ModNation Racers Beta Impressions
When ModNation Racers was announced back at E3 2009, millions of gamers worldwide were excited to see the ingenuity of the Play, Create and Share philosophy seen in LittleBigPlanet brought to the racing genre. For nearly half a year now ModNation Racers has only been known as one of the great titles to look forward to in 2010. As of December 18th, United Front Games have released their official closed beta to thousands of participants across the globe, and now this great-looking title is finally being explored.
As seen in the several trailers that have been released, the visuals in ModNation Racers are vibrant and colorful. Both the textures and characters have met the expectations of fans who have been desiring a Mario Kart style game with HD graphics. The first thing to note is that the game doesn’t contain a typical main menu screen. Right after the introduction within the beta, you are dropped directly into what is called a ModSpot. The ModSpot is essentially a 3D menu that contains a lobby full of other online players. In order to access the creative tools, racing, leaderboards and other content, all you have to do is drive up to the labeled locale and press a simple button. At that point you’re given either a quick option screen such as the options for which type of race you would like to join, or dropped into a building that lets you fine-tune a variety of available options.
The Create and Share aspect of ModNation Racers is truly impressive. Not only can you completely edit the way that your racer looks to your liking, but you’re also able to create your own vehicle from the ground up. All customizable options for both are purchased within the ingame store, and while the store isn’t available in the beta, there are thankfully dozens of items already included. The amount of decals, items and others is in the hundreds if not thousands, and even in the beta it’s rare to see two racers or vehicles that look exactly alike. The most impressive thing about the beta is the main focus of the game, and that’s the Track Studio. The Track Studio serves as a tool for creating and editing tracks which are then uploaded online in a similar fashion to Little Big Planet. The level of creation offered with the Track Studio tool is more than ever seen before, and while only one of three or four different environment styles is included in the beta, the amount of detail is insurmountable. Players who don’t feel inspired enough to make a detailed track can simply lay out the foundation then let the game auto-create and tune the level. Not only is is easily accessible to casual players, but the hardcore and creative will have plenty to chew on.
Of course, what’s the point of creating tracks if the racing isn’t fun? Thankfully, the gameplay itself is fresh and exciting. The racing itself is fast-paced, entertaining, and doesn’t feel like anything else on the market. ModNation Racers incorporates a lot of neat gameplay elements such as the ability to build up boost by drifting, drafting, pulling off tricks and hitting other players with weapons. The boost allows you to either shield yourself, turbo at quicker speeds or even sideswipe opponents. The mixture of intense and enjoyable racing sequences really revitalizes what many call an unprogressive genre. The game also sports leaderboards for both racing and modding, so those who are quick or creative can really stand-out. Unfortunately, the camera in the beta seems a bit too close and makes it hard to see the entirety of the track, but with the amount of feedback being given there’s a good chance that’ll change prior to release.
ModNation Racers really does look like one of the better games of 2010. The ability to create and edit both large and precise details means that both casuals and hardcore will find something to like about the title. The fast-paced gameplay with a variety of well-designed elements means that even without the creative side of the game, the game would still be enjoyable. When it comes down to it, ModNation Racers is simply a highly-entertaining game that will please a wide-variety of audiences. The ModNation Racers beta will remain available until January 10th and the full release of ModNation Racers will become available in Spring 2010.
22 Responses to “ModNation Racers Beta Impressions”
Not to be a jerk, but I’m pretty sure this goes completely against the rules for being in a beta. Not that I really care, since I’m about to break that rule too. While the creative and sharing aspect of the game is great, the racing itself feels far from fresh. Really it feels like a tweeked version of mario kart. Drifting, Weapons, boosts and jumps, its all pretty much the same. Don’t get me wrong, its still fun, and great to see it in HD, but its nothing that new. Good thing theres gonna be an infinite number of levels to play.
This game does feel like a Mario Kart clone. I only played it for about 30 minutes the other day but I really liked what saw. The graphics are fantastic and the controls are pretty good. Its very easy to pick up and play. After playing the beta I now have this game on pre-order.
Its a good beta to have but they need to open up a few stages of career or something. The time trial will only keep you entertained for a few minutes.
