Gaming Holy... Mario Kart 7 suuuuucks

[Dark]

I play MK7 all the time and I agree with the power-up system.

For example, this happens a lot; After about 10 seconds after you pass a set of Item Boxes, two CPU players at the back end get a Lightning Bolt and Blooper, and they use it at the EXACT SAME TIME, if it were a rare event, I wouldn't care, but it's just so predictable.

As for Spiny Shells, I have a little method for cheating the system. As soon as you see a Spiny Shell appear in a racer's item storage, stop/slow down and let 2nd Place take the lead for a few seconds and the Spiny Shell will hit them, and with the time it takes for them to recover, you can actually gain more distance between yourself and the rest of the pack. Though I have a rule that if you can't see any racers nearby on the Bottom Screen, just keep driving and make as much distance as you can for the next few seconds, because you can probably still keep your lead.

The trick to MK is using bad situations as an advantage to decieve your fellows.

I wish it was that simple. I was 3rd guy one race and got hit because 1st and 2nd pulled their brakes T_T.

 

[Terenigma]

They should of made the tanooki the item to avoid the blue shell, its an item you only usually get 1-3rd position, its on a timer (so you would need to time it to dodge the blue shell) and it would actually make that item something you want to get, as apposed to being an item that takes so long to fade that its worst item to get when you are in first (green shells and banana's are much more useful)

Also, stop blue shells being airbourne, they need to go back to being a slide along the ground item (so they have a chance to hit people on the way to hitting 1st place)

 

[TripleSMoon]

Okay, first off: Smash Bros Melee is not a fighting game. It's a brawler.

What's the difference, out of curiosity? What would be some other examples of brawlers as opposed to fighters?

Second, just because it IS a balanced game for competitive play, does not mean it was meant to be. Sakurai has been quoted numerous times stating that Super Smash Bros is meant to be an accessible multiplayer game, and the focus has never been to make it a game based around competitions and tournaments.

Tis true. Funny how Sakurai doesn't really appreciate one of the things that made his game so awesome. But hey, maybe he learned something. After all, Kid Icarus: Uprising was extremely competitively balanced, in my opinion.

But like you said, people have different preferences. A "happy middle" is just as subjective as saying MK7 has too loose of Rubber Band AI. Some might think it's just right.

Personally, I'm fine with everything except the literally unescapable blue shells. There's no reason that those should be unavoidable even if you have a starman. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be extremely hard to avoid, but there should still be the trick options that allow you to escape, like the perfectly timed green/red shell shields and last-second sharp turns and the like. That's literally the only thing that bothers me. Rubberband AI, etc, all of that can stay.

 

[Kikirini]

I wouldn't say it's the worst Mario Kart, but it definitely could use some tweaking. This is why I play online, at least there's a good challenge in playing against other people.

 

[Gnargle]

the rubberband AI is WAAAAAY too stupid

Welcome to Mario Kart.

 

[Janthran]

It's one of my favorites, right up there with DoubleDash.

 

[Wizerzak]

You find the Single Player Grand Prix frustrating / hard?

On 150cc mirror, Toad Circuit, I can turn around at the start, do a lap backwards, turn back around and do 4 laps and STILL come first place. It's really not hard. If you want a decent race that actually provides a challenge I suggest you play online - playing against other players never gets old / tiresome, in fact I've recently passed 11k VR.

About the blue shells:

1. You CAN dodge them by using a mushroom, the timing is quite tricky though, but do-able with practice.
   > To add to this, I've often found I pick up a mushroom in 1st place just before someone else gets a blue shell, so if you get a mushroom - save it!
   
   
2. Drop back to second if they are reasonably close (<~3 seconds behind you) and start driving properly again when the shell gets near. About 3 seconds before the shell hits its target sticks and won't change even if someone else has cruised into 1st place.
   
   
3. If there are no players close, to reduce 'damage' done by blue shells simply drive off an edge (if there is one) before it hits you. This way you can get a speed boost when you get placed back on the track and not loose much ground on the other players.

 

[Eerpow]

The community system and the no items/only bananas, shells etc. plus the best racing mechanics in a MK to date made this my favorite in the series. The balloon battles are awesome too and pretty much the only thing I play outside of some communities I'm in. They got rid of everything I hated about MKW, the cloud, too many racers, pow block among a few other things. Looking at WRs and leaderboards is always fun. I really couldn't care less about what the AI is like as it's all about multiplayer with real people unless you're racing against staff ghosts, and I don't care about character selection either by the way.

