Is There A Beta Game Than ModNation?
We delve deep into the ModNation Racers Beta.Published 22/01/2010 at 15:00 by Michael
Team 17 Ask for Testers [17]
MAG Beta: Fail? [87]
European MAG Beta Signup [61]
After ten minutes racing round the ModSpot, checking out the RaceStation and the CreationStation, marvelling at the joyous bubblegum characters and karts, I didn’t think there was a better game, no. As I mentioned in an earlier preview, this earlier preview, no less, ModNation Racers (MNR) is to me like an HD-version of my old favourite Skidmarks but with a track editor bolted on. But, it’s so much better than I had hoped.
Once the 2GB download is installed and booted, you get to sit through a lovingly animated intro movie, which showcases two of the game’s characters; a rather arrogant commentator and a brilliant statto. If MNR wore sleeves it’d have little heart-shaped stickers all over them. You can’t help but love the effort that’s gone into creating the world. It’s similar to what Evolution tried and failed to do with the Motorstorm Festival atmosphere, but MNR is chequered flag all the way.
Movie over and the screen shows you sat in your kart ready to enter the ModSpot. The ModSpot is the community hub of the game and is the gateway to everything MNR has to offer. If you’re impatient and don’t wish to drive around the ModSpot – where you can meet other online racers – then you can bring up the menu screen and select your destination there. You’ll be a boring dullard if you do though. To save you from that, I’ll give you a quick rundown here.
Options
Display
- Adjust brightness
- Adjust screen size
Audio
- Adjust volume of
- SFX
- Music
- Speech
- VOIP On/Off
- Subtitles On/Off
Advanced Audio – Not sure what constitutes advanced audio. Clever noises? Intelligent Sounds?
- Adjust volume of
- Collisions
- Engines
- Kart sounds
- Weapons
- Dynamic Pit Radio
- Ambient Sound
- Object and Props
- Road Noise
- Player Vocalisations
- User Interface
- Your Partner
That’s a lot of volume adjustment, but it highlights just how customisable MNR is and also how awesome the audio will be. You’ll hear.
My Stuff
- My Online Profile
- Stats
- Favourites
- Reputation
- My Stats
- Time spent – Stats showing how long you’ve been doing certain things in MNR
- Racing stats – For me, 0 wins etc
- Creation stats – I’ve got some of these though!
- Photo Mode
- Brilliantly, you can take a pic of your immediate environment and save it to the PS3 – pics below as proof, peoples
Tutorials is greyed out in the beta, but presumably will be able to teach numtpies like me how to race. There are also shortcuts here to get to the RaceStation, CreationStation, and Online parts of the game. But enough of this, let’s drive into the ModSpot and see what’s up.
The ModSpot
When you drive into the ModSpot you’ll notice a few other people nipping around the central, circular area – occasionally jumping over it – which the sections of the ModSpot are arranged around. To your left there are TV screens showing online information, the Top Tracks and your Hot Lap records, while to the right similar screens show off Top Players, Top Downloads etc, plus a Showcase Series (User Generated Content) and an Upcoming (DLC, presumably) screen. You can drive up and interact with them or just take a look at the information.
Ahead of you to the left is the RaceStation, then the Top Mods (User Characters) and Top Karts (User Karts) podiums. There are already some lovely creations on display, so check them out. Further over to the right is the CreationStation, which boasts a Shop (not yet working) and the Create and Share areas.
For once, I found navigating via the game engine rather than menus to be more satisfying. It may take a smidge longer, but when you get to bump into other people along the way and have impromptu races around the ModSpot, who cares?
Talking of other people, if you get near enough you can press Square and an options pane opens up. From here you can check out a number of things: View Creations, Player Profile, Complaints Desk, Add To Friends, Send Message, Challenge (you can challenge someone to a race on your own track, an MNR track, or any tracks you’ve downloaded). It’s a cool system and you’ll get a little frisson of excitement when the scrolling message appears saying someone has challenged you. I ignored them because I needed to gather information, but I would have kicked their ass, no bother.
Being a frustrated Creative at heart, I decided the CreationStation was where I wanted to go first…
CreationStation
This is the area you’ll head for when you want to get creative with either your Mod (character), your Kart (Kart), or your Tracks (Tracks). There is even a Shop inside, but that’s not working in the beta. In fact, a large amount of the customisation options aren’t available in the beta, e.g. there are only a small amount of noses to choose from, a few pairs of trousers and so on, but it doesn’t matter one jot. You see, there are so many things you can change that even with the relative paucity of content in the beta you can easily create a unique-looking Mod or Kart. In fact, check out this TSA video showing off the customisation to see just what’s possible. It’s only a few minutes long and shows how to create a Mod, Kart, and a Track. Yep, it really is as straightforward as the video suggests.
You back now, huh?
I chose to create a Mod first. It took about five minutes to create a suitably red-wearing, top-hat toting Skeletor lookalike. I was impressed! Of course, now I needed a ride and that took a similar length of time. I decided to deck out my ride with twin rear licence plates, because I could.
