TIM BENITEZ

Mario Kart 7

 

Publisher: Nintendo ESRB: Everyone Genre: Racing/action

Year: 2011 Platform: Nintendo 3DS

 

Super Mario has been saving Princess Peach for years, but not this time. This time he's competing with her on the race track along with his enemies and other friends. In fact he's actually been doing this for the past 20 years as Marion Kart 7 marks the, well, seventh installment in the Mario Kart series.

   When I first heard about Marion Kart 7 I was not very interested in it as much as some other games that came out at the same point in time. Two of my brothers had both bought the game and I decided to give it a go. I quickly found out that I was playing their copies of the game more than they were. I also soon increased in skill more than they did. And they play racing games in a far greater abundance than myself. Therefore, I was not expecting this game to be more fun then any other Mario Karts.

   As advertised on the case, players have the ability to customize their kart to their racing preferences. However, the player's preferences may look less appealing. For example, the player may want top speed but do not want to drive a flower with wheels that look like kiwis. May I add that this is not trick your ride. The player can only choose to customize his kart with the frame, wheels, and a hang glider. So no chrome rims. There are many different items in each of these categories to mix and match to fit the players desires. I found the combination I liked and I always seem to pick the same one. It's a nice feature but one I did not care much for because I just wanted to get right into the race.

   Mario Kart 7 is a very beautiful game with bright colors and clear models. There is little to know fuzzy textures. The game also runs at a solid 60 frames per second even in online mode for an excellent racing experience. The 3D visual effect help the player also feel like he's actually driving on the track. This effect also makes it fun to see an attack shell head down the road to attack the other racer in front.

   The games audio is rather simple with some fun tunes and some small shouts from the racers. I sometimes have found myself humming to the simple music as it plays while I am racing. The racers will not really say many words. Some will cackle at others as they pass by but not much more than that. The sound effects are virtually unchanged from other Mario Kart games. One sound that is dreadful to hear still, is when a shell is homing on the player to knock him out.

   There were a few different ways to play Mario Kart : One is the standard Grand Prix where the player can race against the computer for four races, Time attack where players can race against the clock, and Battle mode which is broken up into two categories: Balloon Battle and Coin Runners. In Balloon Battle, players hit each other to pop each others balloons and the one with the highest score wins. In Coin Runners, players try to find and steal coins from other players. All these modes are available in single player, local multi-player, online play except for Grand Prix. That's only on the single player. The exception being that the battle modes online will switch between the two after each match. I found myself enjoying the racing more than the battle games. The battle games are a nice change of pace but not as exciting to me as the racing.

   On the back of the box I think Nintendo did not publish two of the games greatest features. While they had good stuff on there I felt they should have pointed out the Mario Kart Channel and the ghost system for Time Attack. Which is kind of linked to the Mario Kart Channel. The Mario Kart Channel is not new to Mario Kart 7. It actually started on Mario Kart Wii, which was Mario Kart 6. This was used to allow players from around the world to play Mario Kart with each other online. Mario Kart 7 kicked it up a notch with the 3DS's spot and street pass feature. Players' data and Time Attack times could now pass from one 3DS to another so a player can virtually race another player even though they are not playing with each other. The ghost data for Time Attack is also passed on in abundance. Racers times from all over the world can be saved on a 3DS thus being able to have a ghost to race against that may have a better time.

   Mario Kart 7 has no real story or character development. Just hardcore racing on the race track. So if players want story they have to use there own imagination to come up with some scenarios.

   Just to touch lightly on the control. Easiest control and handling for Mario Kart ever. And I have to say that fast because Mario Kart 8 is coming out next year. I do not play much racing games, so it's easy for me to slide right off the road and I hate that. In Mario Kart 7 the karts handle great. The drift mechanic works great too and is important to master if you want to race against the pros. Every time a racer drifts for a short while, sparks start shooting out the back. Once the drift button is released, a small boost propels the kart forward. One thing I would not recommend trying is the motion control steering for this game. Mario Kart 7 uses the 3DS's gyroscope to turn the car if the player wishes to. This is only available in first person view mode though and can you image turning the screen as a steering wheel. It's pretty hard to see where you are going. Especially if the 3D effect is on.

   I will say it one last time. I am not a racing game player so I do not know what I should do to make this game better. I was pleased with everything. Even though there were few options with the customization it was diverse yet simple. And I would not get rid of it even though I did not care about it too much. Also, Mario Kart is very unique and the only other thing other racing games like it can take away from Mario Kart is the mechanics. The way items naturally work and the tight controls that Mario Kart 7 offers.

   Mario Kart 7 is a great game and anyone who owns a 3DS would benefit greatly from owning this game. Even I was skeptical at first but I was quickly proven wrong. This game is fun to play alone and with friends or strangers.