Introduction
Many times in the history of gaming it has been proven the original is the best. Mario Kart has been one of those examples. There have been many Mario Kart imitators but very few have lived up to what gamers love about the game. Most of the imitations are based of other popular video game series - like Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Motor Kombat, Diddy Kong Racing, Crash Team Racing (Crash Bandicoot), Pac-Man World Rally, and the list goes on. All the basic elements of a kart racer are in those games -- crazy cars, power ups, boosts, outrageous tracks and intense multiplayer. For some reason they have never captured the fun that keeps bringing us back to Mario Kart. The reason being, while those games copied basic elements of a kart racer, they don't have a unique personality.
United Front Games has taken a stab at creating a kart game for the PS3 by developing ModNation Racers. Following Media Molecule's ideas with Little Big Planet, United Front Games decided to make gamer-created content the main feature of their latest kart racer. That is what gives ModNation Racers its unique personality. Gamers have already created characters and karts based off their favorite cartoons and video game characters. However, most people use original creations to make the characters their own and based off their own personalities. Tracks can range from very simple but exciting to complex with many shortcuts and obstacles. Several real-life race track remakes have been produced, with the addition of some karting flavor.
Gameplay
Let's start with when the game first loads. The game launches into the single player campaign where the first series of races act as tutorials. These matches teach boosting, shields, weapons, side swiping, shortcuts and other basics of game play. For the most part the game play is typical to most kart racers.
As skills are performed, such as drifting, drafting or spins on big jumps, the boost meter fills up. The boost meter has four levels. Boost can be used to give the kart a speed burst or activate the shield defense. Using the shield is where the four levels of boost come into play as it is more likely to succeed if its level matches the level of attack an opponent executes.
Power ups have three levels of attack that increase whenever passing through a item drop orb. The first level is usually weak and only good for short range attacks against a single opponent. The second level attack is usually a much stronger version of the level one attack, and can hit more than one kart and doesn't need to be as precisely aimed. The third level attack is a more global attack that could attack all players. The game also has a secondary function for each power up in the form of a mine. This is an excellent YouTube video showing off the power ups:
These levels of attack and boost create the core strategies of the game. Do you hold on to boost to use as a shield against a powerful attack or boost past someone to steal a power up? Do you hold off on a level two attack in order to try to gain a level three? As with most kart racers weapon usage usually determines the winner of the match. The strategies players employ is what keeps the matches different and fun race after race.
Each race of the career mode has three challenges and five tokens. Completing the challenges unlock items that can be used to customize your creations. Tokens can be traded in to unlock items at random. If all three challenge for a race are completed, the grudge match against the rival racer for that track is unlocked. Successfully completing the grudge match unlocks yet more items.
Finally, of course, some items can be purchased from the PSN store. The purchase is not required to view or download a creation that uses the items, you just cannot use the items for your own creations. My current character and kart (displayed below) uses a kart body, suspension and wheels I received from a grudge match.
Modspot and Online Play
After completing the tutorial series every time the game is started you will be placed in an instance of the Modspot. The instance will contain about 20 to 30 random people playing the game. The Modspot is similar to Sony Home's Central Plaza area in that it is a hub that has access to all of the game's modes.
In this area you can chat with the other players, look at current game news, view the top mods, access the multiplayer area, download mods and access your Creation Zone. If you have friends online playing the game you can bring up the in-game friends list and join their Modspot or invite them to yours. Voice chat in the Modspot is proximity based so you won't hear everyone in the area.
Starting a multiplayer match from the Modspot is simple. Head to the racing area and park in the circle for either online play, quick play, split screen, or career and press square. When selecting online play you are given a popup with several options, including if you want the race to be public or private and include AI. All of these options can be changed in the multiplayer lobby.
Multiplayer is implemented very well. The host can promote another player to host. Any player can view the current karts and characters the other players are using along with their driving style settings. Friends can join a private match lobby without an invite and voice chat will work even if a race is currently in progress. Players can also view the other player's mods and download them, which is a great feature for the host. A friend might join and ask to try his or her latest creation. Just download and set it as the next race. The game has no noticable lag, even with a full room. When the race is finished, you are given the option to rate and download the track if you haven't done so already.
Creation Zone
The other popular area of the Modspot is the Creation Zone. This is where you can create your characters, karts, and tracks. Modnation Racers Creation Zone editor is simple to use; the tutorials are brief overviews of what is possible. I was able to create a playable track within 30 minutes and spent another 15 minutes tweaking and making it look good.
The only downside I have come across is the tracks don't auto-update like Little Big Planet's levels. You have to unpublish the track which causes all of the content to be removed -- ratings, comments, etc. Just as with Little Big Planet, not all user created content is good. All content can be rated along with comments. The better rated your creations become the more XP you will receive. This gives you a way to filter out what you want to download and keep.
Final Words
I enjoyed Little Big Planet but I never created a level. Level creation took quite some time that I would rather spend playing the levels. I am going to predict that due to how easy it is to create tracks and that racing has a broader audience than a platform game, Modnation Racers will become very popular, possibly more popular the Little Big Planet.
There isn't much to complain about with the game. There are some minor physics issues like getting stuck at the bottom of a ramp that isn't on level land, rarely there can be difficulties connecting to the servers, and load times can be lengthy. Hopefully these can be addressed with a patch. All in all, it's a very pleasing experience with little to distract gamers from playing the game. The only other issue that would affect a 2old2play gamer is, like many PS3 games, there is no LAN support. However, the game has excellent split screen support. I rate this game as a "must own."
United Front Games has taken a stab at creating a kart game for the PS3 by developing ModNation Racers. Following Media Molecule's ideas with Little Big Planet, United Front Games decided to make the main feature of their latest kart racer will be content created by the gamers. Does this make it stand out from the multitude of kart racers?