And then the bit that I’d really, really been waiting for. The track editor. If you’ve watched the video – you have, right? – then you’ll be pleased to know that I can confirm it is exactly as easy as it looks. My first attempt had great bends and corners, changes in elevation, and long straights for overtaking on. Comparisons to LittleBigPlanet’s editor are unfair as MNR’s offering is highly focussed on one job and it does it magnificently. It’s absolutely seamless to go from editing to racing on the track. I can see this being a mammoth time sink when it’s released, and I wouldn’t rule out some special TSA competitions either.
To give you an idea of what’s possible, check out the screen shot of my Mod and Kart racing round my Track below. I’m flying up an elevated section, having sent a barrel I’d placed flying through the air. As you’re no doubt aware, to lay down track you simply “drive” and the track appears behind you. There’s a little map overlay that shows you the basic outline of your track, so you can see where you need to go to get back to the Start/Finish and so on. If you get stuck, you can even press Triangle and MNR will auto-complete the track for you. It’s a brilliant feature that comes in handy.
There are a few Global Settings you can alter to change the Tracks’s appearance, such as lighting, cloud cover, and water levels. They do make a difference, as some Tracks can be harder to navigate if the light is lacking, for example. The terrain can also be sculpted, by raising and lowering using different “brushes”. You can also “paint” the terrain with various patches, to make it look like a field of flowers and so on. You can even have as much trackside clutter as memory allows, filling the environment with trees, buildings, animals and more. Handily, MNR includes an auto-populate option for those of you who just want to get the race surface designed and forget about all the other environmental stuff.
Finally, after all that, you’ll want to actually race. Thankfully, MNR takes all the gorgeousness of the CreationStation and whacks it smack-bang in the middle of the best Karting action the PS3 has seen. Ok, so it hasn’t seen much, but whatever; It’s ace!
In true Karting style, the handling is very forgiving and therefore it’s easy to compete. It’s not easy to win though, as the rush for those powerups (weapons and boosts) is never ending, as is the pursuit of the best racing line that will take you straight through booster pads. You receive points for cool driving, like drafting, and this fills up your Boost Meter. Use it wisely, because every other driver will send everything they have at you if you take the lead. It’s fast and frenetic stuff, but never too much that you feel overwhelmed by it all. Of course, goodness only knows what it’ll be like once all the User Generated Content (UGC) starts to hit.
The beta allows you to play either Ranked (for XP) or Unranked races, and you can host your own Unranked games as private or Friends only affairs. There’s even the excellent option of having a Pure Race, which is a race without the Weapons and such – my idea of Heaven. I tried a few online games and managed to connect without any problems. The races were smooth and lag free, and I even didn’t come last – go me!
Software of this quality deserves an audience. The developers have poured such love and attention into it that I think it only right you all rush out to the shops and buy it on release. It’s a sign of the depth of content that the PS3 plays host to that something like MNR is available at the same time as Heavy Rain. We really are spoiled, aren’t we?
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Erroneus | 22/01/2010 14:59
Wanted "Trophy Hunter" but was too late.
2982 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
It looks good, but why does it have to load so slow and whats up with the fps drops >_> I really hope they manages to fix those bugs, because it scares me away from the game.
Amphlett | 22/01/2010 15:04
Member
1251 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
These issues were in the closed BETA. I too hope/presume they’ll be sorted out for the retail version.
cc_star | 22/01/2010 15:10
Team TSA: Writer
7897 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
The frame rate and loading is the main focus of their efforts in advance of the games full release.
Pitcher-T | 22/01/2010 16:41
Member
424 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
I was think the same thing erroneus but I spose that’s the point of the beta. Seems like it’s hurting my ps3 tho, lol
stonyk | 22/01/2010 17:26
Member
256 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
I’m glad this has been brought up. The load times are scary (Scary in the sense I almost pressed the off button assuming my machine had crashed). Additionally, when I came out of the game my machine autmoatically switched off then on. Is that normal? I’ve never noticed that in other games.
xdarkmagician | 22/01/2010 18:36
Member
498 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
@stonyk, having your PS3 turning off like that isn’t normal for most betas, but it does happen from time to time with some, so I wouldn’t worry about it.
BadBoyBoogie | 22/01/2010 17:34
Let There Be Rock
2689 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Loading times were definitely frustrating me!!! It even crashed my PS3 at one point…I haven’t started it again since!!!!
cam the man | 22/01/2010 17:56
Member
2071 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Another annoying thing is not being able to turn off or down the other player’s voices until the race/s have finished and you’ve gone back to the main area.
Uhyve | 23/01/2010 02:32
Member
424 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
I don’t know how beta-ry this is, but you have to remember that in real beta’s there is a certain amount of debugging stuff going on in the background.
gazo69 | 22/01/2010 15:02
Member
1152 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I hope Sony let us use our MNR character’s for our PSN avatars further down the line!
hazelam | 22/01/2010 17:05
Member
3951 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
after a year of requests they haven’t let us use our home avatars so don’t hold you breath.
