Modnation Racers




Posted by maian

Despite the still horrible, horrible title, wow. This game has some immense potential. I'm not joking. I got a free beta code from Sony's loyalty site, and it's caught me completely by surprise. I haven't even played online, but even from what I've played on my lonesome, the game is a blast. Your little avatar is insanely fun to customize, and the customization options are off the charts here. Unlike LBP's Sackboys, where it's basically just "mix costume pieces," basically every single conceivable part of the MNR dudes (I don't know if they have a name or not) are open to customization. I'm excited to see the inevitable variations and imitations of famous characters we see with this. The art style is a bit ugly in my opinion, but with the amount of customization available, it's no hard task to make a really lovable avatar. I have to admit though, most of their default characters are butt ugly. :o

And, the racing. The beta is fresh out to the public, so they're working out a lot of kinks. I assume it's for this reason that the online servers are basically down, so I've only been able to do time trials by myself. But from what I've played, the mechanics are fantastic. The level of control is perfect on your vehicle, and there's a powersliding esque technique, which builds up a boost meter on your vehicle. Nail your slides, and you've got plenty of boost at your disposal to shoot ahead. Granted, I haven't played with another player, but it just feels like it's a winning system. What I'm really looking forward to is toying with the weapons and upgrades during races. From what I barely remember of the E3 video, it's like a mix between Diddy Kong Racing and Mario Kart's powerups. But then, my memory is bad and I could be COMPLETELY wrong about this.

And, don't get me started on the track creator. Some dude at E3 whipped up a level in five minutes, and it looked like a bona-fide racing level built from the ground up for Mario Kart. Simply amazing. I think this will be the most fun local multiplayer racing ever made, due to the fact that there will essentially be infinite levels popping up from the community. Where Mario Kart has 16 tracks, this will have new ones every day for you to choose from with your friends. While they're shamelessly copying LittleBigPlanet's formula, it's no bad thing at all. Other developers would be wise to follow suit with other genres. So. What are your thoughts on this thus far? If you can get a beta key, I'd love to discuss it with someone who's played.