Review: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (3DS)

Retro games these days can mean anything before the Game Cube and the Play Station 2. Of course it may also mean anything that you yourself think is retro or what the people behind the big corporations think. Either way we all know that the Game Boy is perhaps one of the greatest consoles we have ever laid eyes on. It did produce some of the best games, such as Super Mario Land 1 and 2 and Link’s awakening. This time for the 3DS Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land is released and I have to say that it was one of my favourite games on the original Game Boy.

This game pretty much sets off straight after Super Mario Land 2, where Wario wants a Castle to himself and he journeys out to gather as many coins as he possibly can so he can get this castle. Of course it is no easy tasks, he must journey through many places and gather as many coins as possible, and otherwise he won’t get any and may lose them to enemies!

First thing we notice about this game is the graphics. There is no denying it, it is one of the best looking Game Boy games out there, but they obviously do look outdated now compared to the later Mario and Wario games. It is in standard black/white/grey and admittedly has some nice scenery with it, as it goes on through the game, you see more and more enemies who look both great and bad.

The game play itself is simple, push two buttons, to either jump or attack and that is pretty much your arsenal. Oh how we all love simplicity. This doesn’t destroy the game play; as you want to go back and repeat what ever it is that just beat you so you can get towards the end a lot quicker!

It does last a while, as it has many things to throw at you and has the same aspect as Super Mario Land 2 does, but does not meet to how great the quest is from the previous game. Either way though, it is a great game to play!

Overall 6/10

It is a great game, just lacks that little spark as it did back in 1990’s. But for £3.60, this is a gem worth getting!

Review: Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (3DS)

Mario & Sonic are back, but this time in London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Does the game get the gold or does it finish in last place? Find out in this review.

When the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games titles first released in 2008 it was a joyful occasion to see the old two rivals put things aside and compete in the Olympic games together. Since then we have had the Winter Olympic game on both the Wii and the DS, and more recently the 2012 Olympics on the Wii. After a short delay, it’s now the 3DS’s turn to head to the track.

My initial thoughts when booting up the game was excitement, I haven’t even really acknowledged the Olympic Games being held in my home town and I have never really had much interest in the live events, though I have enjoyed the video games enough to make me want to watch the live events. This quickly changed after playing the game for 10 minutes with the 3D switched on. This is the first 3DS title that has actually hurt my eyes and caused me to have an headache. After giving the 3D a rest and playing in 2D my eyes felt relaxed and I continued playing and checking out what the game has to offer.

The game has four modes including  Single Player, Story Mode, and Multiplayer. In Single Player mode you can choose to either play a Highlight Match, which is a mode that lets you choose an event and play one round, or Medley Match where you can choose numerous events and try get the top score.  You can also design your own Medley Matches with events of your choice, to then share them to your friends.

In Medley Match you choose a five-person team from five groups: Heroes, Girls, Tricksters, Wild Ones, and Challengers. Sadly, you can’t just choose specific characters to participate in specific events. I was disappointed by the lack of my favourite characters being present in some events.

I was initially surprised to see a Story Mode as the game doesn’t really need it, but it does add a narrative to the the game and has some interesting scenes.  Multiplayer lets you play in Local Play with up to three friends with their own carts; Download Play is also present which gives players without the cart a more limited selection of events. Record Log lets you see play data, medals, and online rankings. The lack of online multiplayer is a shame and I feel it would of opened up a whole new level of enjoyment for the title.

There are a lot of events to keep you on your feet, but many feel rather too gimmicky and they pretty much try use all of the 3DS’s functionality. It’s a nice idea but some of the events are far too frustrating due to the awkward control scheme. The variety of games is good, but they do vary in length drastically, though they are still entertaining. I was really excited to jump in and play hockey and soccer but the limited functionality held back the events from their true potential.

The design of Mario & Sonic at the London Olympic Games 2012 is bright, colourful and vibrant. Something that we are all familiar with if you have played the previous entries. The colours are charming and from time to time nice to look at, I did manage to test out the 3D some more and it didn’t hurt as much but still the 3D wasn’t that impressive. The characters also suffer with some rough patches, which can be a bit distracting when playing.

