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We have collected 11 reviews of the Mario Kart 7. Experts rate Mario Kart 7 8.5/10. Reviewsor.com helps you find reviews, best prices, user reviews of the Mario Kart 7 and 3DS Games.
I'm not one for Mario Kart Wii. I honestly hated the game. I've played every entry in the series, but I couldn't stand Mario Kart Wii. I thought it was terribly floaty and that the weapon and CPU balancing were the worst the series had ever seen. Needless to say, I was a little worried about Mario Kart 7. Thankfully, this 3D-enabled outing actually more closely resembles Mario Kart DS than it does the console spawn of Kart-racing Satan. Mario Kart 7 represents a return to form for the series, whether or not you find that form a little stale after six previous outings. Obviously the biggest addition to the Nintendo-racing stalwart is the inclusion of submarining and hang-gliding. Tracks take racers under the sea and up into the air for a sense of variety. Of course, it's entirely superficial, but there's something to be said about the way it has opened up track design for Nintendo's time. Mario Kart 7's new tracks are as inventive as Mario Kart 64's and the slight changes to the classic selection of tracks open them up to fresh eyes and old-hands alike. There's enough graphical oomph to make each beautiful in its own right and the 3D effect is icing on the cake.
It's the seventh go around for Mario Kart already? I still remember just getting out of high school and making my first few rounds with the original Super Mario Kart on SNES, playing well into the night with a group of friends while taking in the advanced (well, at the time) Mode 7 graphics and terrific gameplay. We've certainly come a long way since then, with the introduction of new tracks, improved drifting, the dreaded blue shell and, most importantly, networked play, both online and off. Now we reach another pinnacle for the series, as Mario Kart 7 – foolishly renamed from its more intuitive Mario Kart 3DS – has gone 3D. Granted, that's not the only thing that Nintendo has changed for the series, but this is probably the most primary addition, as the graphics literally jump right out at you. Each track has a new layer of depth that really springs the game to life like never before, especially when you're whooshing through the air or dodging a dreaded Bullet Bill that's flying right at your face. Mario Kart pulls off a neat trick. It executes said effects while retaining a pretty high frame rate, keeping the action smooth and enjoyable. To innovate while still sticking (mostly) with what works is the way to go, and Nintendo follows that path straight and narrow.
A game doesn't have to be brave to be great. Mario Kart 7 is about embellishments rather than radical innovations, refinement over restructuring. That's not to say it's lacking in ideas – on the contrary, it introduces a number of creative tweaks that build upon the weaponised racing formula established in the 1992 original without compromising its inherent simplicity. One or two additions may be little more than throwaway gimmicks, but no matter. This is a brilliantly designed video game in its own right, and perhaps the most comprehensive and well-balanced Mario Kart to date.Its signature new feature, as made clear by the misleadingly bland boxart, is the glider that unfolds from each kart as you take to the skies. Instead of merely allowing you to enjoy the scenery – though that's a pleasant side-effect of this in-flight entertainment – you have a number of choices while airborne. You could swoop down quickly, accelerating all the while to hit the ground running, or remain airborne a little longer, collecting coins (more on those later) and scoping out alternative routes – like veering right to hit the rooftop boost strips on Daisy Hills, for example.
Mario Kart hangs over the precipice of chaos. With weapons that can change positioning in a heartbeat, racing in this enduring franchise often takes a backseat to the item-flinging festivities. It's a tenuous position, and each iteration has dealt with how to balance these two disparate components--the skill of driving and the randomness of items--in different ways. In Mario Kart 7, defensive items are as useful as their offensive counterparts, and because of this tweak, your skill behind the wheel is the most important factor in determining a winner. Knowing that deft steering is the key to winning makes this latest edition engrossing. Although the total package feels lacking compared to more robust previous entries, the racing is as good as it has ever been, and that's what pushes you to take one more lap around the mushroom kingdom. The structure in Mario Kart 7 has remained unchanged from its many predecessors. Grand Prix races in 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc difficulties are available from the beginning, and you unlock mirror variants if you prove your worth in the initial offering.