Uhyve | 23/01/2010 02:35
Member
424 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
If Sony were smart, I’d be using my LittleBigPlanet character right now. There are so many different ‘avatar’ systems atm, Sony need to decide on ONE, before everyone starts getting confused. I mean, I have my account picture, the picture my online friends see, my Home avatar, my LBP avatar and soon… my ModNation avatar. Get your act together Sony…
phalae | 22/01/2010 15:02
Member
5 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
Like Erroneus, Soooooo frustrated by the loading, the lag, the FPS drop, the camera view (hope It will be more)….
I’ll already played the US Beta and I didn’t see any improvement on this …
Michael | 22/01/2010 15:06
Team TSA: Development
2217 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Oh. Yeah. I meant to mention the camera view. There must be more. There must be. I didn’t experience any lag though, but I have done so on other games that people have said are lag free.
PoolieMike | 22/01/2010 15:03
Member
298 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
This looks amazing. I can’t wait.
SIR-DARK-HAZE | 22/01/2010 15:05
Member
2553 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
Is There A Beta Game Than ModNation? i see what you did there, the problem i have is connecting, or when i finished a ranked series i disconnect
minerwilly | 22/01/2010 15:08
Member
755 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
You say we should rush out and buy it from the PSN store when available ? I had no idea it was going to be a PSN game id always thought it would be disc based . I really enjoyed the first BETA before Christmas and was gutted when it finished , it is so much better than LBP (which I personally hated) and has gone from a possible buy to a deffo one now .
seedaripper1973 | 22/01/2010 15:44
Member
1733 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
yeah i noticed the ‘buy from the PSN store’ as well..is this confirmed michael?
hannes_truce | 22/01/2010 15:08
Member
2922 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Love this, and it’s going to be a day one purchase for me. no doubt in my mind.
Michael | 22/01/2010 15:08
Team TSA: Development
2217 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Right – time to play it again!
Gastos84 | 22/01/2010 15:10
Team TSA: Writer
3908 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Great article. I am so gutted that I never managed to get into the better. It’s the only game whereby I can see myself actually enjoying the customisation part.
slates16 | 22/01/2010 15:11
Member
248 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
had one race last night finished last
but it wasn’t my faulth got knocked out of the track and couldn’t get back in for ages! fun game tough will defo be buying it
gazo69 | 22/01/2010 16:09
Member
1152 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Press select, it puts you back on the track!
slates16 | 23/01/2010 00:37
Member
248 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
ah thanks mate! couldn’tfind any controls on the internet for the game was all guess work !
Raen | 22/01/2010 15:12
Team TSA: Writer
3724 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
If they give it 4 player split screen (which they don’t seem to be doing) it would be perfect. A kart racer needs that.
teflon | 22/01/2010 15:27
Member
2002 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
It’ll be there in the full game. There’s already the drive in thing for you in the main arena, but it’s blocked off for the beta.
Raen | 22/01/2010 15:42
Team TSA: Writer
3724 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I had heard it had been confirmed as only 2 player split screen, but a quick search and watching of an interview on YouTube shows it up as 2 player online split screen, and 4 player local. I assume the 2 player local was confusion between the two. I am appeased.
cc_star | 22/01/2010 15:14
Team TSA: Writer
7897 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
This is one hell of an awesome game, the track creation is absolutely genius, and then the ability to share with others and download theirs means the possibilities are endless.
ModNation Racers is a compulsory purchase IMO, yes the beta has unoptimised load times, and frame rate issues which the team have acknowledged that they are working on as the highest priority before the full game’s release.
Play.Create.Share is the main (only?) innovation of this console generation, and I can’t wait for this.
tjgb | 22/01/2010 16:54
Member
314 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I was amazed at how easy it is to make a decent track in a relatively short space of time. The thing that always frustrated me with creating levels on LBP was that it took so much time and effort, and it wouldn’t neccessarily work in the end. MNR has none of that, or not that I’ve noticed after playing on it for a relatively short space of time. I’m really looking forward to seeing what people come up with.
teflon | 23/01/2010 00:02
Member
2002 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Couldn’t agree more. I bashed out three track in a couple of hours. One of which was completely mental, just a spaghetti-esque mess of curves, dips, falls and insane-ity. But my third one was my favourite. No power ups, no boost pads, no jumps, but a very kart-esque layout with plenty of bends, wiggles and tilting of the track. It just looked and felt awesome to me.
And so much easier to build these than in LBP! we’re talking minutes instead of days.
Im now really looking forward to the full game, so long as they pull the camera further back. It can quite easily best the latest Mario Kart which was, as far as I was concerned, completely boring and played out..
Boomshanks | 22/01/2010 15:18
Member
1305 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
It’d be amazing to see some WipEout tracks done in Modnation Racers
tinytim01 | 22/01/2010 15:29
Member
231 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
at the mo im trying to make a rep of brands hatch will post up soon when all done
52pickup | 22/01/2010 15:44
Member
202 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
I’m having fun with the game too, though i’ve been unlucky, the games crashed on me twice, and i’m getting lag and fps drops. Still a blast nonetheless.