ModNation Racers

By Tom Price

The second game sporting the Playstation 3′s “Play, Create, Share” tag line, Modnation Racers is the latest game relying on creation as a huge part of the experience- Little Big Planet being the originator. On top of being in the shadow of one of the PS3′s biggest exclusives, MNR is a kart racing game, a genre that has been dominated by Mario Kart since it debuted on the Super Nintendo. So with two huge games to live up to, can the little up and comer live up to either? Good god yes.

  Modnation Racers succeeds for two key reasons. First and foremost, it is a great kart racing game. Stripping away all the creation, this game would still be highly recommendable based on the racing alone. Drifting around switchback turns, sideswiping fellow racers and nailing the boost at the starting line are all incredibly fun, satisfying and easy to pull off. Like any good kart racing game it has weapons and power-ups scattered around the track. There are four base power-ups, which all have three ranks. A rocket turns into a heat seeking rocket by driving through a second power-up balloon, and then again into multiple heat seeking rockets by driving through a third. Nothing as unfair/overpowered as many of the weapons in Mario Kart, but still allows for last minute come-from-behind wins without something as annoying like the infamous blue shell.
Along with weapons, there is also an energy bar that adds another level to competition. It allows you boost, sideswipe other racers, open up short cuts and shield yourself from other attacks. The shield is especially handy in making the person in first place not be completely helpless under a potential torrent of rocket, lightning and sonic wave attacks. The bars fills by drifting, getting air, drafting and attacking opponents. Crazier driving earns you more speed, protection, and offensive capabilities, all of which goes a long way to making you always feel like you have a wide variety of tricks to pull from at all times, even when you don’t have a weapon. 
 
  What makes MNR stand out is the creation aspect of the game. Even more, it is the simplicity of creating zany tracks that is the bread and butter of Sony’s kart racer. If you’re like me, than you    might have been a little let down with Little Big Planet’s level creator. Yes it offered the capability to create something very original and complex, but the time and skill needed to create a great- even just decent- Little Big Planet level was way more than  most people had to devote to it. Modnation Racers’ editor makes it incredibly easy to create something fun in only 20 minutes. As a result, there are many user-created tracks that are on the same level as Sony’s stock levels. Along with tracks, the editor for your “Mod,” the game’s name for your racer, and your kart are incredibly entertaining all on their own.
Shockingly, there is a story in Modnation Racers, and it ain’t bad. Sure it isn’t anything deep or complex, even kiddy as you might expect, but I found myself laughing at enough of the jokes and the slapstick that I was always paying attention whenever a cut scene came up. 
 
  The online is solid. Finding a group to race with never took that long, and lag was a limited issue, and is integrated to the game from the very start. The game’s starting hub area- where you can choose to play Career, or split-screen, or jump into creation- is populated with random people from the Internet. Each time I sat down for a quick race it turned into a longer session because nothing is better than a little demolition derby in the hub before jumping into the Career.

Much like Little Big Planet, the game has some trouble highlighting great levels, mods, and karts available for download. It tries to alleviate the problem by showing off three mods and karts in the hub area, which are supposed to change every day, but after a few days, Mario, Spiderman, and Ironman are still up as the top mods. That and extremely long load times are my only real gripes with Modnation racers, but is a small price to pay for one of the best racing game on the system since Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (I’m a big Motorstorm fan, feel free to insert your own favorite racing game), and one of the best party games on the system.

Final Score- A 
 
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