With sixteen tracks culled from the franchise’s history as well as an equal number of new stages, the title delivers a gratifying medley of familiar and fresh.

Luckily, it’s a minor offense, which does little to sully the title’s otherwise enchanting qualities.Īlthough Mario Kart 7’s driving model and weaponry are certainly proficient, a consummate selection of courses might be the game’s greatest virtue. As players make their way through the 50, 100, and 150cc heats, they’ll be pummeled by a fair share of the azure anger-makers, sullying the chance at earning a gold cup. Unfortunately, that means a near-perfect run can be upended just before the finish line by a single blue turtle shell. In keeping with Mario Kart convention, matches are kept competitive by distributing the most domineering devices to drivers in the back of the racing pack. series allows players to spit out a salvo of fireballs at adjacent racers, while the scarce Lucky Seven bestows a septet of power-ups on a privileged player. The Fire Flower lifted from the Super Mario Bros.

The Tanooki leaf sprouts a tail from the back of your vehicle- perfect for swatting incoming shells or upending encroaching foes.

With a trio of additional offensive capabilities, the title poses a pleasing variety of techniques to stymie opponents. Since the rate of a boost corresponds to the tautness of your turning angle, Mario Kart 7 emphases dexterous driving nearly as much as savvy power-up usage. While maintaining a skintight slide around a turn produces a nice surge of speed, it’s also quite easy to careen right over the side of the track or veer into a wall. Pleasingly, this change endows the title with a tempting risk/reward component. Whereas skillful players could gain an unfair advantage by executing short, oscillating drifts on straight segments of the track, Mario Kart 7 constrains boosting to the corners (although players can bunny hop from jumps for a slight, gratifying spurt of speed). With a bit of imperative balancing- as well as a steadfast framerate and impeccable net-code, Nintendo demonstrates once more that they are the unshakable kart racing kings.ĭrawing from the success of 2008’s Mario Kart Wii, the game removes snaking- the contentious mechanic of the last portable iteration. While other studios will likely craft comparably whimsical competitions filled with diminutive vehicles, any outside attempt to surpass Mario Kart 7 seems destined to disappointment. Developers take note: with their latest release, Nintendo has effectively dominated the kart racing genre on their portable system.

Mario kart 7 tracks