Format: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: December 2nd 2011
Six years since Mario Kart came racing onto the DS, the plumber with a sideline in pretty much everything else is revving up his portable engine once more. Following on from 2008′s Wii iteration of the franchise racer, MK7 follows the regular tradition of classic ideas mixed with new features, some of which will probably be abandoned by the time the Wii U version comes out.
As its base level, 7 offers exactly what players have come to expect from a Mario Kart game. That means eight four-race tournaments, half of which contain brand new tracks and half made up of classic courses from the previous six releases, three levels of difficulty (ranging from the super-easy 50cc to the incredibly cheap 150cc), Time Trials and Battle Modes. That’s not to mention Local and Online multiplayer, the latter of which has become a firm favourite since 2005.
If that can be chalked up as the old, then what about the new? While Mario Kart Wii introduced bikes to the game, 7 takes them back out again in favour of vehicle customisation. Instead of merely having vehicles with set stats, you now choose a combination of chassis, wheels and glider in order to maximise your abilities as best possible.
It’s likely the latter of those choices that will pique your interest, as one of MK7′s new features is the ability for your carts to fly. For those concerned that the game was going all Diddy Kong Racing on you, then fear not – flying only really constitutes a minor portion of the game. At certain points on the track, launch ramps will allow your vehicle to float up to higher plains in order to grab extra coins or reach secret short-cuts.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there will also be portions where you’ll drive underwater, with a propeller jutting out from the back of your kart to maintain your speed. Most intriguingly, flying and underwater sections have been retroactively fitted to some of the classic courses as well. The cynic in us all probably still expects these features to be dumped next time around, but it’s good to see that enough faith was had in them at the time to “meddle” with the old stuff in order to include them.
Returning from previous games is coin collecting, with bounty strewn around the tracks. Far from pointless like it has been in the past, collecting coins now allows you to unlock additional vehicle parts when you pass 50-coin milestones. The unlocks are random, meaning that the very best add-ons could be yours immediately or not until you’ve scrimped and saved thousands of coins. With your opponents able to steal them away from you with a well-placed projectile shot, you’ll be pleased to know that they re-spawn between laps.
On the subject of projectiles, the new additions this time around are the Lucky 7, Fire Flower and the Super Leaf. The latter ties in with the return of the Tanooki suit to Super Mario 3D Land, and allows you to perform a sweep attack on nearby enemies, while the Fire Flower gives you the classic Mario fireball ability. The Lucky 7 is a catch-up attack that instantly grants you seven power-ups at once, including shells, bananas and an-always useful invincibility star. To allow for these, certain other power-ups such as the Enlarger Mushroom and the Lightning Cloud have been dropped (though the lightning bolt still remains).
Taking its lead from the Wii version, the gyro sensor of the 3DS is utilised in order to allow for tilt controls. However, these are only available in the game’s new first person mode. With a tap of the d-pad, you can stop staring at the back of Yoshi (there’s probably a Birdo joke to be made there) and instead get a close-up view of the tracks. As you might expect, the tilt controls take a bit of getting used to, and it’s a lot easier to slip and slide around the track while you get used to centring the machine after a turn.
The tilt controls can be disabled from the (fairly deeply hidden) settings menu, which means that you can still try out the new view even if you’d prefer to keep your faith in the stick. In all honesty, while the first person view looks nice, you can’t really beat the classic third person view. Not only does it make it easier to keep an eye on the track ahead and your opposition, it’s also part of the charm of Mario Kart to see your favourite character on their wacky ride.
For those who might have doubted the improved visual power of the 3DS, comparing MK7 to MKDS clearly shows the added strength of the new machine. Admittedly, we are reduced back down to eight vehicles on screen as opposed to the 12 on MKW, but that’s a small price to pay. The 3D here is somewhat understated, with lens flare and a spot of ticker-tape flying at you amongst the more obvious effects. As usual, you might find yourself having to put the slider down if you’re opting for the tilt controls, but even in these instances the small movements required for steering mean that you’re far less likely to lose the picture or suffer blurring.
While looks have improved, the AI here takes its inspiration from that seen on the Wii. Taking the lead of 100cc and especially 150cc is likely to leave you facing a barrage of blue shells and other debilitating attacks. While this naturally encourages you to find, learn and use every short-cut you can in order to build up as heavy a lead as possible, to get bombarded, usually on the final lap, still makes you want to punch a hole straight through the screen of your expensive hand-held, no matter how old you are – especially when you’re still faced with the issue of rubber-banding as well.
Online play is easy to get into, and it doesn’t take long to get matched up with other competitors from throughout the world. You can even easily look up your friends and former opponents to check your records against them too. What’s more, the new communities feature makes it far easier than ever to organise matches with multiple different groups of people. By creating a community, you and multiple friends can play one another at any time without having to swap and share multiple friend codes amongst one another. Just enter the single community code, and then you can get racing against other members who are online at the time.
There is still the “issue” (to some, tactic to others) of snaking, an exploit of the drift function that allows players to quickly use multiple boosts and launch into heavy leads. While some might just use the argument of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, you can also just use the communities function to surround yourself with players who follow your personal philosophies on Mario Kart etiquette.
It might be far from original, occasionally infuriating, and responsible for spawning some of the worst copycat titles in gaming history, but it’s just so hard not to love Mario Kart. Even when you’re ready to lob the 3DS through the window after the umpteenth blue shell attack, there will still be an air of determination to go back and make things right, and that’s no different when it comes to MK7. With the 3DS in need of games that are all about simple pick up and play fun, and not just “OMG! Look! It’s 3D!” hype, Mario Kart 7 is a perfect example of a must-have title. Now, we’re just left wondering what they’ll take out for Mario Kart U. And if we’ll have to wait three years for it.
