Finally, A Kart Racer That Can Compete... The Modnation Racers Review

Modnation Racers feels like a breathe of fresh air for the kart racing genre that is dominated by the Mario Kart series. It also takes the genre to new heights under the Play, Create, and Share formula made famous by LittleBigPlanet. All the customization elements allow players' imaginations to go through the roof or just attempt to replicate what has been popular in other games from characters, karts, and even the tracks. While it brings some new things to the table, it suffers from lingering flaws from other kart racers, specifically Mario Kart. Other than that, Modnation Racers is a solid start for a new kart racing franchise to stand toe to toe with the rest of the competition.

Modspot is the main hub world for Modnation Racers where you can access single player and multiplayer offerings, look at what is hot in the community in terms of user created mods, karts, and tracks, and the studio itself where your creations can be built. Even if you can drive around to those locations, you can still access those areas just by the pause menu. The single player offerings consist of the career mode, standard races, and time trials. The career mode does have a storyline, but not something to get crazy about even though it gives you a reason why you are racing to get at the top of the ladder. It is pretty much a series of races with optional challenges to complete. You can still perform the minimal requirements in these races to progress in the career, but at some point, you gotta win in order to move on to the series. As similar to other racers like Mario Kart, the computer AI can be ridiculously cheap especially in the later races where winning can be impossible as it takes some crazy amounts of luck to win. This allows for many moments of frustration and numerous race restarts when everything is not going your way, which is why positioning and timing do matter in terms of being successful in this game. The career has five series of races that can be beaten in a matter of hours and of course luck, but the fun doesn't end there.

The core gameplay is pretty simple if you played other kart racers before. There are weapons to get in the item circles from missiles, sonic bombs, thunder bolts, and boosts. These weapons can be saved for upgraded versions when you come across another item circle for more powerful attacks, in which there are three levels. Strategy does get put into consideration when dealing with these weapons in terms of usage of whether to save up for a powerful attack or use them now to hopefully get a quick lead. Usually, the level 3 weapons are pretty useful in the races from a warp that goes beyond what a regular boost can do those a storm of thunderbolts on the racers ahead of you. Also similar to other kart racers are obstacles to avoid as well and big jumps to do tricks for more points and boost meter, also can be gained by drifting as well. Usage of this meter is also crucial to success and it can used to boost and also as a shield against weapon attacks. When these systems all get put in together, Modnation Racers is indeed a solid kart racer, but sometimes it makes you wish there could be more weapons to use other than the normal four.

Even though the racing component of Modnation Racers is solid yet flawed, the creative aspect is where the game truly shines. Pretty much the major parts of the game are customizable from the mods you play as, the kart you drive, and also the tracks. New mods, karts, and tracks can be made in mere minutes thanks to the simple mechanics of customization being offered, but those with a big creative mind can also take their sweet time to make something really cool for the community to see seeing all the timing pay off. Then again, most of the popular customizations that were made are characters you are familiar with from all the famous IPs in existence from other games, movies, television, etc. The majority of the customizations are in fact from these IPs and no wonder there is not any copyright issues yet with any of this stuff like what LittleBigPlanet had to deal with when it came out even though those issues weren't much a problem there either. It does show though that the Play, Create, and Share formula can go beyond than just a platformer with Modnation Racers.

The online component is also another shining element in Modnation Racers as all your creations and others' can be shared and downloadable for everyone to use. There is even a rating system of which are the hottest tracks to drive on even though most of them are for trophy whoring purposes and replications of past games, characters to play as, and so on. The racing part also offers some modes for players to be able to race against from regular races, a five-race series, and time trials. There is also an experience system that combines your racing performance online and your creations into one for a big reputation in the community. For the most part online peformance seems solid pending with your connection, but if you are not online in the Modnation servers, you are missing out on the majority of the whole game. Tracks, karts, and mods can be downloaded in seconds as well.

The major flaw in Modnation Racers is its abysmal load times. It takes a couple of minutes at most to load up a race both offline and online even with the game's mandatory install. Loading up the Modspot is not that bad compared to the races, but it makes you question why would Sony put out a product like this in 2010 with horrendous loading. Other than that, the game performs at a solid framerate with rare cases of slowdown. However, there can be numerous situations where you go off track for no reason at all with no instant get back on the track button unless you're completely off course. Graphically, Modnation Racers looks fine with colorful characters that they give you, but the customizations do make the game way more diverse than it originally was. As for the sound, it is nothing much than just generic tunes despite some decent voice acting with the characters. The commentary can also get a little annoying at times too especially if you have replaying a race over and over again in the career mode.