Lastly, the sound. The soundtrack and sound effects throughout are very interesting and have a lot of emphasis on the Olympic Games.  Mario and Sonic’s theme compositions are included with some nice funky music.

Overall: 6/10

Mario and Sonic are back in their first 3D endevour. It’s an enjoyable title overall, but at times there were many issues, and for me it took some time to adapt to the colurful 3D effects. The gameplay has some nice elements and  good events, but is flawed by many dodgy control schemes, and the lack of online multiplayer may put people off. Fans of the series may be impressed by the library of events which is where the game stands strong. The overall look and appeal is decent, and along with some nice added sounds make the game enjoyable but not perfect.

Review: One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP

Most anime games never turn out the way they should. Most would expect a nice open world in which you can explore the lands that your favourite character explores and lives around. Also, if they include fighting in the anime then you would most definitely want fighting sequences to happen. Most games do not deliver these things and it is a bit of a drawback to wanting to play the game when you find these things aren’t within the game. However, we can see that there are a few exceptions; one being the new One Piece game for the 3DS; Unlimited Cruise SP. This is a special port of both episodes released for the Wii, put into a single cartridge for 3DS only.

This game starts off where Luffy and co land amidst an area full of pirates, awaiting the scene of Ace’s execution. Not all the people here however are pirates. You have the marines who are holding the execution and then Whitebeard, the most powerful pirate, is there to rescue Ace. Luffy also states he is there to rescue Ace. This then leads onto an army load of fights as you take control of each team to progress through the story. The controls are ok for this; the camera angles however do let the game down slightly. At times you could be looking for your enemy, only to be knocked about and have half of your health left before launching your first attack. In other times, if you are clever enough, you can target you enemy quickly so you do not loose sight of him/her, a very clever thing to do! You get to play as many different characters, who have different abilities and skills, which may interest some, but other characters seem a little ‘pointless’ to play as and seem to just ‘fill’ the game in areas where needed.

Another mode you can play on is a special mode where Luffy is told to go to four different islands, with his crew, and find the treasure amongst the islands, whiles battling past enemies. The great thing about this mode is you get to free roam on not just the island, but also your ship, giving you a great experience. The down side to this is finding items to progress to the next step. It is not clear where the items are and you can be looking for hours on end and come up with nothing. This does not help in keeping you occupied and playing the game further on! The controls for this is pretty much the same as when you fight in the episodes in which you try and save ace, with the exception of carrying on after beating your enemies. The downside to this mode is that to save it you need to be on your ship, which can take a while if you went exploring on the different islands.

The last mode you get to play on is the survival mode. You have to beat 200 different bands of enemies before you lose all of your health. Sounds simple, perhaps not though. It would seem you need to be clever of your surroundings and make sure to roll out of your enemy’s way before you get hit. You can however choose through a variety of character, which you unlock as you go through both parts of the game previously stated. You also have a gallery in which you can view a 3D model of the character see what they look from different angles and different costume (which only changes slightly.)

The 3D effect for this game is a nice effect, with some of the stuff seeming to come out rather nice. It also makes the graphics look nicer and smoother but a little bit chunky with the hands, but there’s no real problem with that. Some cut scenes can be watched in 3D, which gives another great effect to the game, as it really makes use of the 3DS system. The voices of the game are also in Japanese with English subtitles. There is however no option to change the language into English Dubbed, which may annoy those who try and read the words, which can be small!

In comparison to other anime games, this is ok, but not as great as what is out there. Fair enough this is on the 3DS system, but with games such as Naruto, Bleach and Dragon Ball Z raging around on our consoles and hand held systems, they need to up the game with One Piece. In other words, it would be nice if they had a story and layout like Naruto had, where you can collect items and progress through the story or just have the plain fighting of Dragon Ball Z, but work to a nice fighting system that uses One Piece to it’s advantage!

