Modnation Racers is a Mario kart styled racing game, which is obviously and strongly influenced by littlebigplanet (so I’m going to compare them a lot).   Now, whenever I head ‘obviously/strongly influenced’ by a game, I say ‘oh god, another remake of a game’ (even if the game it was influenced by was good).   However, Modnation Racers is a compliment to Media Molecule (makes or lbp) because it takes all that was shining and successful with lbp and mixes it with the incredible mario kart racing franchise.

First off, the beta is not a real representation of the game, so I expect there to be faults not presented in the beta, and better things not in the beta.   So I’m going to review the beta as I would a mini arcade game, because that is what it most resembles.   There is lots to do, you can customize you character, your kart, and make your own tracks.   Oh, track making… sounds familiar, oh yeah! They did that in littlebigplanet.   However, the main difference is the one in Modnation is far superior.   In lbp you had to learn these million steps to make something as simple as a button, while in Modnation, all they teach you is… wait… they don’t teach you anything because the editor is so simple that no explanation is needed.

One thing that bugged me right when I started up the beta was the stupid camera.   In a race the camera is fine because it is a little more zoomed out; but if free roam the camera sucks (-.2pts).   Oh yeah, there’s the free roam.   So, the free roam is just the menu, it’s just a 3D menu where you can drive around.   There, you can go to the ‘creation station’ where you mod your kart and character and you can make tracks.   You can also enter races with people.   Also, the free roam is online so people from all over the world are chilling there.   This is a cool concept but it results in a very laggy situation, not a plus (-.1pts).   However, I didn’t really mind that, what I did mind was the long loading screens, the loading screens could be as long as two to three minutes, which doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re there and waiting…waiting… and more waiting it tends to suck (-.1pts).   That wouldn’t be much of a big deal but you have to go through those long loading screens to edit your kart, character, and tracks when all you could want to do is put on one more sticker, and you have to wait a hella long time.

Even though the beta has these negatives it is friggin incredible.   I haven’t had so much fun in a customization based game since lbp, and this far out-does lbp.   Preorder this game, you will not regret it in the slightest.

9.6/10