Nintendo  Mario Kart 7

My 10-year old son likes it. He plays all the time and keeps improving. My 6-year old son doesn't like it so far.

Both of my kids love this game. It is fun and not violent! You can choose from many characters. It has many courses-some easy and some are a bit challenging. It has different games you can play. as well. It is a game all ages can play without too much difficulty. I give it a B grade!

We are a Mario Kart household. This game delivers. It's so much fun.

There is a warmth and charm to Mario Kart and to Nintendo in general that one simply can't replicate, no matter how hard they try, no clone has even come close. Mario Kart 7 doesn't disappoint in bringing this charm to the handheld. For me this game is all about pure, unadulterated fun and great times between friends doing all sorts of smack talking and cheering each other onward to victory. Everything about it is simply amazing. From the jaw-dropping graphics and simple and intuitive controls, all the way to the awesome music. Mario Kart 7 is a must-have for any 3DS owner looking for a great time and looking to relive some of their greatest moments from some classic tracks of Mario Kart past, including two lifted from Mario Kart Wii, and a version of Rainbow Road from the SNES, making this the first Mario Kart game to have two Rainbow Road courses. This game has it all, on-line mulitplayer that runs smooth as butter, plenty of items to unlock, and did I mention the graphics? If so, I am mentioning them again. They are beautiful, and literally look like they're lifted directly from the Wii with some of the courses. Nothing was lost in the transition to this handheld, that's for sure. And the music is so good you'll want to bust out headphones just to have a listen to it while you're racing along. I have to give props to the composer, Kenta Nagata, for doing an amazing job. In particular, the music for this Mario Kart's Rainbow Road? Simply beautiful, powerful and moving. It HAS to be listened to in order to be believed. I could not believe it when I listened to it for the first time. I was shocked that I was so moved by the composition, that I made a resolution to get the game as soon as I could. So glad I did, I've not been disappointed once since. If you own a 3DS, you owe it to yourself to get this marvelous game. I promise you, you'll have a blast playing this game, and marveling at the amazing graphics and music.

Mario Kart 7 delivers a punch for a handheld system. A total of 32 tracks, 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc races. If you've got wifi you can even play other people online! If yer thinking of purchasing this game, I wouldn't waste a second.. this game is great!

Mario Kart 7 is the newest installment of the fan-favorite franchises that brings Mushroom Kingdom racing fun into glorious 3D. For the first time, drivers explore new competitive kart possibilities, such as soaring through the skies or plunging to the depths of the sea. New courses, strategic new abilities and customizable karts bring the racing excitement to new levels.

New kart abilities add to the wild fun that the games are known for. You can show your own style by customizing your vehicles with accessories that give them a competitive advantage. For instance, giant tires help a kart drive off-road, while smaller tires work best on city courses. On big jumps, a kart deploys a wing to let it glide over a track shortcut. When under water, a propeller pops out to help the kart cruise across the sea floor.

Players can compete in local wireless matches or online over a broadband Internet connection with one of your favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters or even as your own Mii character. Mario Kart 7 also supports Spotpass and Streetpass features.

The game play is close to the same as the previous Mario Karts. You race with the other competitors while trying to grab item boxes to use against one another and trying to collect coins to gain speed on the tracks. The new tracks on the game are fun. There is a lot of diversity for the new tracks and many improvements and new features on the retro tracks. The addition of underwater and gliding let you take your races to the air and seas in this new addition to a great series. The online has added communities where you can play with friends or groups of people. The online keeps up with how well you are doing with a VR point system that ranks you.

Mario Kart 7 is a great addition to the series and could be the best in the series, but that's out with the jury. If you have a 3DS this game is a must buy and will be a great addition to your collection. If you love Mario Kart you should love this game, but don't hold it up to standards of the previous games and go in open minded with no standards. I enjoy this game and I hope you do to, it's a great game and you'll be grinning evilly with every shell thrown that hits. This is probably the best racing game to come out this year.

Graphics: A+
Sound: A-
Control: A for classic gamers; B for Nintendo 3DS gyro sensor
Fun & Enjoyment: A- for solo play: A for multiplayer
Overall: A
9.5/10

While there are a few improvements from Mario Kart 7 over its previous counterparts, most notably Mario Kart Wii, there is less than what most fans were really hoping for in the 3DS installment.  The glider and underwater portions that were added do help make this game disntict from other kart racers that take place only on basic land based tracks, they don't do enough to really change up the gameplay.  The biggest significiant addition was one that was not talked about much before its release, which is its improved online matchmaking system.  Besides being able to play your friends via wifi and random stranger as well, you can also set up "communities".  You can create one using a variety of rules and regulations and then pass the code out to either friends, family members, or people on the web who can all input your code and join in on the community races that take place online.  This is a fresh new way to match up people online and really helps the replay value of the game, something the Nintendo 3DS sorely needed.

I really don't like giving out yet another perfect score for a Nintendo game (and this game isn't perfect, but man, it's fun and addictive) but this game gets a five overall but a four for fun. Let me clarify why in succeeding paragraphs that this game is a five overall and a four in fun. Personally, I couldn't help but notice that this game feels very polished; with colorful graphics and a very unobstructive 3D effect. The courses are varied and interesting with plenty of secrets, the Karts and upgrades are unlocked randomly; creating almost a Russian roulette feeling to the game. And while most of our favorite characters make a return the absence of some can't go unnoticed (I never thought I'd miss Waluigi, but I do and his absence is really noticed when you race on his track). I don't like that there was also no option to have two racers on a kart (I realize this feature was removed after the apparent "bomb" that was double dash, but that was one of the highlights of that entry and I think it should be considered for the next one). Then there is the issue of difficulty, which spikes dramatically from 100 cc to 150 cc; where if a player shows any amount of skill on the latter they are likely to get MANY blue shells coming their way in single player, making for some very frustrating moments (although I guess we've kind of come to expect this and the AI isn't quite as "cheap" as the infamous Mario Kart Wii, it's still pretty bad here, if you're REALLY good you can expect to see a lot of blue shells even on 100 cc as well, but that's a different story). However, I still say this game is really fun overall and stands out on its own as a strong entry. If you don't believe me, play this then go back and play the other entries in the series after playing this, and I promise you'll notice they feel a bit disappointing in comparison to this entry (even if they're still good fun). Oh, I will also add the online component when I can connect (I seem unable to do so at the moment so I will not judge that portion of the game). 9/10