Mod Nation Racers Exclusive Beta Impressions
Red shells, Koopa, Toad, Rainbow road it’s easy for many when they think of Kart games… they just think Mario. It’s a fair thought too as the plumber and the gang have had very little meaningful competition for best Kart game, just off the top of my head I can only think of two definites those being Diddy Kong Racing, and Super Street Racing. Some playstation fans would argue Crash Team Racing, but in truth its was a pale imitation for the exploits in the mushroom kingdom.
And that’s really the cross that every other kart game has had to bear; it just wasn’t Mariokart. MarioKart has very much set up our expectations for what a kart game should be, however that model was established in the 16 bit SNES era. Now steps up a new contender to Super Mario’s thrown, will all the sheen and functionality of the next gen era. Mod Nation Racers is no pretender and just might provide enough significant difference
Mod nation initially strikes you as extremely similar to Mario Kart, however it is the high level of customisation on offer from the title that is as exciting and as ground breaking as Little Big Planet. Literally all aspects of this racing game can be edited from, drivers and Karts through to the track itself. It isn’t just the roads that can be edited, but the entire landscape; hills, people, barrells and boosts even wildlife can be added to the tracks. With the limited tools on offer within the Beta, already we were able to race around original tracks, but also replicas of Silverstone and probably the more popular tracks from television and games such as the Top Gear and diddy Kong Racing.
It is this huge wealth of extras that makes the game so appealing as essentially the list of tracks is endless, ensuring the gamer never tires of the game. This fully compliments the tracks designed by developers United Front Games which are both challenging and addictive.
But all this creativity would be nothing if the gameplay was poor, thankfully it isn’t and beautifully balances challenge with pick up and play. it retains the fun element that ensures a group of mates or a family can sit around and have a game, essentially it borrows from Mario Kart in that you speed around hitting boosts and collecting power ups. You can even boost through drifting. Where it differs is that Mod Nation Racer has refined the formula. How often have you been unfairly robbed of victory by a red shell? well now the gamer has a shield that can be turned on or off, crucially draining your boost when on, and so the gamer is always asked to assess the race and the liklihood of being hit.
One aspect that did take a bit of getting used to was the handling of the karts as they are a little more twitchy than Mario Kart. Drifting initially proved to be a little sensitive compared to the likes of Double Dash, but after a few laps it was easy enough to adjust to the slightly more sensitive controls.
Graphically this game is brilliant with a hub world acting as your main base, from which you can drive to events or press start to quickly access the options. The hub is also populated with online gamers who you can either interact with and challenge to a race or ignore completely. Again Mod Nation Racers has clearly thought how it can appeal to a broad spectrum of gamers. In game races are equally pleasing on the eye with nice particle effects, hills and terrain feel full bodied yet always with a nod to the genres cartoon roots.
The Beta only has certain options and editing functions available, but what is promising is how good fan creations are at this early stage. Once the full game is released this should attract a whole new audience. Mario Kart has been the king of this genre for so long and we wait to see if this promising new suiter can steal the crown away from Nintendo.
- Chris Guest
For more shots of the great custom characters go to the gallery on our homepage
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23 Jan 2010, 10:17 am
Have played the beta as well, and it seems like it can very much be the new fun-kart king of 2010.
Nicely writter article btw. i agree with you for the most part.
23 Jan 2010, 10:32 am
Thanks, the fun with the game is two fold the actual karting but the mods available, I’m just hoping they dont do away with the all when they release the full game.
23 Jan 2010, 10:38 am
this game is the truth
there are no words to describe it’, ul’ have to imagine…..or play it
24 Jan 2010, 1:09 am
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24 Jan 2010, 6:26 am
this game is the truth yall, im back for a second day, to tell you
nothing compares to the fun to be had on modnation racers
& the fun on mag
and the fun/experience of heavy rain
the terror of god of war 3
the serenity of gran turismo
the emotion of the last guardian
the speed of ace combat 7
and the power of killzone 3
peace yall
the savagery of twisted metal
the
24 Jan 2010, 6:29 am
the brutality of the AGENT cant wait another 6 months for it- peace
info- la noire 30 40 50’s
agent 60 ‘70 80’s
grand theft auto 5 90 2000 2010’s
complete works – only on PS3.