Nintendo is often accused of rehashing the same ideas over and over again. No single franchise escapes this air of familiarity, but one that is guilty of this more often than not is Mario Kart. The last Mario Kart game to really change the dynamic of the series was Mario Kart: Double Dash for the Nintendo Gamecube, with the inclusion of a second driver and the new power ups that really pushed the gameplay element fully. Years have passed and apart from input differences the series hasn’t really changed at all, certainly from a graphical stand point. Being the first numbered installment in the entire series, Mario Kart 7 aims to impress with new attachments for the karts that open up the seas and the skies. I got to take a quick peek at the game prior to release.

First thing that was required was that I select my character and the kart I will be using together with wheel type and accessories. The only one available was a glider at this stage, but the wheels were to determine grip/top-speed. Playing through a selection of four tracks, the usual suspects of Mario Kart weaponry were out in full force and completely unaltered. The focus here is more to do with the actual karts themselves. Certain ramps in the first race across a mushroom filled mountain area allowed the karts to bring out a glider. In this mode I was going pretty fast and the short transition between modes allowed me to easily swoop in to take first place. The second track I played had the games underwater segments, another new addition to shaking up the formula somewhat. Propellers suddenly sprout at the back of the kart to keep it moving forwards. While in either of these modes, I was still able to use the weapons to derail my opponents.

The courses I played weren’t particularly difficult and had little scope for showing off anything unfamiliar other than 3D. Perhaps it was that particular 3DS being faulty, but I didn’t really see any 3D worth commenting on. Nothing really stood out, which considering the potential is a worrying sign. Otherwise it looks pretty much the same as every other console Mario Kart game since the GameCube version. That isn’t such a bad sentence when you realise that I saw this on a Nintendo handheld and the visual quality isn’t compromised much when switched to 3D.

The other worrying sign is that the snapback design is still present in the races. I saw another person go on an abandoned race next to me. It was obvious that he was last when he started and on his final lap of the Donkey Kong Country themed track, but when he finished, he was 5th. I’m fairly sure that the same would work in reverse and while I’m in favour of making things easier for players in such a ruthless environment, having the AI become more or less of a nuisance depending on position is bothersome to say the least for those who want skill to be rewarded.

My major gripe was that despite the custom karts and propeller/glider segments, the game failed to leave a lasting impression of things to come. The controls and racing were brilliant in execution but the tracks and gameplay were really dull by comparison. While I know this is but a small segment of the game and normally it is the latter tracks that feature the interesting concepts in Mario Kart and there might be a similar mission mode to that found in Mario Kart DS. What was on show didn’t surprise me in the slightest as a lack of track variety just bored me. I’ve been wrong about a Mario Kart game before though. Sometimes a first look at something is a bad reflection of the end product. I really hope this is one of those cases.