ModNations Racers PSP Hands-On Impression

The ability to Create, Play, and Share was first introduced when LittleBigPlanet was released in 2008. A lot of gamers liked this concept therefore, Sony Computer Entertainment is releasing another game where those three elements will be put together to create a racing game with infinite possibilities. ModNation Racers is the game I’m talking about and it’s coming out in just a few months. I had the chance to play the preview build of the PSP version of the game and from the first hour of play that I’ve spent, I am enthralled.

From the preview build that I have played, I’m limited as to what I can do. I can’t try out the online portion of the game but other features such as the Career Mode, and Design Studio are available to tamper with. The Career Mode of ModNations Racers is just like every other racing game out there; you will be finishing a series of races and you will get to unlock achievements and items that can be used in your Design Studio. There is a story behind the Career mode and as you progress through the story, you will be seeing a lot of cutscenes that I truly enjoy.

Before you can start racing, you can design the appearance of whatever character you will be using. From the Design Studio menu, you will have an opportunity to use the items that you received from racing or other people online. There are more than 128 color palettes that you can apply in the personalized character you choose. Aside from customizing your character, there is also an option to create your own tracks where you can upload it to the server for everyone to enjoy. There are a lot of things that you can do in creating your tracks such as putting in traps.

Racing in ModNation Racers reminds me when I used to play Mario Kart. There are power ups that everyone can use to slow everyone down but that is not the idea at all of ModNations. The idea to Create, Play, and Share are the things I love the most in ModNations. Since the preview build has its obvious limitations, I cannot say much more about the game. However, with the character and track customization, you can potentially have countless hours of gameplay. Check back with us near the release date for the full review of Modnations Racers for both the PS3 and PSP.