Mario Kart 7 is the latest addition to the Mario Kart series! This time, Mario and Co. arrive on the 3DS, with new characters along for the drive, coins make a comeback, and you can even drive underwater and glide in the air. But does Mario Kart 7 hold up with the other games in the series? Well I'll start of by saying that I don't think Mario Kart 7 is the best in the series. I'll admit that I find that the game can be fun at times. Then there are times when the game just seems so... uninspired. The game just doesn't seem to have any original ideas. There are some new ideas, but nothing really innovative about them. I really feel like they could have done more with the game.
I'll start off with the new features in the game, starting with the items. They bring out a Fire Flower item, which lets you shoot fireballs at the other drivers. The game also has the Tanooki Suit, which lets you swing around a tail that can hit other drivers or reflect items if you do it on time. From the moment you activate the power-up, you only have a limited time to use it. The Fire Flower can mostly backfire on you, and the Tanooki Suit has to have you right next to another driver to hit them with it. I feel like the two new items aren't that good and could have been better.
Though the game does introduce another new item. It's called the "Lucky 7" and allows you to hold 7 items, which rotate around you like three shells would. You have a Green Shell, Red Shell, Blooper, Bob-omb, Star, Banana Peel, and a Mushroom. This sounds pretty awesome, I know, but can be useless. The problem with it is that's hard to tell which one you're going to use, and hard to use the right one when the situation calls for it. If you wait on them, you can end up losing it all in a crash. The game does thankfully get rid of items such as the Lightning Cloud from Mario Kart Wii.
The game also has underwater driving and gliding. Underwater driving isn't that different from driving on land, though, other than a little bit of decreased speed, bit more difficult handling, and so on. It just seems to be something to add to the game to say "You can drive underwater now!" This may seem pretty cool, but it isn't too much different from normal driving on land, as I said. I actually also feel it completely ruins a course in the Retro Track, for on Daisy's Cruiser, instead of going around the pool, you can go right through it, and the basement is now an underwater basement.
The game also introduces us to a new feature, gliding, which is actually one of the better parts of the game, but you have to know how to use it. You can use it to your advantage to get ahead, but if you don't know what you're doing, it's pretty much useless. If you're just gliding above the normal track, then yeah, you'll be on par as if you were driving on land. If you're taking some different shortcut, then it can be worth your time. Overall though, the gliding is one of the best parts of the game. I'd also like to add the game lets you drive in first-person mode, which lets you see through the driver’s eyes. I don't care for it because you can't really see what's around you. I don't know who would really prefer it over standard view.
Now let’s get to with the characters and tracks. I'd like to say that with the tracks, they feel truly uninspired. I can only remember about maybe a couple of decent tracks off the top of my head. Rainbow Road, though, is a fantastic track, and I loved it. I enjoyed other ones such as Music Park, Neo Bowser City, Bowser's Castle, and Maka Wuhu (which instead of three laps, has you go through three different sections). I'm sure there are a couple of more good ones, but most seem to be mediocre or not that good.
The Retro Tracks seem to have some questionable choices for me. Luigi Raceway, while it does add some new stuff, I believe could have had a better track, and Bowser's Castle 1 from GBA? They could have picked a better track from the Super Circuit. It does have some good picks in it though, such as Waluigi's Pinball, Airship Fortress, and the classic SNES Rainbow Road. Now with the characters, I'm glad they put fewer then they did with Mario Kart Wii, where they had too many characters for my liking, and some bad ones at that. While MK7 has some questionable characters, it's nice to have some new ones, and I don't mind some of them.
The game also has intense kart customization. Instead of simply picking a character or vehicle, you have about 15 of each or more parts to pick for your kart. You pick for the body, wheels, and glider. You unlock these parts for the vehicles after getting so many coins, and the parts you pick can effect how you do on a course. I don't care for it myself, because I find there are too many parts to pick from, and I usually don't know which ones to pick from. You'll either like it or dislike it. The game also has coins, as I said getting enough of them will let you unlock different kart parts for you to use. You can only get 10 coins, max, a course, but they help you go a little faster. I don't really have an opinion on it, if I can only get 10 a course then why did they bother to put them in?
Now the cups. As you know, we have 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc (if you beat these all you can get to the Mirror Mode), and there are eight cups: four cups with new tracks, and four with tracks from previous Mario Kart games. I didn't have much trouble with 50cc and 100cc, but once you get into 150cc, it isn't a game of just speeding through the track. I find MK7 can be more complex then that. You'll have to try to get boosts from turns, boosts from jumping, good gliding spots, etc. Not to mention the randomness of the items. Sometimes that Blue Shell comes a little TOO often.
Other then that, Mario Kart 7 doesn't have too many other game options. You can do grand prix, time trail, balloon battle, or coin runners. I feel more could have been put into the game options. All in all, Mario Kart 7 can be fun. There's nothing really new about the game itself, but does that make it a bad thing? Not really. I've had good fun with it, and it's probably one of the better 3DS games out right now, so I would go get it. I would give it an overall score of 7/10.
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