For years now, Sony’s brand has been short on one very important genre of game: a kart racer. Sure, Sony’s consoles are home to franchises like Gran Turismo, some of the best racing games across any platform, but that simple, jump-in and play style that comes with a kart racer has been absent. Nintendo has clearly dominated the market with its Mario Kart games, but after playing ModNation Racers on the PSP, we feel Sony is giving Mario and friends a run for its money.
This is not a rip-off of Mario Kart. ModNation Racers has its own identity and adds some very important features to advance the genre. While it’d be easy to call it “Sony’s Mario Kart,” we think that’s quite inaccurate. If you are a fan of co-op and multiplayer kart racing games, especially ones that are quirky and customizable, you are going to adore ModNation Racers.
It should be noted that we have spent very little time with the PlayStation 3 version of ModNation Racers, but we are told the PSP version is practically identical, including career mode. So, here’s a basic rundown of what you can expect when you give the PSP version a try.
First, and most importantly, the gameplay is a lot better than we thought it would be. In truth, we went into the game skeptical at how well the actual races would play out. Having spent a fair amount of time with other kart games, we were worried the controls would feel too loose, or the karts themselves would feel too light, floating away with each big-air jump. Nope. The controls are tight, but obviously not as tight as a racing simulator. The karts feel heavier than they look, meaning they don’t bounce all over the place if you run into an opponent or mistakenly go off-road.
The controls are pretty basic. Since this is a PSP game, we thought they may be too simplistic, but even though you’ll use every button, your hands never feel too crowded to perform the necessary boosts, takedowns or weapon blasts (that is, unless you have unruly, massive hands). The right trigger button is the accelerator while the left trigger serves as the brakes. You’ll use the analog stick to maneuver your kart through the track, while square activates your weapons, circle activates your shield, X jumps, and triangle acts as the action button.
Your shield, boost, and other takedown abilities are all available through points you’ll acquire for certain tasks, such as drafting or dropping enemies. This is a nice twist as you’ll be constantly looking for different ways to take out enemies, or drafting with your opponents. Those points allow you to zip past your competitors, bring up your shield to block a heat-seeking missile, or stomp out enemies as you land from a big jump. There’s a bit more to the controls, but we’ll let you experience it yourselves.
The game’s career mode does an excellent job of introducing you to these different gameplay elements. Without giving too much away, we can safely say the presentation and progression through the single player campaign is terrific and extremely entertaining. The writing is wonderful, the characters are as quirky as we were hoping, and the introduction to features like track and kart customization are brilliantly laid out for you.
Just as we were cautious about the controls, we were very curious to see how the game would utilize its story mode. Lucky for us, and other gamers, United Front Games (developer of the PS3 version) and Sony’s San Diego Studio (developer of the PSP version) have it all figured out. It’s as clever as it is funny. But, one thing it is not: childish.
Some people may find games like ModNation Racers only appealing to kids, and while it’s true you won’t shoot down any aliens with a shotgun, or blow up the Statue of Liberty, you will get to play in six man multiplayer sessions, via Ad hoc and online.
The PSP version will include the exclusive Last Kart Standing mode, more than 25 tracks, nearly endless customization of your character, kart, and tracks. The Create and Share ideal of ModNation Racers is ambitious, and if after some time it’s anything like LittleBigPlanet, we should be in store for thousands, if not millions of tracks to play through. We’ll have more on the track and kart customization soon.
Look for ModNation Racers when it releases on PS3 and PSP in May.