ModNation Racers

[saturn-gamer]

I play this for 2 days now. It takes some time getting used to, but now I'm quite enjoying this.

I like the presentation. You get thrown into a race right away (much like in GRID). Its to learn you the basics. After that you'll get into the hub. Single player races are being connected by sports channel like cutscenes. The Single player races are being set up with certain achievements. For example: 1st place, 3000 Draft points, 20000 Drift points. Meet those 3, and you'll unlock edit parts.

Gameplay feels kind of sloppy at first, but its actually really good. It takes a bit of practicing. Powersliding is the key in this game, and this feels a bit like Ridge Racer. Also because it fills your boost meter (as do aerial stunts and drafts too). Boost meter can either be drained for a speed increase, or being drained by using a shield against an incoming attack. So its quite tactical. Items can be stored up to tier 3, grab one and any given subsequent pickup will level that item up.

Played some Online XP races (they give experience), and it was lag free and just fun. Also quickly made a desert track with jump over gap, a crossbridge, lots of bumps and auto populated the background. my corners seemed to be slightly too easy during test drive, but its actually a fun track to race on. Character creation gets far too: I raced against a pixel perfect Kratos, who was riding a Chariot kart. Really.

The load times aren't pretty, but they are not as bad as reviews make them out to be. I felt they were somewhat shorter than in the demo, but that might be wrong. The load times aren't different than the load times in Demon's Souls, Killzone 2... they don't annoy me. Although I do agree that a party racer should be tailored for quick fix.

[Neon Ignition]

Started this up last night, it's probably my least anticipated of the 4 big releases this week and really that allowed it to completely blind side me. I'm sure some of the more whiny peeps will nag on about the load times but personally they're not that big a deal. What this seems to do is take the core principles of Mario Kart and Little Big Planet and fuse them together.

The main way it wins is that due to the user element the racing could be awful with a sea of bad tracks but people are already coming up with clever designs that are far above anything from the last few Mario Kart titles and the Mod angle to me just seems to be so much better done that LBP's convoluted system. You can piece together a decent track in very little time really and the same goes for Karts and Mods. Without even thinking my quick go took up 4 hours. Really impressed by it, though I need to fiddle with the handling as the default settings have the Karts handling with massive amounts of over steer.

[elaniel]

I picked this up today at HMV. Hoping to get some time on it tonight. I was going to wait on a price drop, but changed my mind after getting some vouchers for my birthday.

[merf]

customary 15m wait for installs to happen and been playing this for the last hour or so.

it has a lot fo charm and has been polished up since the beta, frame rate is good now.

I'm struggling a bit with the poxy PS3 pad which seems to sloppy and imprecise for the steering, rarely use it now so takes some re-adjusting to after teh perfect xbox one.

loved the fact that the top 3 mods to download contained Mario & Luigi, couldn't then explore the online side much further as the PS3 keeps signing itself out and then gives DNS errors when I try to get back in, has always done this and I'm not alone on Virgin media apparently, though they deny a problem.

offline plays ok, fairly standard fare but zips along ok and has what you'd expect from a kart racer, both good and bad (i.e. taking the lead is an invitation for armageddon)

not super enthused with it so far but seems solid enough, find it takes a while to get into this type of platform as not sure where to go or what to do first. in some ways its where I prefer the more closed package like Split Second where you are on a linear path.

[Brad]

taking the lead is an invitation for armageddon)

Seems an inherent problem with arcade racers, I hear Split Second has a similar issue.

[Number45]

At least this gives you the opportunity to do something about it. Seems the best way of playing this game will be to race your way to the front, saving power ups for the shield. Hopefully I'll be able to get some time on this a little later.

[JP]

Spent about an hour on it so far and not had online issues but I'm not with Virgin.

I have to admit it was a bit strange starting it up the first time to be be greeted by these three giants. There was better ones in the beta so they should improve over time.


Really enjoying it so far, the load times are a touch too long but they aren't anything to worry about.