If you've played one Mario Kart, you haven't played them all – but you could go directly from the SNES original to this brand-new 3DS version without missing a beat. The mechanics are almost identical, though the formula benefits from a few decades of balance tweaks and subtle improvements. The hatin' half of the game-playing population can make as much fun of me as they want, but I can't help but fall in love all over again with Mario Kart when Nintendo executes the classic gameplay this well. As always, players are encouraged to find a rally-like rhythm of powerslides through the zaniest courses Nintendo could dream up while dodging gonzo power-ups and environmental hazards. Races naturally stay close as players in worse positions get better items. The occasional total screw job (for example, getting blue shelled, then lightning bolted during a jump right before the end of the race) is frustrating, but skill wins 90 percent of the races. I rarely placed poorly because of random chance rather than driver error – tough though that may be to admit. Mario Kart is almost exactly how you remember it, but what tweaks have been made are generally positive.
A new Nintendo platform can only mean one thing - a new version of Mario Kart is inevitably on the way. So far that's proven a good thing, as the series that pioneered the kart-racing genre has continued to dominate it. Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS marks the newest entry in this longstanding franchise. With a handful of incredible innovations added to the formula, especially in the online department, MK7 easily earns its place alongside its predecessors. For those new to the series, you choose a character from a roster of Mushroom Kingdom personalities, then race across a variety of tracks to claim victory. You start with eight choices (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi and so on), and you unlock eight more by earning first place in all of the cups in 150cc, the most difficult mode. Getting first in 150cc can prove a daunting task at times, and I liked that the game actually made me work to unlock the secret characters. Still, I was disappointed at the size of the final roster. The last entry, Mario Kart Wii, boasted 25 playable characters. I expected the same-to-more from MK7, but had to settle for only 17 this time around. Gone are Waluigi, Funky Kong and the babies, as well as many others. Though the game does add a few new faces (check out the video review for a peek at the full roster), it's too bad these came at the expense of losing past racers. Most of the play options should look familiar to Mario Kart fans.
GamePro
11/2011
No longer available...
Is Mario Kart an essential 3DS purchase, or can you safely ride on by? Kat Bailey checks out the seventh (or is it ninth?) game in the venerable series. With Mario Kart 7, Nintendo has finally owned up to the obvious. Yes, this is the seventh game in the series (ninth if you count the arcade versions). And no, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Mario Kart has thrived all these years because its controls are tight; the tracks are well-designed, and it straddles the line between manic and frustrating. Various competitors have tried to add their own take to the kart racing genre over the years, but Mario Kart remains the original and the best for all the reasons above. So with all that out of the way, let's talk about what Mario Kart 7 brings to the table. Things are a bit scaled back this time around -- bikes are absent in this version, along with their accompanying tricks. And this version obviously puts no focus on motion control. Instead, you get new add-ons like gliders, which are ostensibly there to add an extra dimension to the tracks. Not a bad idea at all, as I noted in my preview back during E3, but it doesn't go quite as far as I would have liked.
Jeremy Parish, Editor-in-Chief: Stop me if you've heard this one before: Nintendo releases a sequel to a big-name franchise for the 2011 holiday season. It's very well made, and it's a lot of fun, but you just can't shake the feeling that you've seen it all before -- that Nintendo, the company that has made its swimming pools of money in recent years with terms like "blue ocean" and "disruptive design" is playing it uncharacteristically safe. First was Super Mario 3D Land, then The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; now we have Mario Kart 7, which seems to have its eyes set on the been-there-done-that prize. Familiar is not the same thing as bad, of course. On the contrary, MK7 is leagues better than its predecessor, the deeply disappointing Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo has dialed back all the design flaws that made MKWii such a bracing letdown: The hyperactive party-game feel has been toned down, and even on the upper-level 150cc courses you're much less likely to have victory snatched away at the last second by yet another Blue Shell. MK7 feels far better balanced in favor of fairness (rewarding skill) rather than "fun" (based on random luck and chaos).
