A MODerately Fun Kart Racer: Ultima's Modnation Racers Review!

Go-Kart racing games are plentiful. Ever since the release of Nintendo’s Super Mario Kart on the SNES, other companies like Sega and Namco have thrown their hat into the ring with their own games. These other go-kart racing games vary greatly in quality, which brings us too Modnation Racers. Modnation Racers was one of Sony’s attempt at bringing a quality go-kart racing experience rivaling Mario Kart. Today, we take a look and see if this game can cross the finish line or be left in the dust!

Story:
Our story begins with Tag! He is an aspiring racer who helps his mom run a paint shop. Not for long though, as he is informed of an event called the Modnation Racing Championship or MRC for short! Excited, he decides to race and qualifies for the MRC! Now it’s Tag vs the top competitors at Modnation, as he’ll have to race through several well designed but dangerous tracks to become the champion, while dealing with other issues like dealing with a greedy sponsor.
The story is interesting enough to want you to continue playing the game. It is nothing special, but it has a few tongue and cheek moments from our relatively charming cast of characters. Your main character is standard as are the supporting characters and the main villain. The MRC casters, Biff and Gary, however, steal the spotlight, giving us many funny moments. The games sense of humor is quite fun, and makes the game more enjoyable overall and help give it its own personality.

Be prepared to see these two often.

Gameplay:
Modnation Racers is a racing game! Big surprise.
This means the goal is to basically complete the track faster than everyone else and do your best to place 1st. To help you along the way, you can pick up items, activate traps, and more. Modnation Racers has a few maneuvers and mechanics unique to it that will also help you win the race. Firstly, you have what I call the boost meter. Fill your boost gauge by drifting, drafting, and more. If your Boost gauge is filled up, you can use it for boosts of speed! You can also use it to create a shield to protect yourself from attacks and items. There is somewhat of a risk VS reward system with the boost gauge, as boosting helps you gain speed, but will make you defenseless VS items. This is nice, and adds to the gameplay. It is best to race well to gain boost gauge. The previously mentioned drafting is an effective way to gain gauge. It involves driving right behind a racer. Sideswiping is an offensive maneuver requiring gauge that disrupts racers and also gains yourself some gauge. What I love the most of these mechanics is how items work. You pick up an item and it will give you a random item. Pick up another item, and you’ll upgrade your current item! It can be upgraded twice total. This is a super neat feature that creates devastating results on the racetrack! You can turn a single rocket into a dozen rockets, or make a basic speed boost literally WARP you across the track!
The overall racing is super solid, fun, and challenging. It requires skill, as you’re going to need to get good at drifting and more to keep your gauge for boosts and shields!
The tracks are decent. They are standard, but well made and distinct. One track you’re flying through several hoops in the air, in another one you are wall-riding with your kart!
But we’re only halfway done! There’s still the customization! You’re able to customize your own kart, character, and even make your own tracks!
Customizing your kart and character AKA mod is maybe the most fun I’ve had with the game. There’s a lot you can do, from stickers to editing said stickers’ appearances by skewing, enlarging, shrinking, etc., to adding paint, effects, and way way way more! You can also adjust your karts stats. Raise Speed or Drift in exchange for Acceleration or Handling respectively and vice versa! Despite having loads of customizable options, customizing stays accessible thanks to smart controls, menu schemes, and tutorials. Creating your own track is about the same, just on a grander scale.
Get creative; make your own kart and mod and race to your delight!

Why this kart looks familiar...

Graphics and Sound:
The overall graphical and visual presentation of the game is decent. With how good games look nowadays on consoles like the PS4, the graphics definitely have aged. Some parts of the game look bright and popping, usually with the mods and karts, which you can make REALLY nice with enough work. However, that presentation is sharply contrasted by the semi realistic tracks and world. Speaking of tracks, like previously mentioned, they are fairly well crafted, but visually it overall lacks visual flare compared to tracks from other kart racing games like Mario Kart or Crash Nitro Kart.
The music fair moderately better than graphics! The music in the game ranges from upbeat to funky and chill. It’s satisfactory music, which does somewhat make up for the fact that few music tracks exist in the game.

Conclusion: Modnation Racers gameplay is fun and solid, more than capable of making the game fun and comparable to Mario Kart. Presentation isn’t the best, but what matters in a game is gameplay. It is called a GAME for a reason! You’ll be sure to enjoy Sony’s take on the item using kart racers we’ve grown to know and love.

Score: 8.25/10