I think the handling works really well and I like that even when you make it to the front of the race you still have to powerslide & jump well so you can activate your shield when the inevitable attack happens. If you don't work at building up your shield you will get hit by something and more than likely lose first place.

Still finding my way around at the moment but it's been fun just messing around in Mod Central jumping over ramps with a load of other people. Only had a quick play with the mod, car and track customisation but there seems to be a lot of depth there.

I also bought Red Dead Redemption (360) today but it seems like it'll be this that gets most of the play this weekend.

EDIT:
Didn't see this until after my post.

At least this gives you the opportunity to do something about it. Seems the best way of playing this game will be to race your way to the front, saving power ups for the shield.later.

Yeah, as I mentioned above you can avoid the attacks when your leading as long as you drive well and time the use of your shields.

[merf]

deffo think I'll warm to this, even since I typed my first impressions I've gone back and its making more sense, there is a lot to learn with power slides, weapons (incl power levels), boost, shields, spins and slams !

load times have been over egged, they are at the longer end of the scale but not game breaking and nothing dire.

lots of kudos to the character of the whole thing, the karts and mods are superb and go way beyond the slightly generic nature of this type of game.

this type of game & creation platform takes a while to get used to but agree with John, I've been fiddling round not doing much and the time is flying by so it must be doing something right.

[merf]

just lost a whole afternoon to this.

it actually seems to be a kart game with some depth to the handling model and a learning curve.

i didn't really bond instantly with it and found the first few tracks quite tricky, went back to them a bit later and breezed thru them. there is quite a lot going on and took a while to get the hang of it.

much better than I was expecting and possibly an excellent game, time will tell. not even started on track design yet, lots of enjoyment to be had from making cool karts and mods.

[saturn-gamer]

Yeah its amazingly addictive. I wasted 2 hours on the track editor, just for some tweaks. I saw some tut videos and now I'm already making a jungle track with downward tunnels and big jumps over ravines in my mind. I'll start on that soon.

The actual racing is just amazing, although it felt so crappy at first. Sliding is simply awesome and the sense of speed owns Mario Kart (have not played MK Wii though). In fact, MK just feels flat compared to MNR. And there is the play good for boost = shield mechanic.

[Number45]

The handling is incredibly sensitive, is there a way you can tweak it? Or do I just need to give it a little time? Only spent a little time with it earlier, most of the time screwing around with the mod/kart editor, just went through the first race a couple of times.

Also, the loading times really are too long. I hope they do find a way of getting that sorted out.

[merf]

I found it took a while to get the hang of the handling, it is very sensitive, in online lobbies u can tweak drift vs handling with R1 but thatsnot sensitivity

[Matt]

Picked this up after giving the demo a play last night. Figured the kid would love it

Played the first 4 racers and really enjoying it. Made a car, and made a quick track on the demo that's imported into the full game apparently.

Good Kart game. Seems superior to the last MK I played (the GC version), more to do with the boost and shield mechanic. Sure, getting zapped on the home straight is ****ing annoying and should be taken out of all Kart games, but at least you can do something about it if you're smart with the boost bar. I like the 3 tiered power up system. Graphics are nice, looks very smooth for a 30fps title.

So far so good (Except for the load times that are beginning to annoy already.)

[merf]

more I play more I think they've done a superb job on this. also found a camera option buried away which lets you pull further away from the default fully zoomed in setting.

to my taste its actually a very sound kart racer and up there with the most recent Mario Karts, even adding some bits of its own to the mix.

online seems a touch flakey tonight, never got a race with more than 4-6 people in it

think it may be hard to work out the good tracks from the average, karts and mods are very nice to search thru, been racing as Mr T in the A-Team van amongst others.

its definitely a better kart game than LBP was platformer.

[merf]

seeing as this isn't the busiest of threads I won't start an online play thread yet.

due to my love/hate relationship with the PS3 I have zero friends on it (despite having one from launch), anybody wants some online with this please add me 'gotters'