As far as the actual racing goes, Modnation Racers is, at its core, an online racer due to the heavy online community focus. You have no main menu as such, but are placed in an online area that lets you and other drivers on the server actually drive around and physically go to different exits for things like quick races, hot laps, online races and so on. While the lobby area is a nice touch, you can still bring up a quick radial menu that lets you get to pretty much anywhere very quickly.

Now that I have covered what I like about Modnation Racers I unfortunately have to say this it isn’t without its faults.

Visuals in Modnation Racers aren’t bad and together with the cartoony style they do keep the game looking fun and colourful. They aren’t overly complex though, which left me scratching my head a little when the framerate proved to be very inconsistent. The game does run decently for the most part, but the lower framerates can hurt the experience at times.

screen1.jpg

My major (and I mean, major) issue with Modnation Racers is the loading time. It’s almost bad enough for me to call it a deal-breaker. The first time I loaded up Modnation Racers (and this is a true story) I honestly sat through the first loading screen under the full impression that the game was installing something from the Blu-ray disc, only to find out that it was just a normal loading screen, and that it does that every time.

This might not sound so bad, but from the time I hit play in the XMB to actually being in the menu took just over two and a half minutes. Two and half minutes means something completely different when you are sitting on your couch staring at your screen when most other games are up and running in less than twenty seconds.

While certain tracks take longer than others to load, it wasn’t uncommon to have to sit and wait over a minute for a race to begin. Put those two together and from XMB to actually playing the game could take just under five minutes. Knowing that the game takes so long to start up actually deterred me from playing it, and in the end it could very well result in a gamer opting to play something else instead.

You may want to think that I am nitpicking, but really, once you have sat down to play it really gets on your nerves to know that for every short race you play, you have a nice long loading time to accompany it.

screen6.jpg

For bandwidth starved gamers, the games online/community focus may prove to be a bit of an issue, so I do recommend that the game is played offline wherever possible.

Conclusion:

Major loading time issue aside, Modnation Racers is a fun Kart racer that plays well and includes a ton of other stuff to do to get your creative juices flowing. With the online and community aspects included, there really is a lot of play time to be had. Pity about the loading times, though.

For fans of: Mario Kart, Little Big Planet, Lego


Scoring (not an average)

Gameplay: 8.9

Plays like most Kart racers, creative tools add a lot to the experience.

Presentation: 8.5

Not the greatest looking game yet still has framerate issues at times.

Sound: 8.5

Nothing really worth mentioning here, average but not bad.

Value: 9.0

Plenty of activities to keep you busy, from a single player career to online racing, split screen and tons of other ways to keep you busy for hours on end.


Overall: 8.8

Modnation Racers is a good attempt at creating a solid kart racer for the PS3, especially when combined with all of the creative and community tools. It is, however, let down by very bad loading times and a few technical problems that I hope will get resolved should there be a sequel in future.

[Reviewed on Playstation 3]

Last Updated: July 5, 2010

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Modnation Racers
8.8

6 Comments

  1. apparently the game physics of this game use forza 3 with enhanced features of grip and power steering?

    Reply

  2. RSA-Ace

    July 5, 2010 at 13:14

    My problem with the game is that I didn’t find the kart racing to enjoyable. I finished it (with some difficulty on those later tracks) but it began feeling like more of a chore than fun.

    I’m also as creative as a brick (see a can’t even make some creative comparative) so I didn’t spend too much time creating anything – same with LittleBigPlanet. LBP seemed to have a lot more ‘on the disc’ while ModNation seems a bit too reliant on the community.

    The loading screens didn’t bother me much thanks the the resistance I built from playing Motorstorm 1. I can definitely see it being a problem for others though.

    I hate saying it but for me ModNation is probably the worst PS3 exclusive I’ve bought. Which isn’t saying it’s that but because of the normal standard of PS3 exclusives.

    Reply

  3. mitas

    July 5, 2010 at 16:34

    i really dont have an oppion about this one , i think time will be a better judge , if the release a patch with something to help the loading times and option to create weapons :angel: ?????

    Reply

  4. onelargeprawn

    July 5, 2010 at 20:52

    Aside from the loading times, the cheapness of the AI dulled the polish of ModNation Racers for me.

    If you’re a fan of creating and sharing things, then ModNation is a solid title, but I felt the single-player experience is lack-lustre. Frankly I’m having way more fun playing Split/Second.

    Reply

  5. Luna

    July 5, 2010 at 21:03

    I have to agree with this review.. I like the game, the creative bits are a lot of fun, but the load times are EEEEEEVIL. I’m just hoping that the promised fix for the load times comes soon.

    Reply

  6. Gashead-64

    August 15, 2010 at 21:33

    Download my creations please :biggrin:

    PSN: Gashead-64 😉

    Reply

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