Overall 6/10

This is a great game to play every once in a while, it however does not captivate for more than a few hours, which seems a little disappointing. You can choose a great selection of characters and the 3D sequences do their job right! All in all this is a nice little game to play if you’re new to One Piece, hardcore fans will obviously love this more than I have, however I did give this a try considering I am not up to date with the anime itself!

Review: Resident Evil Revelations

Resident Evil is in a strange position of currently having two distinct fan bases. One of these set of people are those who believe entries 1-3 are the way a Resident Evil game should be, with scarce ammo, tension and jump scares. The other camp are fans of entries 4 and 5, where ammo is plentiful and you’re more likely to find an explosive set piece than a scare. Resident Evil Revelations is a game designed for both of these mind sets, and attempts to mix survival horror with action horror in a single game. The surprising news is the fact that they pulled it off.

Revelations takes place in between 4 and 5, but don’t let its chronology and inclusion of series main stays Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine fool you, this is a self-contained side story (and it isn’t the first one in Resident Evil handheld history to take place on a cruise ship). The story itself is a lot more grounded than the fare the series has ventured into of late, instead returning to a simpler framework of new type of virus, evil people have virus, evil people release virus, stop evil people. This is all set to the backdrop of corporation, competition and conspiracy. It’s pretty generic plot fodder, but goes a long way to keeping Revelations both accessible and interesting, giving you a reason to keep going for the 8 or so hours of campaign.

Capcom always referred to Revelations as a “console experience on a handheld”, and to be quite honest they’ve done just that. Graphically, while obviously inferior to its high definition brethren, the game is beautiful; a lot has been squeezed out of Nintendo’s machine. Some little things are noticeable here and there such as characters mouths not moving while talking during gameplay, and somewhat severe stuttering during loading segments, but nothing that harms the presentation of the game. The aforementioned load segments being rooms you wait in for a door to open or an elevator to arrive while the next section loads are preferable to an immersion breaking load screen for instance. Environments and character models are lovingly rendered and show off what the 3Ds is capable of. The 3D is possibly also the best seen on the system so far, with the option to effectively crank it up to 11, higher than the slider usually allows through the in game menu. Never intrusive, and often subtle enough for you to even forget your playing in 3D, it’s an immersive and satisfying implementation of a potentially gimmicky feature, especially with little touches such as video screen being shown in 2D as they would be in real life.

The enemies in Revelations are the design low point, with there being very little variation throughout the campaign, but what enemies there are, are well enough designed. Bosses are the enemy high point, showing mutated monstrosities with the obligatory exposed organ-based weakpoint. Unfortunately the boss fights themselves can often stray a little close to too long. Normal enemies like to soak up bullets as it is, but it isn’t uncommon to burn through any ammo reserves, as well as your herb stocks, in a single boss fight.

The ‘evil people’ referred to above are a terrorist organisation named “Veltro”, who one year prior to the events of Revelations (set in 2005) released a bio-terror attack on the city of Terragrigia. The Federal Bioterrorism Commission is on hand to try and combat the attack but wind up having to destroy the city to contain the outbreak, a bleak reminder of the fate of Racoon City. In the present day Veltro has risen again, and threatens to release the new T-Abyss virus into the ocean. This time the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance is tasked with preventing such an outcome. This starts a series of events that find Jill and new character Parker (and ex-FBC agent from Terragrigia) to the cruise ship Queen Zenobia and sees Chris and new partner Jennifer (Parker’s old FBC partner) to a European mountain range.

In all honesty the story starts somewhat fractured and convoluted, skipping between characters and locations and time frames, with seemingly contradictory plot progression, but eventually it all starts to come together to a much more interesting whole, with just enough twists and turns to keep you almost guessing. Presented in an episodic structure means the story is easily suited for digestible portable play, with 12 chapters ranging from 30-60 minutes each, all pre-faced by a recap of the story so far to refresh memories for those who used an episode end as a stopping point.

