Article
Modnation Racers
PS3 Review
In Modnation Racers the player takes the role of Tag, an age and gender interchangeable plushie doll who has a kart and has a dream… That dream is to win the Modnation Racing Championship and it is here where the player comes in; your role is to drive Tag around the circuits that constitute each section of the championship to help him realise that dream, a dream that at times does seem like a completely unattainable one.
Let’s get this complaint out of the way first, the reason that it seems impossible is the very constant learning curve in single player mode and when I say constant, think ‘vertical, like a brick wall’. Many reviewers have lambasted the AI as being just too hard, but I'm not so sure it's that simple, the game starts out hard and gets even more so as you go on and this is not down solely to the other competitors’ artificial intelligence; it’s painfully more subtle than that. It’s down to the developers expectation that you would naturally improve your intelligence as you play. So along with the learning curve gradient of the AI, the tracks too become equally more complex and aggressive, not only in layout but also in the additional risk factors planted; and planted quite frequently; right in the middle of what should be your racing line. As a result you are expected to up your game quite dramatically for each new section and to be honest I think this is a little too demanding for most of us and would probably be a little frustrating for all.
The graphics are however a very elegant chibi/kawaii affair and are managed remarkably well. The game has an incredibly deep ‘Build and Share’ system where the player can mould their own driver plushies, karts and tracks and then share them all online for the endless kudos of their fellow man, because as we all know, online communities are always good for that sort of thing.
Sarcasm about ‘teh internets’ aside, the creation tools are well developed and remarkably easy to use; most players will not be professional designers, but I can assure you that the tools take this completely into account and allow enough scope for everyone from the tinkerer to the professional to develop and design something to be proud of. The tracks are an excellent example of this, realising that not everyone has the time or the inclination to design a perfect track from the ground up, the creation tools allow for an auto finish option, a handy little addition for the time or inclination poor like me.
The game play is in itself very good and the driving quite enjoyable; brick wall learning curve aside; so even the occasional gamer should take quite a bit of pleasure from the first few tracks once they have learned to develop a racing line, some in-air tricks and a ‘boom-box’ (weapons), technique.
Outside of the racing game play and the creation station, the game provides a nice little background plot on the machinations of those around Tag as he attempts to become the World Champion. Some of this is quite trite, but where there are highlights they are truly wonderful, particularly the comic duo who provide race commentary whose interplay frequently had me in stitches.
All in all it’s a very good game, the only negative factors being that the loading times are reminiscent of the Commodore 64 and the learning curve is a bit too steep. Perseverance will clear up the latter of those concerns however and providing you are old enough to have owned an eight bit machine I daresay you’ll be able to easily forgive the former. I would forgive it anyway, at least until another game comes along that allows me to race a kart powered by a hamster wheel with a driver who looks like a malformed duckling on a track of my own creation… but then, I’m not really a person who is too hard to please.
Campion.
Discuss this article on the forum!
1 replies
Author
Game Info
ModNation Racers
Playstation 3
No members are watching this game
Screenshots
Member Options
Your rating: N/A
You must be logged in to use these features!