice but not as interesting as seeing the abominations people make.
Actually, that is where much of the negative track designs lies. The fully original tracks, ironic given I'll admit to preferring these and wanting more of them. Whilst you get some really fun tracks like Dawn Township, Unfinished Mario Circuit, Dragonite's Island, Desktop Dash, and Sea Stadium... there are also tracks with "git gud"-esque designs (typically sudden sharp turns all over the place) such as Rush City Run, or whatever the fuck Undiscovered Offlimit is meant to be. Good gods, Undiscovered Offlimit may as well be the posterchild for how not to make a Mario Kart custom tracks with how it mashes every set piece together without a second thought and left us (though mainly me) saying "what the fuck is this" and "where the fuck am I" when we'd picked it for the first time not knowing what to expect of such a unique name. At this point it's a track we pick for the 'meme' of it, or the track I have a horrified scream at when the random selection picks it and leaves my friends laughing at my terror. ASDF_Course was similarly the very first custom track we picked, and was not a good introduction to the world of Mario Kart mods for my friends who were in the dark apart from me promising "guys this'll be worth it". Though in fairness, the retro tracks have been the most consistently high-quality part of the pack thus far regardless of none of us really liking the few SNES Mario Circuits they included among other retro offerings. But honestly, the bad/underwhelming tracks just stick with me more it appears, and on the whole the mixed bag of track quality is still... mainly positive, considering the quantity as well. It's just more fun to remember and riff on the bad ones, though that's not to say they aren't very much present.
Aside from the custom tracks, CTGP also offers some extra tid-bits in the form of 200cc and Item Rain options. You can also enable every item to be droppable when racers are toppled, which we've kept on since the beginning and haven't looked back. It feels like a natural addition to the game and honestly a lot of fun for something that seems so minor. But what about 200cc and Item Rain? Starting with the former, it's an incredibly mixed bag... so many of these tracks were not designed for 200cc gameplay and even as someone who loves the format in MK8DX it takes much more adjusting to here considering the unorthodox track designs and the fact there's 200+ of the damn things. We ended up quitting the mode after an occurrence on the aforementioned Unfinished Mario Circuit however, where one of us ended up clipped out of bounds and unable to get back in (not even Lakitu would help due to the location) because he went fast enough to get over an invisible boundary wall. If we grinded the hell out of 200cc it would probably be enjoyable, but we ended up sticking to 150cc after that happened. It was funny but also understandably annoying after we realized the only way out was waiting for the DNF. As for Item Rain, it's a funny little side-mode to turn on from time to time. Nothing too serious so it's good for adding to the fun mood if that's your cup of tea, though also not a mode we'd want to keep permanently on. Just something to mess with for a few rounds.
Wow I typed a fuckton of words (too bad I'm not reading them amirite), certainly more than I was expecting to for this thing. Honestly despite my harshness at points this is a really fun time... if you've got the people to play it with of course. Whilst a big benefit to this pack is the inclusion of Wiimmfi so you can play the game online again, including the custom tracks, I've found the most fun I've had to be playing it as a 'couch multiplayer' activity with local friends. It's none too serious, you can have a pizza and some soda/alcohol whilst you laugh together, it's a very chill vibe and brings back the enjoyment of playing Mario Kart as dumb little kiddy winks. Though... as stated near the start of this, your mileage will heavily balance on how much you enjoy Mario Kart Wii as it is. It's the most popular entry by far but it definitely has a fair share of detractors/un-enjoyers, and I severely doubt Undiscovered Offlimit will be changing their minds anytime soon. But to finally close this stupidly long post out: Overall, CTGP Revolution is fun with the right people despite its flaws in not having the best quality tracks at all corner, fun as it may be to have a laugh when these bad tracks do pop-up. I'll be playing this for ages to come, so if my thoughts change I'll make a follow-up. But for now, 3.5/5 feels right. It's a mess of the most beautiful kind and I love it for what it is.
First off, I'd say your opinion playing this will likely be influenced by what you think of base Mario Kart Wii to begin with. If you're a fan of the chaotic shenanigans the title offers then you'll probably be down for more tracks and options that add to the messiness, whilst I don't see those who aren't much a MKWii enjoyer getting a lot out of this. That by itself isn't a negative thing to be held against the mod though, as you'd definitely expect (and probably want) a Mario Kart Wii mod to play like... Mario Kart Wii, funnily enough. It's not like the abundance of Brawl mods that just make it into inferior Ultimate or Melee on Wii, so I appreciate very much the dedication to the game's original style.