And chances are you’ll need to take a break because Revelations can be both a physically and mentally exhausting game. Being on the not exactly ergonomic Nintendo 3DS means that for extended periods of play your hands and arms will ache or cramp, especially when holding it in the magic spot to play with 3D turned on. Gameplay wise Revelations returns to the almost claustrophobic atmosphere of earlier games, with many inaccessible areas, an abundance of small hallways and a distinct lack of ammo and healing items. The tension of such a situation can quickly lead to mental tiredness, meaning a break just to be able to sit somewhere than the edge of your seat is a welcome thing.

The gameplay itself is your typical new Resident Evil style. You view the action from over the shoulder of your character, but with a couple of new features from last year’s Mercenaries release. The option now exists to aim in first person, allowing a higher sense of precision to the combat, which is indispensable with the arguably insensitive 3DS nub and the erratic movements of your foes. Combined with the limited supply of ammo this means you’ll be taking your time with your shots, which is where the second addition comes in, movement. By holding another button during aiming you can move (albeit slowly). This is essential to gain some space while still being ready to get a shot off. Making use the 3DS hardware capabilities gyro aiming is also available and works well enough, but I always found myself using the nub so as to be able to enjoy the 3D effect. Revelations is also compatible with the circle pad add-on, allowing for dual-stick controls but one was not available to try out for this review.

As well as being able to move while shooting, a dodge feature is including in our heroes repertoire, but the timing required to execute it coupled with the erratic motions of the enemies makes it more of a risk than just about facing and running away, which is always a viable (and often times necessary) course of action.  It’s not just the ammo conservation and running away that are reminiscent of the original game either. The main setting for the game – the Queen Zenobia – is a call back to the original spencer mansion, with its many locked doors and interconnecting hallways presenting an almost sandbox like environment to get lost in and explore.

And explore you almost certainly will. New to the Resident Evil series is the Genesis, a small handheld device used to detect hidden items within the environment, as well as scan enemies and hidden handprints to unlock secrets. More than a mere distraction, this scanning tool, similar in fashion to the scan visor from the Metroid prime series in that you cant fight while using it, and need to be within range and facing what you want to scan, is one of the most important items you have. Not only is finding hidden ammo and herbs absolutely necessary, but it also allows you to have a moment of respite. Scanning enemies on the other hand is a different situation. Leaving you completely defenceless during the process, scanning an enemy adds a chunk of percentage to a meter, which gives you a herb when you reach 100%. Balancing surviving with the scanning of enemies for life-saving items is a tense experience.

Also making its series debut is the ability to swim. Occasionally Jill will find herself in need of taking a short trip underwater. While not adding much, these sections are well implemented, and rather than have an arbitrary oxygen bar your screen starts to dim and go black as you start to drown, a nice little touch that adds that extra little bit of class to help immerse the player in this world.

It’s not all old school scares and slow tension though, every time the game shifts focus away from Jill it slips into a more Resident Evil 5 kind of game, with a greater abundance of ammo, more herbs, and more enemies, with the occasional set piece thrown in. These are unfortunately the lesser of the two game styles in Revelations due the almost fiddly controls meaning fast-paced action against hordes of enemies can often be overly complicated and infuriating, but they never really overstay they’re welcome or detract from the overall experience.

The campaign, however, is only half of the package. Also included on the cartridge is the all new “Raid Mode”, replacing the traditional mercenaries mode (possibly due to the fact it’s a standalone release on the 3DS). Personally I prefer the new Raid mode, for while it is still about high scores each stage has an objective. These mini missions repurpose sections of the campaign for solo play or two people co-operatively (either locally or online) to attempt to get the highest score possible. To add re-playability to the mode a level up system is implemented, as well as the ability to buy new weapons and upgrades to allow you to rerun stages for better times.

As a complete package there is almost nothing wrong with Resident Evil Revelations; some situations are occasionally verging on frustrating, and its story takes a little while to grab your interest and almost takes itself too seriously, but by the time the credits role on the campaign and you start the potentially endless journey into Raid Mode any complaints will have long since disappeared.