Want to play MK professionally then look up some WRs on youtube and find good people to play against with your own set of rules.

Even online with all items on there are some seriously good players who know how to counter items and even avoid or at least lessen the damage of blue shells with mushrooms/taking suicide and whatnot. Can it be unbalanced at times? Sure, but in some communities like the GBAtemp one people use irc so all players know when someone lost due to a blueshell.

The mushroom avoid trick isn't hard really, I haven't missed a single opportunity since I learned how to time it. You can also if possible drive close to other players when the shell is homing you in order to use the blast radius to your advantage

´Another technique that can be performed is making red homing shells miss you by taking a sharp turn close to a wall.

reason that those should be unavoidable even if you have a starman.

They are avoidable in MK7...

Anyway just play in a community without them. Mushroom only is pretty fun.

 

[pasc]

Didn't like MK 7 either and sold it... only good thing about that whole thing ? I didn't loose money... its still worth as much as it was when I bought it.

I even prefer MK for DS (Advance one was ok...)

 

[3bbb7]

This probably should've been a blog, but we don't have those right now.

Anyway, I agree with you, Mario Kart 7 is way too unbalanced. And the fact that you can't dodge blue shells at all (if I recall correctly, you could dodge them in Mario Kart 64 with extreme precision) completely breaks the game, in my opinion.

I think you can dodge them with a mushroom at the right time.

 

[-Hero-]

MK7 is the best MK since MKDS.

Its not hard to win. You stay in first, then you glance down at the bottom screen. When you see someone with a blue shell, slam on the breaks, get into second. Boom, solved.

Agreed to this 100%.

Even though they could have had more characters, MK7 has the best courses IMHO and is my favorite in the series.

 

[basher11]

The only thing that bothered me in the game was that there wasn't a VS. mode.

 

[pierslogic]

I pretty much enjoyed MK7. No problems with the game mechanics that I felt ruined the experience. The only complaints I have is the constant cramp you get in your hands, after long game sessions...

 

[TyBlood13]

This probably should've been a blog, but we don't have those right now.

Anyway, I agree with you, Mario Kart 7 is way too unbalanced. And the fact that you can't dodge blue shells at all (if I recall correctly, you could dodge them in Mario Kart 64 with extreme precision) completely breaks the game, in my opinion.

Actually, you CAN dodge blue shells if you use a mushroom when it starts to come down, or go off a boost pad when the same thing happens

 

[TyBlood13]

They should of made the tanooki the item to avoid the blue shell, its an item you only usually get 1-3rd position, its on a timer (so you would need to time it to dodge the blue shell) and it would actually make that item something you want to get, as apposed to being an item that takes so long to fade that its worst item to get when you are in first (green shells and banana's are much more useful)

Also, stop blue shells being airbourne, they need to go back to being a slide along the ground item (so they have a chance to hit people on the way to hitting 1st place)

They DO hit people on the way to 1st place, as they DID change it back to a ground item that flies up right at the very end.

 

[ComeTurismO]

Hmm your facts are making me realize I shouldn't buy it. Sounds annoying, so won't get it for my new 3DS.

 

[TyBlood13]

Hmm your facts are making me realize I shouldn't buy it. Sounds annoying, so won't get it for my new 3DS.

I highly recommend that you do get the game, the OP is exaggerating quite a bit...

 

[Latiken]

This probably should've been a blog, but we don't have those right now.

Anyway, I agree with you, Mario Kart 7 is way too unbalanced. And the fact that you can't dodge blue shells at all (if I recall correctly, you could dodge them in Mario Kart 64 with extreme precision) completely breaks the game, in my opinion.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but you can't dodge blue shells in Mario Kart DS either.

 

[c_house]

MK7 is the best MK since MKDS.

Its not hard to win. You stay in first, then you glance down at the bottom screen. When you see someone with a blue shell, slam on the breaks, get into second. Boom, solved.

Exactly what I do. The blue shell is annoying, but it is also easy to dodge if your not too far ahead of everybody. I've also noticed that the blue shell acts a lot more like the one from 64, it hits anybody that gets in it's way to the leader instead of flying over all of them.

 

[ComeTurismO]

I highly recommend that you do get the game, the OP is exaggerating quite a bit...

Probably, I might have to see gameplays and trailers, OP's fact may be true.