Developer: United Front Games
Publisher: SCEE
Release Date: Out Now
Players: Singleplayer, four player offline splitscreen, 2 player online splitscreen, 12 player online
Words By:
ModNation Racers is the second game in Sony’s new play, create, share genre, or in this case, race, create and share. This means it is similar to LittleBigPlanet in a number of ways, it has a story mode which unlocks further things to create with, and a create centre where all the creation takes place. It shares features with the PSP version of the game, but as you would expect it also contains a lot more.
The game’s career mode is the first thing you start with, having to do the first race before you can even go to any other mode. You play as Tag, a Mod who dreams of winning the ModNation Racing championship title. The story is played out with cutscenes between some of the races, either directly telling the story or just of the commentators. The cutscenes help the story make sense and contain lots of witty banter from the two commentators (who were clearly inspired by Celebrity Deathmatch) which will keep most players amused and offer a few laughs here and there. The main aim of each race is to finish in the top three; this seems easy at first with the first few races helping teach you the controls with brief tutorials. The difficulty increases as you progress, with later races being a lot more difficult as the tracks become more complex and the AI opponents become less forgiving. Later races also require you to finish first rather than just in the top three. At the beginning of each race, before you select it, the game shows you the main objective needed to unlock the next race and the things you unlock for completing that objective. It also shows you a number of secondary objectives which upon completion unlock further items that can be used in the customisation area. Some of the races have an objective which, when complete, unlocks a “grudge race”, where you face a one-on-one challenge with one of the characters, and if you win you will unlock them and their kart, and all the pieces used to make them, for your own use.
There are also a number of other race modes. There is the quick race mode, where you can quickly start a single player race and the splitscreen race, where you can race with up to three friends on the same screen, a feature that seems to be missing from many games now. Then there’s the online racing - this is one of the main features of the game, and will probably be where you spend most of your time, apart from creating things. There are a variety of modes for you to take your pick from, from XP races to splitscreen races. You can have two-player splitscreen online races, but sadly these aren’t XP races so aren’t ranked.
The races can either be Pure or Action races. Pure races are just that, pure racing with no weapons or anything, best driver wins. Action races are where the fun starts. Pickups are located around the track, which give you a weapon when driven through, these can be fired straight away or saved as when you drive through another item pod they stack up, upgrading your weapon. This can be done a maximum of twice, to give you super powerful weapons. By holding down the square button you can turn these weapons into mines to place behind you, perfect for when you’re in the lead!
All the creation happens in the creation station. This is where you can access the PSStore to buy new DLC, create and modify karts, customise your Mod and create your own tracks. It is also where you can publish these creations to the rest of the world and download other gamers’ creations. You can customise a huge number of things on your Mod, from the eyes to the shoes to the voice. This is the area where you will most probably spend most of your time, creating many masterpieces to share with the world. There are a wide variety of stickers which can be used on nearly every part of the Mod, and can be manipulated every way possible. The stickers can also be grouped for easy manipulation. The karts can also be modified in a similar variety of ways, with more pieces being unlocked for both the karts and the Mods by competing in the career mode.
The Track Studio seems a lot more complicated than it actually is, so be sure to have a go at designing your own circuits. To create the track you just have to drive round, with the track being drawn behind you. You can then choose to have the track auto-populate, with all the scenery and items put on for you, or you can go through and do them yourself, customising them exactly how you want. The amount of things which can be created is almost unlimited and you will keep finding new things to do all the time. If you ever find yourself stuck, the game has a variety of tutorial videos which can be very helpful, narrated by the game’s commentary team, which always guarantees a laugh.
The Modspot is the centre stage. It’s the hub of the game and where you go to select the different game modes, and is basically an interactive menu & game lobby. Up to 24 people online can be driving round and you can use the chatbox or voice chat to communicate and set up races. It also has areas to show the top three karts and Mods currently, and is where you will spend most time with friends when not racing.
Overall, despite a few annoyances here and then, ModNation racers is the Kart Game to get on the PS3, even if you’re not going to be creating things you’ll find plenty to do, testing other peoples tracks and just having fun racing.
Best Bits
- Huge range of customisation options - Ease of creation - Simple controls make it easy to pick up and play - Lots to unlock
Worst Bits
- Long loading times - Frustratingly hard later races in the career mode
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