A new Nintendo system means a new Mario Kart game. That’s just how things work. So here we are with the seventh entry in the chaotic kart racing series (not including the Namco co-developed arcade games). Aside from it being one of the very few first party games currently available on the 3DS, why should you care about yet another Mario Kart game?

The answer is simple: Mario Kart 7 is easily one of the best games in the series.

Of course, the core formula of the series is largely unchanged. You’ll still power slide around corners, boost off jumps, and lose a victory or two thanks to an unfortunately timed projectile. But the infamous blue shells seemingly appear less often, and frankly, I didn’t find nearly as much of the trademark frustration found in some of the previous entries.

Part of this is thanks to the multi-layered nature of the tracks. Each kart is now equipped with a hang glider and underwater propeller for air and sea navigation. A lot of sections that would normally have you plummeting to your death and waiting for a Lakitu to slowly pull you up have been replaced by sections of track submerged into water. Sometimes these sections have their own rewards like items and coins, but are often slower than staying on the higher path.

Underwater driving itself doesn’t feel all that different, other than an altered sense of speed and gravity. The hang glider, however, is surprisingly exhilarating. When going off blue jumps, the hang glider deploys and you get an incredible rush of speed. Collecting items, avoiding sections of track, and landing in front of people feels great every time. Normal jumps (or even bumps in the road) allow you to perform an extra boost by hopping at the right moment, similar to the tricks introduced in Mario Kart Wii.

Coins make a welcome return from their long hiatus adding an extra layer to each race. With each coin you collect, your top speed increases (up to a maximum of 10 coins) and you’ll get a tiny speed boost the moment you pick each one up. Get hit or fall off a cliff and you’ll lose some of your coins making combat not just about stopping somebody, but temporarily lowering their top speed as well. They also contribute to how fast you unlock kart parts, further incentivising you to snatch them all up.

Track design is consistently interesting with lots of paths and secret jumps. Themes range from a charming recreation of the original Super Mario Bros. style in “Piranha Plant Slide” and the desert town of Super Mario Bros. 2 in “Shy Guy Bazaar” to more puzzling choices like “Rosalina’s Ice World” and “Music Park”. But even when the themes stop making sense, the tracks are still a blast to play and full of great design.

Three tracks in particular scrap the lap structure for extra long point A to point B races. The new rainbow road is one of these and is one of my favorite new tracks. Aside from the standard rainbow crazyness, you’ll find yourself driving on Saturn’s rings and eventually speeding along the surface of the moon using craters as jumps. Even the retro circuits have been spiced up quite a bit to incorporate hang gliding sections, coins, and other elements into classic tracks.

Kart customization adds an interesting wrinkle to each race. After selecting a racer, you can mix and match kart bodies, wheels, and gliders to suit your needs. This not only affects your speed, but also how well you handle off-road. It’s a nice addition that helps you adapt your kart to your play style.

I don’t know who was in charge of choosing the playable characters, but this has to be one of the weirdest Mario Kart rosters yet. The staples are all there, of course. But the bee from Super Mario Galaxy? Wiggler? Metal Mario (who I and just about everybody else mistook for a powerup in early screens)? Who fishes out the Lakitu racer? Himself?

The single player will provide little challenge. Multiplayer is what Mario Kart 7 is really about; both traditional and asynchronous. Online multiplayer works great. Getting into matches is easy, I’ve experienced zero lag, and the ability to set up special racing communities with custom rule sets is quite neat. It doesn’t have the Super Smash Bros. level of customization when it comes to choosing which items to play with, but the ability to restrict matches to “bananas only” or “mushrooms only” is a welcome feature. If only there was an “every item except blue shell and lightning bolt” setting.

But the most interesting use of online is the ghost data transferred over spotpass. Every day, my 3DS is downloading more and more ghost racers from around the world to race against in Time Trials. When I select a track, I can see visual graphs showing how well players across the globe are doing on a particular track and where each downloaded ghost falls into it. I can then either choose a specific ghost I want to challenge or let the game choose seven ghosts for me to go up against at once.

And since Time Trials lack the chaotic weapons of traditional multiplayer, ghost racers provide a more competitive, skill focused alternative to the party-centric feel of the standard modes. For a company whose online presence is the butt of so many jokes, what Mario Kart 7 manages to do in this regard is quite notable and keeps me coming back to the game.

Yes, Mario Kart 7 is more Mario Kart. You already knew that before you started reading this. But what Mario Kart 7 brings to the table feels genuinely worthwhile. The additional mechanics that add an extra layer of complexity to each race, the consistently enjoyable track design, and the clever online functionality of Time Trials really come together to make Mario Kart 7 more than just “the 3DS version.”

This review is based on a copy of Mario Kart 7 purchased by the reviewer.

Tags: 3DS, Kart Racers, Mario Kart, Mario Kart 7, Nintendo, racing, Retro Studios

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.