Mario Kart 7 review

Eclipsmon It's time to review Userguy44's suggestion, Mario Kart 7. So this game is pretty special since it is the first Mario Kart game I played. Sure, I grew up watching others play Mario Kart Wii, since I was scared palying video games, but 7 was the first that I played. As for the reception of the fans, well, it's probably the least popular 3d Mario Kart game, since a big part of the fans of 7 tended to prefer 8 when it came out, while the others grew up with other game in the franchise and therefore tend to like them for nostalgia. But what do I think of this game? Let's find out! Also, don't hesitate to tell me if you think I have nostalgia bias throughout the review.

Let's start with graphics. Mario Kart 7 looks very similar to Mario Kart Wii, despite being on a weaker hardware, which is a good thing. Sure Wii looks better, but they made a cool job. There is a lot of cool looking tracks, the best looking in my opinion being Wario's Shipyard. However, 7 is so similar to Wii, that it even brought back the flaws of Wii, mainly the character models looking surprisingly blocky. Seriously, compare Mario from Galaxy and 3d Land, to Mario from MK Wii, and 7, and you see who is the most polygonated of the bunch. That being said, overall, Mario Kart 7 looks good enough for the 3DS.

How about the music? The soundtrack composed by Kenta Nagata, and Satomi Terui is pretty good, but not the best in the series. Nothing in the soundtrack really stands out, but saying one of the music doesn't sound good would be overexagerrated. There is nothing else to say besides that my favorite would probably be DK jungle or the Wuhu Tracks. There is also pretty good remix tracks, but most of them are almost copy paster from the original, so there is not a lot to talk about.

Let's start to talk about the Gameplay by talking about the car selection, the character selection and how to unlock them. This game got a very good idea when it comes to karts: having multiple part for your Kart. This is good, for making your kart look good in your own way, and having multiple stats. As for the character slection, I recommend you to watch my list of all the character selections in Mario Kart ranked. In short, I don't think this character selection is that bad. I mean does Mario Kart Wii has Wiggler, Shy Guy, and Lakitu? That being said, not having Waluigi is not good if you want to appeal to the fans, and Metal Mario is the start of the clone lazyness (even though I would argue that it really started with baby Peach and Daisy, and Dry Bowser). As for the way to unlock everything, I still think DS has by far the best way to unlock everything out of the post Double Dash Mario Kart. All the others have flawed ways to unlock everything, and 7 is no exception. Unlocking vehicle parts with money at random is questionnable, and I woudln't have made so you unlock characters only with the 150cc cups. Most people will play 50 CC, and 100 CC, before 150 CC, meaning that during a big part of the game they will have the same character selection as the beginning, which is not really good. I would say it's better than 8 which is too easy, and Wii, which is way too frustrating though

Let's talk about the controls now. Mario Kart 7 has the best controls of any Mario Kart. Wii, and 8 are very close, but there is something about those games that feels a little more stiff than 7. Personally, I prefer Double Dash's controls, but I think 7 controls better for beginners, while Double Dash is a very interesting case that would require a review for that game. Maybe I say 7 controls better just because I grew up playing that game, but I'm not sure about that.

What about the items? After all, Mario Kart is iconic thanks to its items. Well, I would say that Mario Kart 7's items are pretty good. They got rid off a few items from Wii, but I don't really miss those. Especially, the fake item boxes, since that means that whatever items you get in first place, you will always have a way to protect yourself from red shells, which is a good thing, since if I'm being honest, I don't really like getting hit in any Mario Kart games, so it's better to have a Mario Kart game that let you the most defensive capabilities as possible. Unless you are Double Dash. I recommend you to watch my list of good game design for more detail. As for the new items, well they are pretty good. I think the Super Leaf is pretty underrated, it can block shells and it's actually very good in battle mode. The fire flower is of course great, and it's cool to finally be able to throw those iconic fire balls, after 2 games of its absence. And the lucky 7, it's really good. Being able to use 7 items is a great idea.

While, the items are the most iconic things in Mario Kart, and the thing that makes them stand out from other racing games, the best thing about Mario Kart is the track (except for Super Mario Kart, but...). And i would say that the track selection is the best thing about Mario Kart 7, since it is the second best track selection in the series. For the nitro tracks there is so much originality. To give an idea of how good Mario Kart 7's tracks are, even Toad Circuit is decent in my opinion. Some of my favorites are the Wuhu tracks, Wario's Shipyard, Pirhana Plant Slide, Music Park, and of course, the best Rainbow Road in the series. As for the retro tracks, they started to get more efforts to get moidified, compared to Wii, and especially Ds. Some tracks were butchered, like Koopa Cape which doesn't have the lightning shells anymore for some reasons, but most of the time they are intact or even improve. GBA Bowser Castle 1 is one of my favorite in term of improvements, with the abilitiy to do tricks out of ramps, and a new gliding section, that can let you the occasion to use some shortcuts. Overall, this game has in my opinion a very good track selection.

Finally there are the game modes, and this is where Mario Kart 7 starts to fall apart. Sure this game has the best battle mode in the modern Mario Kart battle mode format (besides 8 Deluxe for oblvious reasons), since it doesn't force you to be in teams like in Wii, and I don't even want to compare it to the battle mode of 8. However, I don't really like the fact that you always have to do 4 battles per matches. As for the VS mode, let's just say it doesn't exist, which is kind of a shame. On top of that, 7 doesn't have its own mode to make it stands out from the rest of the Mario Kart games, which is kind of a shame. Well, at least you can race against 7 ghosts at the same time in this game, which is kind of fun I guess.

So that's it for my review of Mario Kart 7. What's my verdict. Well, this game sure is fun, with a great track selection, great controls, and cool car customization. The problem of this game however, is that it doesn't really stand out in any way, because of its lack of game modes. There is also a few problems here and there, but they are pretty minor. So overall I think, this game should get a 9/10. A 9/10 is for games that either are outstanding, but have some flaws holding it back, or for games that doesn't have a lot of flaws, but doesn't really stands out, and I think the latter describes Mario Kart 7 fairly well.

Next time, we'll do another one of Hcraw17's suggestions: Overwatch. Don't forget to give suggestions of movies or games that I could review if you want. As long as I experienced the movie or game, it's fine for me.

Comments

Nice review. I wish too that Mario Kart 7 has a VS mode. - visitor

Mario Kart 7 is defintely one of the best Mario Karts. Although I got Wii first, I found myself having more fun playing this game because the music was so charming and the courses were legends most of the time. Nowadays I tend to prefer Wii and 8 Deluxe though because of more content (I mean this game was lackluster) and the battle mode was weak, but overall I'd say it's one of, my favourite Mario Kart games. - visitor