Welcome to the Interrogation Room, GameSpy's signature pre-release game coverage format. Here, a GameSpy editor (typically one who's relatively in-the-dark about the game in question) grills his peers for information on a hotly anticipated game -- hopefully with more entertaining results than the typical boilerplate preview would provide. Eric Neigher, Contributing Editor: Everybody loves Mario Kart, David -- but not everybody loves the 3DS. I watched you play for a bit, and while the little 3D effect started to hurt my eyes, and Nintendo's ridiculous bevy of cute booth babes distracted my mind, I must say it looked like a pretty traditional port of Mario Kart from the regular ol' DS. Any major changes or updates you came across? David Wolinsky, Contributing Editor: This Mario Kart boasts the most tricked-out rides this side of Xzibit's body shop. It's got hydraulics, lifts, and purple neon lights in every car, along with bass-thumping radios and Nintendo Wiis in every trunk. Wait, no. It has none of that. Mario Kart 3DS takes to the air and briny deep in some portions of the levels I played, which may or may not be representative of final courses.
Mario Kart games are weird. Not weird in the sense that they're conceptually bizarre or anything; it's just strange how wildly their quality can vary from game to game when they're really the same basic thing over and over. Every time, it's Mario, Peach, Bowser, and a handful of other regulars hopping into go-karts and tear around racetracks while collecting various whimsical weapons with which to antagonize their competitors. And yet, each individual entry can be either incredibly fun or disappointingly lame. Mind you, "fun" and "lame" are deeply subjective terms, so which Mario Karts are which tends to vary from person to person. One man may hate Double Dash!! as much as the next person hates it, and fair enough; the next person may hate Mario Kart 64 or Super Circuit. You just never know. For my part, the two most recent Mario Karts represents the series' extremes of quality: Mario Kart DS is as good as the games have ever been, while I find its immediate successor, Mario Kart Wii, to be infuriatingly terrible. I was thus eager to give the next entry -- the 3DS entry tentatively titled Mario Kart -- a try here at E3. Would it soar like Mario Kart DS, or would it sink like Mario Kart Wii?
At its E3 2011 press conference, Nintendo unveiled Mario Kart as part of its strong second wave of titles for the 3DS. A hands-on confirms our first impression: that it looks and plays much as you'd expect a handheld Mario Kart to, albeit with the graphical pep and stereoscopic 3D made possible by the Nintendo 3DS. But there are new touches to be found among the instantly familiar kart racing, classic characters, and power-up items--chief among them flying and underwater racing. As you drive, you can pick up gold coins dotted along the tracks. Nintendo isn't yet sharing what the coins are for, but they could feasibly be meant for spending on the kart customisation options that are another new feature in Mario Kart 3DS. Before we raced, we were presented with a kart customisation screen. Here, we could trick out Mario's ride with our choice of kart chassis, set of wheels, and accessory. The accessories include a propeller and a hang glider attachment, with a number of other unseen options waiting to be unlocked. The fattest tyres made for a slower vehicle, but one with reliable performance both on- and off-road. We sampled both on a trio of circuits, which also took in stretches of underwater track and hang gliding segments.
| Retailer | Information | Prices | |
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Mario Kart 7 | $29.99 | See it |
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Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo 3DS) | $29.99 | See it |
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Mario Kart 7 | $34.99 | See it |
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Mario Kart 7 - Nintendo 3DS | $35.99 | See it |
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Nintendo MARIO KART 7 | $36.94 | See it |
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Nintendo Mario Kart 7 | $37.98 | See it |
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NINTENDO Mario Kart 7 3DS - CTRPAMKE CTRPAMKE | $43.99 | See it |
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