I still enjoyed my time with Modnation Racers despite its setbacks from the absurd rubberbanding of the cheap A.I. and the long load times. It is great seeing all the creations that the community has made so far as well as feeling satisfied with some online victories. In addition, it is nice to see another kart racer other than Mario Kart make a statement in the genre and also taking it to new heights with all the customizable elements being offered. Online does matter in a game like this, but playing in offline means you are completely missing the whole point of this game. Modnation Racers is off to a solid start to something great if this becomes a franchise as I see a bright future for it since the community seems to be going crazy with all those creations online.

Score = 8/10

Pros:

• Play, Create, Share formula definitely works for a kart racer
• Customizable elements are simple to use, but it does takes time to make something truly remarkable
• The kart racing feels solid with the handling, weapons, and variety of obstacles to avoid
• Online support is fantastic, but pretty much mandatory to enjoy the whole game

Cons:

• Abysmal load times both offline and online
• Computer A.I. even at normal difficulty can be cheap and frustrating especially with the rubberbanding
• More weapons would of been nice
• Sound didn't do much for me and can be annoying at times.

The Hip-Hop Game War Commences...

This fall will see two music games going head to head for your monies worth with DJ Hero 2 and Def Jam Rapstar.

I think I said this earlier when DJ Hero 2 is announced before E3 that I'm liking the new additions to this game making it more complete than the first one with more modes. We'll see if the song selection of mixes will also hold up as there will be some hits and some stinkers, but I can see why DJ Hero 2 is becoming better for the party atmosphere in your living room with more multiplayer options like vocals and two player turntable duels. Considering the first one bombed in terms of sales and now cheap to get, will the sequel have better success? Who knows with the rhythm genre in general these days even though DJ Hero has proven to be a great game to have around. Every time I play DJ Hero at my cousin's house on Hard, I have gotten pretty good at it even though I barely touched Expert, so if I get DJ Hero 2, I'll be likely making the jump this October.

Def Jam Rapstar, as you probably know already, is pretty much Singstar with obviously rapping. Likely the game will come out with radio edits of all the songs that will appear in the game from "Ain't Nothin But A G Thang," by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop, "Juicy" by Notorious B.I.G. (I know someone that would go crazy with that lol), "Push It" by Salt 'n Pepa, and many more. The social elements of this game will be interesting stuff with the 30 second quick clips like Singstar and the customization as well. I'm pretty sure people will find something that would rap, or in other words there's something for everyone in this game whether or not they like rap music. I still wished they would have dirty versions of the songs, but it ain't happening which is expected. Def Jam Rapstar is also coming out in October for the PS3, 360, and the Wii. (Giant Bomb has a clip of the E3 demo with Method Man and Redman's shenanigans too below)

Both DJ Hero 2 and Def Jam Rapstar do focus on hip-hop music as it is a sub-genre that feels untapped until now will those Guitar Hero/Rock Band games around. DJ Hero 2 does have more genres of music at its disposal besides hip-hop with the house/clubby stuff, but for those that just want to rap in their own living room, there's Def Jam Rapstar for that. You can probably throw in Harmonix's Dance Central to the mix too even though it is more of a dancing game than something with a hip-hop focus. I am indeed looking forward to both games and hope they do well this holiday season as they have the catered audiences ready to enjoy them. Then again, why not just get both to have around in your house parties especially after some drinks perhaps for more hilarity.

And Once Again... Lady Gaga wins E3!

If there was a honorable winner of this week's E3 show, it has to be once again Lady Gaga for her crazy influences across the whole gaming sphere. Last year, her influence has led to what is now the Playstation Move controller, or from some of us including me, I would still personally call it a disco stick because of the fact it change colors in certain cases. This year, Gaga has made games more popular again like Rock Band 2 with that DLC package that came out in March. Now, she is in DJ Hero 2 and Harmonix's Dance Central along with being downloadable in the current European versions of SingStar on PS3. However, now that the Playstation Move received positive buzz this week, the FPS Bodycount developers referring to her to how to deliver craziness, and Dance Central being arguably the killer app for Microsoft's Kinect, Gaga has put her stamp in the gaming world. I'm only focusing on Dance Central for this post because "Poker Face" is now stuck in my mind once again since that song is in the game as you dance away with your full body (okay usually fist pumps for now). I also blame the Giant Bomb guys for making that song relevant this week as well in their E3 coverage from podcasts to their amazing videos. Like I said earlier, I would buy a Slim 360 with Kinect ready along with this game hopefully in the future. In the meantime, more videos of people dancing to "Poker Face" at E3 2010!

Okay, skip to halfway in the video above for Dance Central craziness even though the Just Dance 2 part is just as nuts too with all those people dancing (also featuring G4's Patrick Klepek!). For the video below, it is pretty much throughout the video about four minutes in (also if you like E3 coverage of other games, but it is definitely Gaga-ified).

Why the Mortal Kombat reboot will be Awesome...

