ModNation Racers Impressions/Sort-Of Review

Well, since I still have to get through Alan Wake after this, and since I just picked up Super Street Fighter IV, we will try to keep this short. Here we go!

ModNation Racers

There's really not too much to say about the game itself, since so much of it is driven by the custom content, which we will get to in a minute. The game itself is simple. It's a kart racer, essentially Mario Kart crossed with LittleBigPlanet, and it's one of the best I've played recently. The controls take a race or two to warm up to, but once you have it down, you'll be boosting, spinning, sideswiping, and drifting like a pro. The racing controls are simply the tightest I've experienced on a console, and even allow for a bit of customizable leeway depending on how you find yourself racing. The game itself is fairly simple, featuring Online Racing with up to twelve players, including one local guest, as well as four player Split-Screen, a rarity in this day and age.

The single player campaign features your custom character and kart racing through a series of tournaments, and the races are interspersed with commentary from the two presenters of the races, as well as short cinematics and commercials for in-game stuff. The game's humour is light and funny, and the two commentators are a riot. Think what a great job John DiMaggio and Greg Proops did in MadWorld, but make it family friendly. And, you know, with different actors. The story is nifty, but is not particularly important, at least not so far. But while the racing is the real focus it's not just an afterthought, well written and with excellent voice acting. Each race features challenges to complete, so in addition to winning, players may also aim for a certain number of drift points, or taking out a specific opponent. They add a nice extra level of difficulty, and each challenge unlocks new items for the creation suites.

Speaking of which, the game features three excellent customization suites, allowing you to create custom characters, karts, and tracks. All three are ridiculously powerful, and thus far players have been creating everything from Iron Man to the Joker, and even Alan from The Hangover. Karts are also skyrocketing, with thousands of attempts at the Back To The Future DeLorean, to even a Waste Management Truck. The creators are simply amazing, and even without any experience, in five minutes you can have a mod and kart all your own. The track editor in particular is exceptional, with track being laid simply by driving a bulldozer around the fully customizable landscape. Once it is complete, the game can auto-fill everything from buildings, paths, weapons, and sheep! Despite this, everything is completely editable, so whether you are a creative genius or a complete noob, you can create something in this game.

Now that the good is out of the way, let's talk shittyness. Those challenges I mentioned? They can be ridiculously difficult, not helped by the particularly vengeful AI. This game never lets up, with opponents hurling weapon after weapon at you with terrifying tenacity. Several times I was in first, finish line in sight, when suddenly my racer was pummeled by a swarm of guided missiles, a lightning strike, and a sonic boom in rapid succession, grinding me to a halt two feet from the finish, where I watched helplessly as the six or so racers that had been a good ten seconds behind me zoom past me and into the finish. Some of the AI racers get particularly butthurt if you win their challenges, and they challenge you to a one-on-one race. Just you, and him, and ten of his goons. That's right, in the mano-a-mano duesl, you must contend with ten other racers. And you need to place first, not just ahead of your challenger. It can get pretty frustrating.

My last two gripes are rather minor, considering. The creations suites allow for an amazing amount of artistic expression, and the game's online hub showcases the top three mods and karts each day. However, since launch those have been the same three creations. Never once have I seen anything else up there, and while those six creations are excellent, I would like to see other people's work up there as well. It seems reproductions are rewarded with more attention than genuine creativity, but that is an argument for another day. Finally, load times. The game features some pretty lengthy load times, ranging from 15-45 seconds. The game requires two loads just to start. However, these loads are bearable, and once they are done, the game moves fluidly, nary a hitch or hiccup in sight, so it's a minor tradeoff, but a gripe nonetheless. As an aside, United Front Games has already promised to patch the game to shorten load times sometime soon.

So there you have it. ModNation Racers. If you like kart games, buy it. If you don't like kart games, play it. Anything you want, you can find or make in this game. That alone makes it worth the admission.