The problem with Kart Racers now a days is that there isn’t a healthy competition within them. Mario Kart comes out with one like every 2 years or so and keeps raising the bar, there is no other Kart racer as consistent as Mario Kart, and so when one does finally come out, it only feels like a clone in Comparison. Crash Team Racing was an excellent Kart racing game for PSOne, but even still everyone couldn’t help and compare it to Mario Kart and once Naughty Dog moved on, that series started going downhill with avarage to mediocre games. The only way you can compete with Mario Kart is if your consistent, the problem with ModNation Racers will be that it’s built like LBP, meaning it won’t be getting sequels ever so often, but they can upgrade on gameplay mechanics (like the new LBP water pack). The one major advantage it does have over Mario Kart is that level creation tool. If the level creation tool gets really diverse, people can make their own Mario Kart tracks to race in on MNR. I got the Beta Code, but I haven’t tried it out yet (don’t have enough Hardrive space), I’m looking to get this when it comes out, I just hope the gameplay is stellar. Either way the game will get rave reviews if it’s level creation tool is as extensive as LBP’s.
@Xael,
I dont know about Mario Kart raising the bar, the last few have been pretty terrble.
@BigWoopMagazine
no offense but who cares, Mario Kart is a fun and awesome game and l’m glad it’s getting a comparison. Also what did you expect? This is kart racing game, not Motorstorm. All kart racing games are similar with power ups and drifting
I have to concur with BigWoop. How is it all these website nowadays just break the Non Disclosure Agreement and not get in trouble in any way? I guess the annonymiity of the internet today has made NDAs completely null and void, eh?
As for the game, I love it. To the guy who said people will be making MK tracks when the tools get deeper…too late, they already have, along with pretty much every licenced character in existence. Alot of the came out really good too considering how much stuff is locked.
I hope I have enough money to get the game when it comes out, But my priorities are GT5, Heavy Rain, GoW3 and White Knight…..perhaps FF13 and 3-D Dot Heroes too. So it’s going to be hard to justify spending $60 on Mod Nation. But for anyone who really loves Kart racers, Mod Nation is awesome, and you can create pretty much any character or track you can imagine pretty easily
I personally dont think Mario Kart improved from the first one. Graphics? sure.. but thats a given with better technology, but game play has gone down hill with every rendition since the super nintendo original.
MNR DOES have a similar feel, but it is the avatar and cart building that sets it apart in the first 30 seconds of game play. If Mario Kart is fun with as little as it has to offer (even the newest one) MNR is going to rule for the same reason LBP kicks Mario’s ass.
I havent played the beta quite enough and since day one I am sure there is much much more to offer from users. This is going to be a very exciting game. I sort of agree with LarryL … there are so many good games on the 2010 horizon, but I have 60 bucks set aside for this release and wont waver for a second.
@wtGp – none taken, but if you read closely, you’ll notice that my comment was in response to the article, which claimed gameplay was “fresh” and “really revitalizes what many call an unprogressive genre”. While the creation tools certainly help quite a bit, the gameplay itself is far from that. I also stated that its still fun. Hey, I’m definitely still playing it, I love mario kart 64. I wasn’t trying to bash the game, just point out that this particular part of the article was misleading, and in my opinion, incorrect.
anyone have an extra beta key?
I signed up early and all, but just got a screensaver or some bs code instead.
I have to go with BigWoop on this but I think I like it even less. It just didn’t feel that new to me. It handles well but I found the “cutesy” factor a bit of a turn off. I know custom designs will make for better tracks but I hope the developer has something good to contribute as well. The future of gaming should not be a full priced game that is only a dev tool for maps and characters.
Also the voices need to go or be reworked. They get really annoying over time.
You guys crack me up with your attitude toward “cutesy” stuff. You had to play the game to know that the target audience was children?! Did LBP catch you off guard too? If you want blood in your fairy tales, wait for GOW3.
For all those saying this game feels the same as MarioKart and they didn’t do anything new…IT’S A KART RACING GAME YOU MORONS! I’m sorry are the controls supposed to feel like a real driving sim?? The fun of a kart racer is shooting the other racers and just having “silly” fun. If you want a more serious racer then play GT5. This is a racing game that is tailored to all ages, like LBP is a platformer tailored to all ages. The benefit of these games is the amount of creativity they inspire. If you’re looking for something completely new then you shouldn’t be looking into a kart racing game.
