Due to being wedged between the influential Wii and essential 8 (Deluxe) entries, Mario Kart 7 is often derided as the most forgettable Mario Kart. It's a game that suffers from very few problems... yet doesn't offer compelling reasons to play it nowadays. Which is a shame because had 7 come out a few entries earlier, it would've felt like a breath of fresh air, energizing the series with a smart drifting system and some phenomenal tracks. Even its unique gameplay additions—gliders and propellers—weirdly feel like claims that belong to 8 instead. Mario Kart 7 is a great racer that unfortunately can't escape from the shadow of its siblings.
First off, the game is gorgeous to see in motion, boasting a buttery-smooth 60-fps framerate even in 3D. Mario Kart DS was fairly impressive for the time but 7 makes you forget that it was designed for a handheld console. Plus unlike DS, the selection of retro courses in 7 is excellent, due to having more than the first three games to pull from. Waluigi's Pinball, Coconut Mall, Dino Dino Jungle, DK Pass—the retro cups are worthy of being served on a silver platter. And the nitro cups aren't sleepers either—Shy Guy Bazaar, Music Park, Wario Shipyard, and Rainbow Road ensure that any cup you pick has at least one stellar track to keep you on the edge of your seat.
And coins are back! I used to loathe them when I first played Mario Kart 7—why complicated an intentionally simple racing game?—but since revisiting the series, their return makes a lot more sense, especially with the new drift boost. In the old games, you'd use a lot of energy rocking the controller back and forth, having to judge whether or not you had the room (or thumb dexterity) to built up a boost. But with automatic boosts, it's much easier for the player to simply focus on racing an optimum path, making laps more methodical—as well as stale. By throwing coins into the mix (which increase your top speed a miniscule amount), the optimal path has some competition: do you go out of your way to grab some coins or stay the course? The gold goodies keep the gameplay mostly reactive rather than rote, especially since you'll be losing them frequently from pits, lightning bolts, and blue shells.
And boy, do I have a bone to pick with blue shells.
Now, blue shells have been a staple of the series for a long time—they were first introduced in Mario Kart 64 but the CPU wouldn't get ahold of them until Super Circuit. And honestly, they're a miserable tool, punishing the player in first while simultaneously doing nothing for the poor sap that launched it. I understand that they're a necessary evil that keeps matches competitive (especially online), but there's no rhyme or reason to their use; they pop up in close races just as often as runaway victories. And once you introduce a ranking system into the mix, blue shells turn Mario Kart into an RNG hellhole where flawless races can—and will—be stolen a hair from the finish line. In seeking to level the playing field, the blue demon arbitrarily punishes merit.
One good thing Mario Kart 7 has going for it is that it's relatively stingy with its blue shells—you can expect one or two per match. And since the CPU hangs onto them for 3-5 seconds, you have ample time to notice one coming thanks to the bottom screen revealing who has what item. Unfortunately, this still makes gunning for 3-stars kind of a silly experience; every straightaway has you frantically checking the bottom screen, hoping that your rival is close enough that you can slam on the brake and let them pass you. It's not too difficult to net triple stars across the board, but expect some bitter defeats that you'll have no control over... it's something I'll whinge about in more detail once I get to the DS entry.
Probably the most "serious" problem Mario Kart 7 faces is that it's a smidge light on content. It has fewer racers than the Wii version, hides items when using the full map, and contains no VS mode for some inexplicable reason, meaning you can't pit yourself against the CPU on a specific course unless you're playing an entire cup. None of these make or break the game however; I honestly take more of an issue with the tail powerup, as it's not only a situational item but occupies the item slot while it's active, leaving you naked when it expires. In almost every situation I would've much preferred a green shell or banana, just so I had some form of reliable defense.
Boasting some of the strongest courses in the series, Mario Kart 7 is worthy of a playthrough today, even if it does feel a bit barebones. There are aspects worth complaining about—again, why no VS mode?!—but every Mario Kart comes burdened with its own niggling issues, and I'm thankful 7 sports relatively few. It may not feel like a "must-play" but it paved the way for 8 and is loads of fun on its own. Maybe the most damning thing is that it shows how capable of an F-Zero the console was... but even 8 overshadows 7 in that respect.
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Images obtained from: clipartkey.com, nintendosoup.com, slashgear.com, nintendo.fandom.com
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