Mario Kart 7 Review



From gliding through air using air gliders, to diving underwater with propellers, the ninth installment of the Mario Kart series brings new features for remarkable and entertaining gameplay. The new features presented in Mario Kart 7 include customizing your own kart, propelling through bodies of water, and much, much more. Mario Kart 7 deputed on the 4th of December in the United States, and ever since the anticipated release, the game has been booming. The game comes with new courses, and modes to play in as well as an astounding online experience.


Now let's talk about gameplay, Mario Kart 7 contains new features which I have mentioned early, but I'll be going into much more detail. As you may know, Mario Kart 7 gives players the ability to customize their karts whether it is changing the wheels of your kart, switching the karts themselves or just changing the glider, there are many different combinations to choose from, but to be honest you'll probably stick with one combination once you have found the right choice of parts for your kart. Mario Kart 7 includes a system in which the player can obtain parts for his or her kart, which is through collecting coins in the Grand Prix. The best part about customizing karts is that there is some motivation to it, know why? Because there are golden parts! The only way to get the golden parts is to collect 1000+ coins, but it's worth it...right? There are also some downsides to specific parts, stat wise, this because each part affects your kart, which means you might want to choose carefully if you're a competitive racer.


Mario Kart 7 includes 32 courses, 16 of which are new courses, and 16 of which are retro courses that where exported from older Mario Kart games. Mario Kart 7 features the well-known Grand Prix mode which is a single player mode in which the player must compete with CPU's in order to obtain trophies in each of the 8 cups in the game. Two other familiar modes in Single Player include; Time Trial, and VS. A lot of the items are quite familiar such as the dreaded Spiny Shell, but there are also new items that are featured in the game which includes the Fire Flower, Tanooki Tail, and Lucky Seven. In my opinion, Lucky Seven is one of the items that can change the status of the race in an instant as well as the Spiny Shell which we all know will take down whoever is in first place, unless he or she slows down in time to let another race get ahead (that's when things get funny).


There are 3 new battle courses and 3 retro courses, each of these courses utilize the battle mode in which a player may choose to play from two mini-games, which includes; Balloon battle and Coin Battle, these two battle modes are highly familiar and are seen in previous Mario Kart games. The new courses have vivid scenery which may quickly capture the player's attention during online and offline gameplay. There are a total of 8 characters to choose from which includes; Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, and finally Koopa Troopa. Mario Kart 7 features a total of 9 unlockable characters which includes; Daisy, Metal Mario, Rosalina, Wario, Shy Guy, Honey Queen, Lakitu, Wiggler (which I think is an odd character, I mean look at how this character drives, seriously? ), and finally your Mii.



Now, I have to say that the online mode is a quite tremendous. The online mode is capable of allowing up to 8 players in one race. Features implemented with the online mode and the 3DS itself is the ability to join a game that you friend is currently playing and I haven't tried this, but I'd assume that you are able to jump in a game when another player decides to step out. Another notable feature would be that ability to join communities in which have made specific rules.


The visuals that Mario Kart 7 displays is astounding, especially the addition of bodies of water as well as gliding through the air which really is enjoyable. The character models are nicely made, the scenery is unique and vivid and the music adds some pizazz to the overall game. The game has little to no problems, but I don't know if this is familiar with any of you, but I have noticed that the tilt feature used for the game is quite off at times, and it kind of tempts me to get myself a steering wheel for the 3DS (yes there is a steering wheel, but it's not available in the U.S ...I think).


Overall, the game is remarkable; it has a few flaws here and there, but not many at all to be honest. The courses are outstanding and vivid, and the overall gameplay is astounding. I highly recommend picking up Mario Kart 7 if you haven't already.

Overall

  • Appearance/Graphics: 10/10
  • Audio: 9/10
  • Features:8/10
  • Gameplay 9/10
  • Overall: 9/10 Outstanding! :D