Overall 8.5/10
A must own game for anyone with a 3DS, fans of either style of Resident Evil or people looking for a genuinely good game. One of the first must own games of 2012.

Review: Crush3D

Nintendo handhelds have always been the place to go for puzzle games, the genre lending itself well to portable gaming, especially when Nintendo decided to add a touchscreen to its devices. However, mobile gaming has exploded in recent years, allowing for an onslaught of cheap, disposable puzzle games, so the question now is why should anyone pay full price for these kind of games? Crush3D goes a long way to answering this question.

Crush3D is one of the more original puzzle games I’ve played in a long time. Rather than the standard “Professor Layton” type of game, or the puzzlingly popular hidden item games, Crush3D instead plays more like a traditional platformer, the twist coming from the titular ability to “crush” the 3D environments into 2D.

While not as refined as a certain plumbers latest handheld entry, the controls for both the 3D and 2D gameplay in crush perform their duty adequately, with the thumbstick allowing for accurate movement, and the camera being limited to 5 set positions in 3D, disposing of any potential viewing angle issues. This is more than just a control design thought however, as the position of the camera in 3D determines how the level will crush into 2D.

Crushing isn’t just as simple as selecting your angle and pressing a button though. Instead, different surface types need to be considered before the transition. Brick walls will become solid impassable objects (even crushing you against the screen should you be stood in the wrong place during a crush), while clear white blocks will allow you to fall right through them.

Expanding back into the Z-axis is just as complex as well, with all the separate sections of the level moving back to their original 3^rd dimensional position, thus where you stand can transport you to a completely different area. This is crucial in the puzzle solving as jumping alone cannot carry you far enough, instead causing you to position yourself correctly, crush the environment to 2D to bring a far platform onto the same plane, and then expand and allowing it to carry you were you need to be.

Later levels introduce additional hazards such as low gravity glyphs, bugs and movable debris. The low gravity glyphs are basically logos on a certain wall of the level, and are only active while fully viewable in 2D. While active they allow you to jump higher and further, but are often hidden behind something which needs moving out of the way, or require the level to be crushed from a certain area, amplifying the challenge. Bugs are the enemies of the game, and need to be squashed via crushing them against a brick wall, or by rolling one of the movable objects on top of them. The movable objects themselves are mostly used as additional platforms, with a series of 3D and 2D movement required to position them correctly.

Crush3D features 40 levels or multi-dimensional brain benders, but clearing the levels is not where the challenge lies. To complete a level, all that is required is that half the marbles in a level be collected before making your way to exit, but trying to collect all the marbles really forces you to think hard and plan your crushes. As a reward for your hard work you will be rewarded with additional dressing gowns (costume changes), but marbles aren’t the only collectables to watch out for. Each level also contains a trophy and a book, both of which can be truly devious to collect.

Books are found floating in often hard to reach places, but trophies take it a step further requiring a logo similar to the low gravity one to cause it to appear. This means having the level crushed in a certain way just to be able to see it, and then a bit of mental dexterity to figure out how to collect it. These unlock extras such as artwork, and the trophies allow for the levels to be replayed in a new challenge mode which amps the difficulty up considerably. In trophy mode a time limit is applied as well as a limit on the amount of crushes available in your quest to collect everything in the level.

Graphically Crush3D features distinct styles for both its dimensions, with 3D featuring the usual polygons we’re used to on the 3DS, and with 2D featuring a more traditional style reminiscent of the 2D platforms of the 16-bit generation. They’re clean and functional and never get in the way of the gameplay. The 3D effect is also subtle, but overall adds to the experience, giving a sense of depth to the environments that can help plan a crush while surveying the area. The environments themselves start off slightly bland and empty, but eventually gain more colour as the game goes on, but never become memorable. Cutscenes are a static affair, with the dialogue presented by speech bubbles in a comic book manner.

