ModNation Racers

By - Craig H.

ModNation Racers is the second installment in Sony’s “Play, Create, Share” game series. Trying to follow in the footsteps of LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers aims to put the players in control of the content in the game. If following in LittleBigPlanet's success was not enough it is also tasked with going after kart racing's juggernaut, Mario Kart. ModNation Racers gives both games a run for their money.

ModNation Racers has something that was lacking from other kart racers…a true career mode. Beyond just going from race to race and unlocking new racers and tracks there is a story complete with cutscenes and characters. The cutscenes are done beautifully and if you modify the default kart or character it will render your mods into the cutscenes. The game revolves around the “ModNation Racing Championship” in which you are an up and coming racer named Tag. You are climbing the ranks to become the champion. Along the way you will meet colorful characters and race against rival drivers. The story is tied together by color commentator’s Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons who provide clever banter and background into the events. The commentators will have you cracking smiles and laughing the entire game. It’s great to see that so much time was given to hash out a full career mode and is a highlight of the game.

Within each race in the career mode are three challenges. One challenge is mandatory (usually either finish in the top 3 or finish in 1 place) while the other 2 are optional. The optional challenges can include getting a certain amount of spin points, sideswiping a certain amount of characters, beat the “elite racer” of the track to unlock them, etc. By completing any of the 3 challenges you will unlock new mod materials that you can use in your creations. Along with the added challenges is the inclusion of collectable tokens for each track. In each of the career tracks are 5 scattered tokens. The tokens are collected by finding and driving through them during a career race. Once collected, you can trade the tokens in for extra mod accessories. These added challenges and collectibles provide great replay to the career mode.

From the start of the game the controls just feel right. Drifting is handled by simply holding the X button to engage and releasing when finished, while the kart is controlled by the left analog stick. The driving feels tight and responsive even when sideswiped you still feel in control though your kart is not. Drifting and mid-air tricks will fill a boost meter that has 3 functions. Beyond the standard boost of speed you can also use it to power sideswipe opponents and create a shield to protect against enemy attacks. Timing is essential when activating the shield. Setting the shield too early will have it come down in time to catch the last part of the attack. The timing will take a few races to get right but once you find it you will finish 1more often. Mastering this technique is critical in online matches.

In classic kart racing style, weapons are scattered around the track in weapon pods and are picked up by driving over them. There are 4 classes of weapons which can be upgraded 3 times by collecting more weapons pods without using them. For example, level 1 rockets shoot 1 rocket while level 3 rockets shoot a plethora of rockets. Strategy does come into play because when you are hit by an enemy attack the weapons you had are gone. Saving up for a level three attack could net you no return if you are hit first.

ModSpot is the hub for accessing all the modes of the game. At the ModSpot you can see the top 3 user created karts and character mods, see top lap times, start quick races, online races, career mode, access friends, and more. All of this while sitting in the comfort of your kart. If you don’t care to drive around you can pull up a pin wheel of options and jump right into the mode you want.

ModNation Racers is really built around a customization and creation theme. Players can make karts, characters and tracks. Creating any of the three is incredibly easy and will only take a few minutes to have something acceptable. Though trying to recreate classic comic book characters and cartoon characters will take a considerable more amount of time. Many people were a bit overwhelmed with the challenge of creating levels in LittleBigPlanet and ModNation Racers came up with the solution. To add to the ease you can even have the game auto-populate the surrounds of a created track. This function only leaves players the task of laying the asphalt down .The computer will plug in trees, buildings, and sheep to provide the track character. This ease of creation will have more players creating and sharing tracks.

Every track, character, and kart can be shared online and those already online can be downloaded. With the ease of creating in ModNation Racers there will be a huge amount of stuff to download once the game hits the shelves. The way the game handles the download process is very slick. If you are looking for a certain mod you can search for it by name, if you want the most downloaded or the one highest rated mods you can search for them. Once the search is made you will be able to see the character in a grid and see the character mod before downloading it. The same functionality is held in regards to kart mods too. If you want to find the Bat Mobile, simply search for it and pick the best looking mod for download. No longer must you sift through hundred of awkward looking mods to find the one you want.

Local multiplayer is available for 2-4 players via split screen. The 4 player split-screen does drop a bit in the frame rate department but does not mar the experience. Online Multiplayer is available for up to 12 players. The game offers both “Casual Races” as well as “XP Races”. In Casual Races, extra competitor slots can be filled in with bots for lack of real players. This is a good place to just race a friend or have a quick, fun race. The XP Races will award you points that are used to level up your character. These races require only real player (no bots). XP points can also be gained by creating a top downloaded mod or winning the top lap times for a particular day.

One place that ModNation Racers really falters is the incredibly poor load times. In some cases it can take almost one minute to load the race. Most people may think that’s not a long time but when you realize that the entire race is over in three minutes the load times feel forever. This does not kill the experience but is unfortunate. For a game that requires over a 3GB mandatory install this is unacceptable.

The game does suffer from one of the more frustrating aspects of kart racers. Nothing is more frustrating then having a perfect race only to be hit with a weapon mere inches from the finish line. Just like Mario Kart and so many other kart racers there is a certain imbalance to the finish of a race. An entire race can be almost completely weapons free until the final lap where you are hit by a barrage of attacks one after another. This does not happen on every race but happens enough to warrant a mention. This is something that developers of kart racers still cannot get quite right.

Some may look at ModNation Racers and think that it’s just for kids judging from its colorful characters and kart racer stigma attached to it, but that could not be further from the truth. The game is fun for everyone. Kids will play it and have a great time with a fun kart racing game but the expert gamers will have a blast making new characters, karts, and tracks. The gameplay is easy to play but hard to master, and the online races will be ruthless.

Overall, ModNation Racers is an excellent racing game that will provide an infinite amount of replay as long as the online community stays involved (which I think they will). The gameplay feels great, career mode is amazing, and the mods are quick and easy to create. The load times are a disappointment but do not derail the experience. Modnation Racers is a fantastic game that will keep you enthralled for a long, long time.

Quick Synopsis:

Pros:

• Highly customizable
• Infinite replay ability as long as community stays active (which I think it will)
• Making new mods to characters, karts and tracks is easy for anyone but detailed enough for the hardcore.
• Great single player career mode that is sorely missed from other kart racers.
• Online ranking system and racing options will keep you playing every day.
• Up to 4-player split screen local matches.
• Accessible to all ages but will require a great amount of skill on higher difficulties and online matches.
• Great handling and feels natural from the start.

Cons:

• Very long load times
• Suffers from a classic kart racer issues (swarms of attacks right before the finish). Not on every race but worth a mention.

RATING: 9/10