Of course, you'll be playing this for the custom tracks. Imagine playing a mod pack with 200+ new tracks and still picking junk like Moo Moo Meadows, couldn't be me. Anyways, the custom tracks. Boy there sure are a fuckton of them, and that itself is another positive/negative splice for the mod; the positive of course being you've got a LOT of variety to pick from here. The negative being how much of that variety you'll actually like or even give half of a shit about, which itself depends upon a lot of factors. Are you here for fully original tracks? Would you prefer retro tracks recreated in Wii's style and engine? Do you play full anarchy and not give a shit about what comes from where? Well of the 200+ tracks, 56 are retro courses (bump it up to 58 if you count the CTR tracks, but I personally don't) which doesn't look like a lot and honestly did surprise me as playing the game it felt like there were so many more retro tracks that counting them all out to not even be a half of the total pack gave me a "wait what" moment. Whilst I'll admit I'm open to just about anything the game can throw at me, I have mainly been enticed by the original courses; retro tracks are cool to see but just about all of them have re-appeared in the official games at this point (not even counting Tour) so to see them come back is nice but not as interesting as seeing the abominations people make.
Actually, that is where much of the negative track designs lies. The fully original tracks, ironic given I'll admit to preferring these and wanting more of them. Whilst you get some really fun tracks like Dawn Township, Unfinished Mario Circuit, Dragonite's Island, Desktop Dash, and Sea Stadium... there are also tracks with "git gud"-esque designs (typically sudden sharp turns all over the place) such as Rush City Run, or whatever the fuck Undiscovered Offlimit is meant to be. Good gods, Undiscovered Offlimit may as well be the posterchild for how not to make a Mario Kart custom tracks with how it mashes every set piece together without a second thought and left us (though mainly me) saying "what the fuck is this" and "where the fuck am I" when we'd picked it for the first time not knowing what to expect of such a unique name. At this point it's a track we pick for the 'meme' of it, or the track I have a horrified scream at when the random selection picks it and leaves my friends laughing at my terror. ASDF_Course was similarly the very first custom track we picked, and was not a good introduction to the world of Mario Kart mods for my friends who were in the dark apart from me promising "guys this'll be worth it". Though in fairness, the retro tracks have been the most consistently high-quality part of the pack thus far regardless of none of us really liking the few SNES Mario Circuits they included among other retro offerings. But honestly, the bad/underwhelming tracks just stick with me more it appears, and on the whole the mixed bag of track quality is still... mainly positive, considering the quantity as well. It's just more fun to remember and riff on the bad ones, though that's not to say they aren't very much present.
Aside from the custom tracks, CTGP also offers some extra tid-bits in the form of 200cc and Item Rain options. You can also enable every item to be droppable when racers are toppled, which we've kept on since the beginning and haven't looked back. It feels like a natural addition to the game and honestly a lot of fun for something that seems so minor. But what about 200cc and Item Rain? Starting with the former, it's an incredibly mixed bag... so many of these tracks were not designed for 200cc gameplay and even as someone who loves the format in MK8DX it takes much more adjusting to here considering the unorthodox track designs and the fact there's 200+ of the damn things. We ended up quitting the mode after an occurrence on the aforementioned Unfinished Mario Circuit however, where one of us ended up clipped out of bounds and unable to get back in (not even Lakitu would help due to the location) because he went fast enough to get over an invisible boundary wall. If we grinded the hell out of 200cc it would probably be enjoyable, but we ended up sticking to 150cc after that happened. It was funny but also understandably annoying after we realized the only way out was waiting for the DNF. As for Item Rain, it's a funny little side-mode to turn on from time to time. Nothing too serious so it's good for adding to the fun mood if that's your cup of tea, though also not a mode we'd want to keep permanently on. Just something to mess with for a few rounds.
Wow I typed a fuckton of words (too bad I'm not reading them amirite), certainly more than I was expecting to for this thing. Honestly despite my harshness at points this is a really fun time... if you've got the people to play it with of course. Whilst a big benefit to this pack is the inclusion of Wiimmfi so you can play the game online again, including the custom tracks, I've found the most fun I've had to be playing it as a 'couch multiplayer' activity with local friends. It's none too serious, you can have a pizza and some soda/alcohol whilst you laugh together, it's a very chill vibe and brings back the enjoyment of playing Mario Kart as dumb little kiddy winks. Though... as stated near the start of this, your mileage will heavily balance on how much you enjoy Mario Kart Wii as it is. It's the most popular entry by far but it definitely has a fair share of detractors/un-enjoyers, and I severely doubt Undiscovered Offlimit will be changing their minds anytime soon. But to finally close this stupidly long post out: Overall, CTGP Revolution is fun with the right people despite its flaws in not having the best quality tracks at all corner, fun as it may be to have a laugh when these bad tracks do pop-up. I'll be playing this for ages to come, so if my thoughts change I'll make a follow-up. But for now, 3.5/5 feels right. It's a mess of the most beautiful kind and I love it for what it is.