The rebooted Mortal Kombat had a great showing at this week's E3 bringing back the glory days of what MK made great from M-rated goodness of the fatalities, remastered stages from the original games, and the iconic characters you loved through the years. I gotta give Ed Boon, the creative director, props for sticking with the franchise from the beginning and still believing in a strong future for it as well. Details have ranged from a character roster of 20+ from the first three games, secret characters, and DLC down the road after its release, three meters (EX-like special move uses one, combo breaker for two, and the x-ray super move for all three dealing massive damage). Each character will get two fatalities as some of them will be your signature ones you have known over the years to even variations of them that lived on in spirit. There are still possibilities for friendships and bababilites too if the Netherrealm Studios guys are up to do it. The E3 build had the guys from the trailer playable (Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sektor, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Reptile, Nightwolf, and Milleena) as there is potential for juggle combo madness being a combination of the old school and even MK vs. DC. From what I seen and read so far, it is definitely a return to form for the franchise as the mature rating pretty much gives the guys no limits to go crazy with fatalities. From the first trailer that came out next week, I already excited as hell for the glorious return of Mortal Kombat even we have to wait till Spring 2011 to play the final version, but I think it is in good hands that the franchise will bring back the rivalry against Street Fighter just like in the 90s. Here's the Giant Bomb interview with Ed Boon below... (aka I think their game of the show because they are big fans of MK). Also below is more gameplay footage demonstrating the potential of how awesome the fighting will be... in the meantime, blast that theme song!

This is how to promote a hip hop karaoke game...

Even though Activision had that expensive E3 party earlier this week with marquee acts like Eminem, it is only right if you promote a hip-hop themed game by getting acts that know what's up with games. That is the case with Method Man and Redman performing a melody of their hits over the years at the show floor promoting Konami's Def Jam Rapstar. Since they are featured in the game with "Da Rockwilder," it is only fitting they were there to make the game relevant to attendees there. As for the game itself, I might write something about that later, but there is deep competition this fall in the genre with this, DJ Hero 2, Rock Band 3, and Dance Central. I'm pretty sure there will be something for someone for which music they like to play to.

Harmonix goes from Rocking to Dancing... Why Dance Central Makes Kinect Hella Good

Harmonix not only has Rock Band 3 out this fall, but they have their Kinect launch game, Dance Central, out as well. Even though Rock Band 3 is already looking impressive getting closer to the real deal with rocking out by the various instruments, Harmonix steps to the world of dancing now that the Kinect technology enables such full body control. I have a feeling Dance Central could be rhythm game of this year's E3 because it actually works making the Kinect on 360 look good. From Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" to "Hella Good" by No Doubt, and more, the soundtrack should be pretty good to dance to as Harmonix would like to get actual choreography from the music videos of these songs. If you see the clip above, fist pumping to Gaga is not that accurate yet to how her music video went, but its a start to show off to attendees. I do believe Harmonix knows what's up as they have a good track record of setting the bar for rhyhtm games of various styles. Other than Child of Eden, I would buy a Kinect for Dance Central as it is out the same time Kinect comes out on November 4. Then again, you rather do this for real I guess at the clubs (If I was of any indication).
UPDATED with an awesome interview by Giant Bomb!





Oh yeah, it would not be a blog post about Dance Central without this clip!

Its Mahvel Baybee Once Again!!! A Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Video Blowout...

Well, I knew Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds would impress big at E3 this week and damn, it impressed big alright. I'm already digging what I seen from the videos alone with the fighting being a mix of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Hyper combos, DHCs, Snapbacks, Advancing Guard, Air Dashes, etc... yup its definitely Marvel baybee!!! I still need to read and hear more thoughts from the fighting game community that were at E3 playing the game. Keits from SRK posted his thoughts on his Twitter, so there's a start, but so far Marvel 3 is looking pretty HYPE right now. The playable characters in the E3 build are Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Deadpool, and Hulk for the Marvel side while Ryu, Dante, Chris Redfield, Morrigan, and Felicia are playable for the Capcom side. Characters that were in previous versus games are pretty much the same for the most part retaining their special moves and their supers like Iron Man's Proton Cannon (now also anti-air too), Hulk's Gamma Quake, and Ryu's Shinku Hadouken. Dante and Deadpool so far make the transition to Marvel 3 pretty well as I like their playstyle. Dante can Devil Trigger as a super and has crazy combo setups and Deadpool hilariously has a Shoryuken and his super says "Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!" Chris from Resident Evil 5 also has some neat stuff on his arsenal as well with his melee and shooting skills. The art style is truly living up to the comic book-y approach Capcom is going with as I do dig it. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will be out next year for the 360 and the PS3 as more characters will be revealed in the coming months. In the meantime, gameplay footage below...

Also for more info on Marvel 3, u can listen to the newest Wakeup SRK Podcast here.