ModNation Racers PS3 Demo

Downloaded the demo yesterday from PSN and have already been really enjoying the game's unique take on karting.

Comparing it to Sega All-stars racing it feels like a generation apart in terms of the vehicle physics, graphics and playability; whether that will carry over into the full game it is too early to tell but I'm going to get this one soon, I reckon.

The game certainly took a few goes to beat the demo on a 3 lap race, with the fastest karts and the hardest AI difficulty. So it is definitely feeling like a proper skill game; with far more variables that determine the success of your driving than other kart games, like Mario kart Wii or DS.


I've only had a quick go in the editors, but from what I can see, there are all the components in the demo to make a reasonable Goh styled character(and possibly a few others Wolf, Akira, Jacky); well there is definitely the blue hair and fanged style mouth for Goh.

I'm not sure if the demo allows you to use your own made characters, but it does allow you to save them, so I'm guessing they can be transferred to the full version.

Loading times for tracks are long, but given the work the console is doing to build the tracks/characters on the fly, it wasn't unbearable. 3 races on the same track in local multiplayer might be required just to minimize this issue.

 

Me and few friends have all bought this game and it is really good; just sent this as an email to them and others and thought some else might benefit from the info also.

Although I'm only part way through career mode, I have been unlocking everything as I go along (for the creation tools, Dk mountain rickety bridge unlocked); getting all the tokens, doing all the achievements and grudge matches as I go.

This is my racing Quicksheet advice so far, which will also help anyone on the sidelines to improve their play through the demo level.

First up for demo players only, the demo says mod, press x (straight away); don't press x! Press left or right and move to the race section; they'll lose loads of customers who can't figure out how to get a race going in under 30seconds trying the demo.

Game system

Unlike many lesser kart racers, this game is perfectly honed to allow the best driver to win more than loose; everything you do correctly gets rewarded with boost tank. And everything you do wrong looses you boost tank (and typically looses one level of your weapon power up).

Correct things:

1. Power sliding without hitting walls (the tank fills up when you stop sliding)
2. Drafting (slip streaming) without hitting walls
3. Staying airborne off of ramps (press x to drift/jump, or press x twice quickly for a super jump)
4. Tricking while airborne (the right analogue stick)
5. Mashing opponents with destroyers (mashers) by driving over the yellow lit switch
6. Triggering road robots to nail opponents that pass (using R1 button and some of your boost tank)

7. Taking down opponents with Side swipes while grounded (using left or right on the right analogue stick)
8. Taking down opponents with weapons in level 1 to 3.

The more opponents nailed the bigger your boost tank. Except the green boost items; Level 3 is a homing everyone attack, level 2 is usually homing next opponent in front (or cluster if together), blue level 2 sonic cluster, requires aimed and relatively close attack distance. Level 1 attacks require green shell/banana throwing skill level for the red level 1 rocket and lighting bolt level 1. The blue level 1, which is a close range sonic radius is good in traffic.

9. Using any of your weapons (in any level) as a Mario Banana (or bomb in this case). Press and hold the attack key (square), release where you want it to stay on the road.

10. Driving over orange squares with a cross (boost bonuses)

11. Advanced; powerslide and boosting to quickly get tyres flaming. This fills the tank quicker, but you are also using what is currently visible, so the maximum fill will be minus what you started with; not to mention handling is much twitchier like rainbow road.


Correct but not always rewarded.

1. Stopping someone overtaking, stop a side swipe, or force some off by using shield (needs level 1 boost tank and press circle)

Wrong things,

1. Hitting walls,
2. Getting side swiped
3. Falling off the track
4. Pressing "select" when you are stuck to reset on the track.
5. Getting nailed by a weapon or because you didn't use your shield or dodge, or you used the shield too early, or at the wrong boost tank level. Eg a level 3 rocket attack needs a level 3 boost tank shield if you are in first place.
edit: "defend yourself against the hydra missiles you have to hold down the shield button instead of just tapping it"

6. Driving over bombs/green slicks


Easy avoidance of a level 3 take down.

1. Each track has five tokens to be picked up, which show any bread crumb routes(typically 3 shortcuts at most), theses routes are less vulnerable to level 3 sonic attacks; particularly if the weapon user goes the normal route, or is out of screen when they use the weapon.


Easy map knowledge

1. Drive not race round three laps of the track, looking for the shortcuts/getting the five tokens, then race multiple times, firstly without using button L1 to boost, then introduce boost for straights and eventually add in some rainbow road cornering if it is possible.

Easy use of dynamic ramps, they typically are up for ~5 seconds and then down for ~5seconds.

1. When I see a down ramp, I work out if I can count to five before I'd pass the ramp. If I can count to five or more, even while boosting, I go for the ramp.

2. If the ramp has just gone up, and I can get there under a 5 count, then I go for it with a (double x tap super jump) when I touch the start of the ramp.

 

I've got the game pre-ordered and will be picking it up tomorrow! Super excited. The demo was just a blast. I love that it has 4 player split-screen AND 2 player split online. Great party game!

I also like that it takes a bit of skill to be really good at these races. And unlike Mario Kart, its more than just memorizing the tracks. If you want a real showdown with a friend, download a track neither of you have played before and race on that.

Thanks for the tips! I'll be referencing this when I get the full game for sure.

 

Yeah, ever since Double Dash/Bomberman kart got a little too old we've really struggled to find a good next-gen 4 player kart game. We think this is the one.

We're already trying to get a 4 player split projector session sorted out for this week.
But I'm not expecting a really competitive locally setup until we've all completed career mode; which might take a month or two.

We're even considering 2 projectors and 2 ps3's in 4 player local (using 2 lots of 2 player split online) to keep the graphics looking great.

I think being able to create tracks has change karting games forever.

 

Man, this game is HARD. Like, really really hard. Its nothing like Mario Kart's difficulty, at least on the career mode. Unlocking everything for this will take quite a while.

Fun though. Played 4-player split-screen last night and had a blast!

 

It is pretty rubbish when compared to most people's mods, but it only took 15mins in the demo to create and I was able to transfer it to the full game.

All mine and my friend's creation time is spent in the track editor now, but I don't publish much of what I start

http://community.modnation.com/en-us/players/Toadbrigade/creations/
(Sega should still do a website like this for VF5b/c and patch the game, although my disconnects number should be relabelled to: times miss-matched as a P2P client)

I did capture two race previews videos and a track editor view for each of them and uploaded to youtube for anyone interested, or owning the game.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SicilianVizzini#g/a

I've literally been playing Modnation offline/online since it came out; neglecting VF5 and I've now got rusty again. Time attack dojo with Akira was a struggle, range from 16mis to 4mins, with most attempts being stopped on +,,+ for an eternity

I also played through Arcade on very hard mode and was playing for over 45mins.