Almost 7 years after Mario Kart DS, and only 3 after Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo's released it's latest Mario Kart game, and it certainly feels like a nice successor to it's DS predecessor. But does it live up to the playability that both have had?
Gameplay: 8/10
Mario Kart has always been known for its fun racing, adding in various items to make races more fun(or in some cases, less fun), trying to appeal to as many people as it could at once. The gameplay is more of the same, but that's only to be expected. Nintendo's improved on the game with each different iteration, and Mario Kart 7 is no exception. It removes a lot of the items that Mario Kart Wii had, some of the ones that people felt made the game unfair, and adds in 3 new items: the Super Leaf, the Fire Flower, and the "7" item, the most unique of them all.
The Super Leaf gives you a tail that you can activate as many times as you can in a certain time limit, allowing you to knock over other carts, or bounce items away. The Fire Flower does what one would think it does, and let's you shoot fireballs for a time as well. The 7, however, is a mixed bag. You get 7 different items rotating around you, including a Green Shell, Star, a Banana Peel, and more. But because they're constantly rotating, timing is nessesary to use which one you actually want to use(But don't worry, all 7 are usable!)
Music: 7/10
The music in Mario Kart 7 is nice, with each individual music track fitting the stage quite nicely. That said, while very nice, not many of the songs seem all that remarkable on their own. But that does seem to be the case with many Mario Kart games.
Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in are very nice, and Nintendo doesn't seem to have spared anything on making this game look as beautiful as possible. Even the various kart parts always fit very well with each other.
Replayability:7-9/10
Mario Kart DS had a lot of things you could do including challenges, unlockables, time trials, and various battle modes. Mario Kart 7 brings back a lot of these, but strangely did not keep the challenges and single races. It still retains the Grand Prix and Battle modes, along with the local wireless play. Only time will tell to see if Mario Kart 7 holds up to Mario Kart DS's legacy.
Multiplayer: 8/10
Mario Kart has always been massively about its multiplayer, and the addition of online play that Mario Kart DS introduced certainly gave the fun racing series almost infinite playability. But due to the DS's limitations, while the online multiplayer is certainly a lot of fun, it is hindered by the clumsy friendcode system(And the hackers/cheaters, but they aren't always around.) Mario Kart 7 though, seems to fix almost all of the issues found, and then some.
Mario Kart 7 brings back the standard "Worldwide" and "Friends/Opponents" options that MKDS had, but it introduces a new Communities option as well, which lets you join an online guild-type group and race against people, as well as track your ranking in that group. You can make one yourself, and have all of your friends join, as well, making setting up races much easier than everyone swapping around friend codes.
Overall: 8/10
Overall, the game deserves at least an 8 out of 10. While some parts do seem rushed, and some features that previous versions had are no longer there, the game itself is very fun, and offers plenty of hours of entertainment.
