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ModNation Racers
What do you get when you combine Mario Kart with Little Big
Planet? The answer is ModNation Racers, an addictively
entertaining kart game that opens up a Pandora’s Box of custom
modifications which is almost as fun as the racing itself. This kart
game features everything the player needs from a sturdy single player
career mode to both local and online multiplayer fun that will have you
racing for a considerable amount of time in this LEGO/Cartoon inspired
world.
And then if you’re feeling creative, you can customise your rides,
create your own racing environments and even share them with other
players from around the world of ModNation Racers. The only issues we
had with the game is that the tools used to create your own worlds and
vehicles can be a little fiddle some if you don’t have the time or
patience but thankfully, the racing engine is relatively flawless and
there’s already plenty of downloadable content from other gamers.
As soon as you load ModNation Racers, you immediately know that you’re
in for a treat from the fun and easy to navigate menu system and the
happy feet music. However, before the developers throw you into the deep end, the
first race in the game acts as a tutorial which teaches you the basics
of racing and then you’re ready to either start your racing career or
unleash the creative muse inside you. This menu system or hub is like an
interactive world that is quite cleverly set out and even though it has
an element of childish wonder to it, older gamers will get as much
enjoyment as kids as they prep their games.
Mario Kart is still one of the best “fun” racing games around and
although ModNation Racers reinvents the wheel, it’s done in a good way
by adding new tweaks to the go-kart genre via the creator and the more
aggressive racing engine.
As a racer, ModNations Racers is thoroughly
enjoyable and the world has this great cartoon atmosphere to it as you
look for shortcuts, fly in the air by going over jumps and perform some
great drifting around those corners. With a variety of gaming modes, the
main crux of the game is the career mode where you need to race your way
to the top of the ModNation Racing Championships.
The career mode even
has a story as you attempt to make it number one in the game with some
great "fake" TV spots to your characters that really makes this a very
entertaining story. Even though the goal is to come first, there is
some leeway in the game and you can still progress if you come in third.
The game throws a few challenges at the player during the race where
they need to perform some funky manoeuvrers and if you come first, you
will be awarded with new unlockable content. Of course, all this fun
does come at a price as the loading times are a little lengthy at times
but hopefully we'll see an update to address this issue.
In terms of gameplay, to keep things grounded and more importantly, fun, the game contains a
variety of crazy power-ups and by collecting more of these, it will
increase their power. The game gives you points for performing key
racing elements such as drifting and gives you various bonuses such as
boosts and shields for example. There is even a bonus that lets you
knock an opponent from the track that is a little fiddly to manage but
if you do, you’ve caused them enough grief to give yourself that winning
edge. By collecting points and building up your power, this adds some
great diversity to your races but just be warned, the AI and human
opponents can give back as good as you give... if that makes sense!
Community Mod by ElectricNerd
Power Girl - DC Comics
Downloading new content is another highlight for me and if your PS3 is
connected to the net, this aspect of the game is built in quite well to
the menu system. I must admit that some people have created some truly
awesome vehicles from the classic Batmobile to even Mario Kart ones. Of
course, copyright blurs in the world of ModNation Racers… just check out
the above and below screenshots.
When it comes to online or local play with more than one person,
ModNation Racers boasts up to 4-players locally or 12-players online.
Online mode is great (provided you don’t suffer from lag) and contains a
variety of gaming modes for both ranked and unranked racers. You even
have the option of hosting a game and tweaking the settings or you can
just as easily join a game. Either way, it's super easy.
Community Mod by ElectricNerd
Harley Quinn - DC Comics
As with Little Big Planet, the creation tools do take a little while in
getting use but best of all, the developers have kept it quite
simplistic. Interesting enough, for me anyway, it’s easier to design
tracks, rather than the karts or the characters. Needless to say, the
scope for customisation is quite unparalleled. I’m still quite impressed
with the track editor as you cut through mountains, making paths for
your karts and presto, your race track is almost ready. The good thing
about the creation tools, whether racer, vehicle or track is that it
caters for a variety of skill levels and some of the results from other
online moders is truly impressive, to say the least.
Community Mod by ElectricNerd
Blue Beetle - DC Comics
Graphically, ModNation is cartoon eye candy with some great attention to
detail. The environments are well designed, albeit cartoony but it suits
the atmosphere of this game quite well. Add in a plethora of lighting
and special effects plus some good looking karts (provided I haven’t
designed them) and this compliments the gameplay in making this a very
good playing and good looking game. One issue is the frame rate that is
not as stable as I hoped. The soundtrack is what one would
expect from a game like this which sounds like it has been taken from a
happy go lucky Saturday morning cartoon series. Finally, you have all
those over the top sound effects to nicely put the cherry on top.
In conclusion, ModNation Racers is not only one of the best kart racers
in a long time (dare we say since Mario) but it also contains a great
community of shared content that will shed some amazing tracks, racers
and vehicles. Although it works well as a single-player, the real gem is
through the local and online multiplayer modes that gives it a great
party atmosphere.
Recommended in more ways than one! |