@Robotron… um… You’re playing a “Kart Racer” game. Kart… as in Go Kart…. WTF WERE YOU EXPECTING! Also the character designs are based off of an art that’s fairly cutsey and you can make some pretty skull and cross bones hardcore stuff in the creator. So… I guess you wanted a kart racer with no variety but just looks like part of a volcano, hell, or bowsers castle all the way through, or that you wanted a bunch of big bad ass looking demons inside carts?
What exactly is it that you want? If you don’t like cutesy, then a kart racer is kinda the first thing you go away from unless you want to play one of the crappy boring unfun ones like an arcade game that I played that was a “realistic” kart racer. Lamest freaking thing ever.
Nintendo sucks with online, nintendo sucks with updating, nintendo kinda gimped their last version of mario kart from everything i”ve heard. What’s wrong with having a PS3 customizable kart experience that you can play with your friends online effectively?
My biggest problem with ModNation is that the racing is empty right now. No-one seems to be playing. Maybe it’s just the time of day.
Barring that the creation tools including characters, cars and tracks are phenomenal and probably how LBP should have been in terms of ease to use.
Honestly, I am surprised this concept didn’t go to 360. You’d think with their avatars, and trying to offer something new, this would be an obvious creative idea…
I’d love to get a code, but looks like I’m waiting with the rest of the masses. I love kart games, I just hope it gets the basics down really well- drifting and weapons. MK64 was the best kart game- you could pick it up and have fun, but to maximize it you had to master the techniques. I’d love to see that implemented on MNR.
@geise – I’m well aware of these things, SO NO NEED TO INSULT YOU JERK!!! Ahhh… did that get your attention and sway your opinion? No? I didn’t think so, it didn’t work on me either. Seriously though, what I was getting at was more or less introducing more new game mechanics into it. Perhaps make the karts a little more acrobatic, and give people the ability to dodge/jump out of the way of incoming weapons. Pull tricks in mid-air for extra boost (I know its been done, but not in Kart games, as far as I know). Primarily, I was looking for customization that would effect the performance of the racer, not just the appearance. uhhh…. etc, etc… you should get the idea,,, right?
@Joinsideke I put in that information in the beta forum about changing the drifting, and adding more physics effects, and weight and other things that will make the game a bit harder to master, but right now we’re in a super stripped down beta. Even as the game is, it’s super casual in controls but it’s still fun. I know that we’re using way old beta code and it looks like they’re mostly testing online connectivity.
If the game doesn’t change much from the beta I’m playing I think you’ll be dissapointed, but still enjoy it but it’d be a bittersweet game. However it seems like such old code that we’re testing, I’ve got my fingers crossed that the game will be WAY more addicting and challenging than what we currently have to beta with. As the beta stands right now, I would pay 10 dollars to have a slightly expanded version of what I’m testing. I mean it really sucks when there’s connectivity issues in this beta cause it’s such a fun game even though there could be a lot more available to us, I still enjoy playing the 3 stock tracks and messing around with the creation tools.
It looks to be a really solid kart racer, and I can only hope it’ll improve quite a bit from this code. But as it stands. I know we don’t have final physics and racing code though, because if we did, then they’d provide us with more than this most bare bones of a beta client. We literally can not race offline with weapons. All weapon useage is restricted to online because that’s what they want tested. Servers.
I think it’ll fill the PS3 online Kart Racing Niche’ well enough. Either they’ll improve it, or some other company might instead. Whether it’s an appetizer or a full course, I think it’ll be surprisingly filling either way.
Nice, thanks for that Makai,
Beta testing usually means (all betas but home) that it’s a limited experience- something to whet the appetite, while the full version contains perfected features and a finer tuned game, usually from user feedback. I’m sure they’ll update it, I just hope they spend enough time on making the karting good as they most definitely will with making the customizability great.
That’s sweet though that MNR has a beta forum to communicate directly with the staff. That’s great to see.
[...] upcoming title ModNation Racers is quickly gaining popularity with the current closed beta underway. Slated for release this Spring [...]
[...] highly anticipated title ModNation Racers is currently under closed beta, and thousands of fans have had the opportunity to test out the [...]
hello …
i dld the public beta last night & played it this morning before going to work. All i can say is that it’s A.W.E.S.O.M.E … & i even raced against Mario
…
i never really played MK before, maybe a few tries on older consoles, i played wacky wheels on PC though, was fun too.
MNR would be my first real contact with the genre…
I intend to check it out again tonight & look for all the sites i can pre-order to compare the prices
cheers!