Review: ModNation Racers

The game feels very polished, and the controls feel sturdy. The games’ overall presentation is fantastic in my opinion.
The game has a fun feel to it and has a good comedic value to it. Good voice acting really helps it out too.
Once you get used to it, the races can be extremely hectic and things can change in an instant. The races keep you on your toes. Weapons that seek you out can knock you out of a big lead you’re in if you don’t prepare for it. Unfortunately, the learning curve is a bit too high, which I’ll get into below.
Customization is fantastic. Everything can be tailored in one way or another. They say, “If you can imagine it, you can create it.” I wouldn’t go that far, but you do have a huge list of options.
Creating tracks is pretty simple once you get the basics down. Much better than her “Play. Create. Share” brother, Little Big Planet. (Yes, ModNation Racing is apparently a female in that family)
Numerous shortcuts in each race help keep things interesting. You can stay on the road, or take a chance with shortcuts.
With three achievements and some Rival challenges will have you returning to the career mode for awhile.

A problem with those three achievements and Rival Challenges is that for almost all of them, you have to place first AND meet those requirements. Did you knock out three opponents on the big bridge but come in second? Too bad.
The game’s load times are too long. The game requires a 3GB+ installation and then there’s an additional load time for every race you play. Had there been no install, that’d be understandable but there’s no reason to have to wait a minute to load a track. Uncharted 2 has a terribly long load when you start it up, but that’s pretty much the only loading that’s done in the single player campaign.
You’ll probably feel overwhelmed when getting used to the game. You have to stay on the road, get enough powerups to attack your enemies, drift so that you can up your boost meter (which also allows you to shield yourself), get tokens, time when an enemy attack will hit you to shield yourself, avoid obstacles in the road, smack your opponent when they’re close to you, boost your way past the competition – and, of course, come in first. In some points it over-does it and you get “swamped,” but other races it works out quite nicely.
The game seems to make a lot of “last minute cheap shots,” causing you to lose your place within the last half of the final lap. With online, it’s understandable, but when you’re fighting an AI, it can put you at a disadvantage. I can’t recall how many times I’ve won by 0:04 seconds.

Positive Points: 7 | Negative Points: 4 | Final Score: +3