The story itself, while not going to win any awards, does a good job in providing context to the goings on and the writing is often light hearted and did elicit a chuckle or two, never taking itself too seriously but doing enough to make you care a little about pushing on.

Pushing on, however, is the greatest downfall of the game, as playing for extended periods can really cause the repetitive nature of the puzzles to become apparent, and possibly even provide a sense of mental fatigue should you be trying to perfect the levels one after another. However, the relevant shortness of the individual levels lend Crush3D to portable gaming very well. As a game to play in bouts on a bus journey it does its job very well indeed, and should last you a good few journeys.

Overall 7.5/10
While not breaking any boundaries in the platform department, the unique nature of the puzzles in Crush3D make it a very good game, but is held back by a repetitive nature from becoming a must own. For fans of puzzle games with a commute though, it should definitely appear on their radar.

Crush3D is available now for the Nintendo 3DS

Review: Pullblox

DSiware was and still is a great idea from Nintendo. This idea has been carried forward onto the 3DS where you can play the DSiware and also all the other software made specifically for the 3DS. One of the great new games that you can only download for the 3DS (also known as 3DSWare) is Pullblox.

With this game, the simple yet effective motive that strives throughout the whole game is to pull blocks and safe little children who are trapped at the top. Simple; but not so. You have been given this task, which at the start sounds easy, but gradually builds in difficulty, bringing about some real brain busters. This is pretty much all the game brings for you.

The 3D effect is simple; it is not amazing and will not bring your jaws to the ground. The colours are pretty and the game itself is easy to enjoy and can bring you back to play more. Sadly it doesn’t utilize the full effect of the 3D that has been given to the consumers. Either way it is still a fun and enjoyable game!

Review: Freaky Forms

This game is not for the hardcore gamers. It is a simple yet effective game that brings about the child within you, as you get to create some freaky and wacky creatures that live on your own little planet. Admittedly when I though of this game, Little Big Planet came to mind. However, as I have not played that game so I will not be comparing the two. This is infact just a little game that can help pass the time.

Freaky Forms, as said, bring out the child in you. You have the choice to place a random head size, arms, legs, accessories and much much more and then jump around your own named planet to help other formees, or to eat the fruit and poop out eggs that give you coins and rare items when you break them. It is a very colourful game, something that you can enjoy without having to swear at the screen or control your temper over.

To move your formees around your planet, you need to use the stylus to help them jump or walk/run. This mechanic is very simple yet can be a little irritating when you can’t make the right jump to a platform that you want to reach. In the end it seems as though you will need to make an accurate jump on your own accord to see if you can reach that platform. Either way you can just ignore this and then move around and talk to other formees or just create more and more.

As you create more formees, something ‘magical’ happens when you reach a certain amount. You planet will grow in size once you reach five formees and then again when you hit ten (and so on).

In the very end this game is very enjoyable and bring back memories of those weird creatures that you may have wanted to befriend or even muck about with!

Review: Mario Kart 7

Mario and friends are back on the track for another entry in their ever popular go-karting series. If you’re a Mario Kart fan like myself and have been playing since the SNES, then you’ll immediately notice that Mario Kart 3DS has been labeled with the number 7. None of the other Mario Kart tiles have ever had a number behind it and normally were given a name relating to the platform, for example Mario Kart Wii.  Nintendo have stated the number 7 means it’s lucky, but has their luck ran out, or does it head straight to first place? Find out in this review.

