Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart is a game I grew up with, from Super Mario Kart through every game on. The series has, from game to game, done a good job remaining familiar to its past while innovating the game with new ideas. Mario Kart 7 does this by giving players the ability to glide through tracks on wings, and submerge into aquatic environments, all with unique physics for each terrain.

The new game brought back the familiar cast of Mario Kart, Mario and company, with a garage of new karts to play. Like the games since Double Dash, different karts have different statistics, which let you pick a character you like, and also a vehicle that suits your driving style. New to MK7 is the division of the kart into three parts, all with their own statistics, making the customization of karts a more involved and personalized choice. I found a lot of legacy karts from past games, the Barrel Train from Double Dash, and Mario’s B Dasher from Mario Kart DS. Mario Kart has a reputation for honoring its past with tracks from past games, so vehicles from the old titles fit into the game well.

There is only one notable new item in the Mario Kart arsenal this time around: a tanooki tail that hangs on the back of your kart and allows you to melee attack nearby opponents. It also protects you from one red shell. There is another new addition to the items in the game, but instead of a new item, it is a “7” that you can get from item boxes. The “7” will cause SEVEN items to rotate around your kart. However, it’s difficult to tell which item you’ll use out of the ring circling you. I accidentally used a mushroom to launch off a ledge, which caused me to lose the whole set.

The karts handle very fluidly, and they forgive mistakes much more than past games. Miscalculate that drift and bump the wall? Instead of catching on it and halting instantly, the karts will rebound and decelerate only slightly. Flying controls are easy to use, although it’s hard to gain more altitude after a jump than whatever your kart starts. Underwater controls are almost exactly like on land, but the cars do some nice tilts as they turn, and a propeller pops out behind the kart like a submarine.

To compensate for the ease of controlling karts, the AI for Grand Prix seems a lot smarter. Speed scales so that the karts in 8th, 7th, 6th place are always slow enough to catch up to, but the competition for 1st place is always fierce between at least three other karts. It’s hard to tell if the game is just that chaotic, or if the CPUs are actually able to snipe you with a green shell right before you bounce over a gap. But the beauty of Mario Kart’s balance is that the further behind you are, the more powerful items you find, so you’ll always be fighting to cling to that pole position.

Mario Kart 7’s contributions to its franchise are numerous, and all beneficial to the game. While some may mourn the loss of exploits like snaking from Mario Kart DS, the new balance to kart control and the new faces and vehicles make this game nothing short of a proper continuation to a classic series.