The Mario Kart gameplay still follows the traditional styling of previous titles, keeping a lot of the same features seen before, but this time there are a number of newly added gameplay mechanics. This includes several new playable characters such as; Wiggler, Queen Bee, Lakitu and Metal Mario, and even the ability to play as your Mii. It’s a weird choice of added characters in my opinion, and it’s a shame that a lot of the other characters have disappeared. Character such as Bowser JR, Dry Bones, Toadette, Funky, Dry Bowers and Waluigi are nowhere to be found. It’s not a big issue for me, but if they had included these characters, alongside the new additions, the roster would’ve been even greater than ever before. With the new characters comes a big new customisation feature, allowing you to modify your kart before each cup/online race. You can choose from different vehicle bodies, tyres, hang-gliders and parachutes. When selecting between bodies and tyres, the choice you make will affect the kart stats, including handling on certain surfaces, acceleration and other aspects that can affect your race. With the new added hang-gliders and parachutes, it now possible for players to glide through the air after hitting certain ramps, collecting coins in flight or finding new routes that can only be reached while airnourne. You can now also dive underwater for the first time in the series, opening up alternative routes on a number of the race tracks.

Just like any other Mario Kart title, you’ll have to participate in multiple different cups to unlock more race tracks and characters. There are 32 courses to progress through, including many fan favourites from previous games.

During each race, you’ll come across items that can be used to your advantage. While the item boxes may appear to be random, they are infact influenced by what position you are in. If you’re in last place, you will often gain items that will help you boost or progress back up the field, these can include mushrooms or, more drasically, a blue shell, allowing you to hit the player in first place. The reverse occurs when you’re further up the field. For exmaple, if you’re in first place, you will often be given defensive items such as bananas, and you can use these to hold your place at the head of the pack. This hasn’t changed since the previous titles, and still remains as a good formula, but for me, the Blue Shell can become a little tiresome, especially on the last lap of a race which you may have been leading for some time.

While Mario Kart 7′s gameplay won’t be suprisingly to long time fans since it hasn’t changed dramatically, in my opinion it doesn’t really need to. The 3DS version does however implement some new features which utilise the system itself. For a start, the 3D effect does make the experience a little more interesting, and I noticed the best use of this while drifting round corners or gliding. If driving in 3rd person isn’t ideal, you can now opt for a first person view, a first for the series. This also gives you the opportunity to use the 3DS as a steering wheel, working surprisingly well with the gyroscope functionality, however when playing with the 3D turned on it does cause a lot of issues and makes it very hard to play due to the 3D being all over the place.  The controls overall are tight. The gameplay may looks simple, but it’s had some extra depth added to it. These new additions are quite varied, but a couple of noticeable ones include the ability to drag items behind you to use as shields, and also you can tap the right bumper mid air to gain extra speed when you land. Overall though, it does feel quite similar to the previous 2005 Mario Kart DS, but this time with upgraded visuals and 3D.

The multiplayer is back but it seems that Nintendo haven’t changed much of what was already there in previous titles. You still can’t speak online or even write messages to your friends in lobbies. This won’t be a big issue for some, but I personally like to communicate with friends or other players during the races as it makes it more of a social gaming experience instead of more of a competitive one. Again, it’s not a major issue just something I am quite picky about.

If you get bored of just racing online then you’ll be happy to know that Nintendo have brought the Battle Mode from the Wii version into Mario Kart 7. The areas are very similar, featuring big open maps, giving you the opportunity to take on your friends and take them down. The life/balloon system has changed however. Oringially players were only allowed 3 balloons before being knocked out of the race, but this is now different as everyone gets to play for the entire match. This has changed the mode quite drasitically, as it’s now more of a point scoring system than a survival game mode. It’s a good change though and works well, but I would of liked the option to choose between either gameplay variant. Coin Runners is another battle mode in the arena, reminding me of something similar in the previous Wii title.  The aim is to race around the battlefield collecting coins, but be careful, as they can also be lost if you are hit by other players, and the winner is determined by the number of coins collected.

Overall

Mario Kart 7 is a great addition to the series, as it’s one of the best Mario Kart titles out there even with its few flaws. I found the change of characters fresh, but a bigger roster would have been nice. The 3D effect works really well when using the standard controls, but as seen in other games, when using the gyroscope, it can break the 3D effect somewhat. What I liked most about the title was the number and overall variety of race tracks. The customisation is great and hopefully will return in future releases, though I am sure the multiplayer will keep players busy until then, especially given the replay value that this title offers to 3DS owners.