PlayStation Holiday Preview ‘09 – ModNation Racers

Vancouver’s United Front Games may not be a household name at the moment, but when their debut title, ModNation Racers, is released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in 2010, it very well could become one. The next game in Sony’s Play, Create, Share line of games, inaugurated by Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet in 2008, ModNation Racers is a kart racing game with a heavy emphasis on user-generated content. We took the opportunity to sit down with United Front Games and ModNation Racers at the PlayStation Holiday Preview Event to see the game in action.

Our demo began in a spacious garage setting, with separate sections of the garage dedicated to each aspect of the game’s customization tools: character creation, car creation, and level creation. Wanting to establish an in-game identity before we moved on, our first order of business was to create a character, or Mod, to represent us.

When we navigated to the appropriate section of the garage, we were greeted by a white, featureless character awaiting our creative touch. The customization options were very extensive, allowing us to customize every article of clothing, facial feature, and colour, so our demo operator chose to generate a random Mod for a little inspiration. After letting the system generate a few random Mods, which were truly random, resulting in some hideous but hilarious characters, we stumbled across one that brought a smile to our faces: a purple monkey-like character wearing red chaps and a top hat. Classy! He was a good start, but he needed a little more work. We added a tuxedo jacket to go along with his chaps, and changed his eyes to make him appear a little crazier. We then decided to change his ears, and after determining their size and placing them, they immediately adopted the exact shade of purple found on the rest of his body. As our demo operator pointed out, this was just a small example of ModNation Racers doing the work for you, a goal that the designers set out to accomplish right from the start.

With our Mod created, it was time to give him some wheels. Heading over to the car shop, we were given another blank canvas in the shape of a car. After previewing some of the car customization options, which included everything from tires, to steering wheels, to engines and seats, we once again opted for a random creation. After a few spins of the wheel of fate, we were given a large, white muscle car with a lawn chair for a seat and a pizza box for a steering wheel. This somehow seemed appropriate for our little simian friend, so we decided to keep it. However, after noting that some of the randomly generated cars had radically different body sizes, ranging from vans to Formula 1 racing cars, we inquired about our vehicle’s attributes. We were very pleased to learn that all cars in ModNation Racers, despite their appearance, are equal. This enables all audiences to compete on the same level, allowing casual and hardcore gamers alike to participate in the same races. And speaking of races, it was time to create one.

We hopped over to the track editor and were welcomed by a large, flat, and grassy landscape. Wanting something a little more rugged, we changed the landscape to a desert motif instead. We quickly familiarized ourselves with the tools, and were soon making all manner of natural rock and land formations, each of which were automatically textured as we sculpted them. Once again, ModNation Racers doing the work for you. After we were pleased with the layout of our landscape, we decided it was time to put a track on it. We selected the track-laying tool, and our Mod and his car appeared on the landscape, waiting for us to drive around. As we drove, the track was laid down behind us, making the process of creating a track as simple as driving. We were able to add hills to our track in two different ways, by driving over the hills we had already created in our landscape, or by pulling back on the analog stick, prompting our Mod to leave the ground as he drove. Once we were satisfied with the layout, we pressed and held the triangle button, which automatically guided the remainder of the track back to our starting segment. It was all so simple, and took only a matter of minutes to complete.

As soon as the track was completed, several AI racers were automatically placed on the road, driving around as though a real race was in progress. This enabled us to observe how the AI read and navigated our track, which was quite exciting to watch. While the AI racers made their laps, we decided to give them a little eye candy. We selected some prefabricated decorations, such as shops and houses, and using the track-side decorations tool, were placed alongside the track with very little difficulty. Furthermore, each house and shop that we placed was randomized to appear different from the rest, preventing the scenery from looking too repetitive. All too easy!

With the track looking like a professional design, we felt that it was time to add some gameplay elements. Much like other games in the kart racing genre, ModNation Racers features a multitude of power-ups that can be found in item boxes, as well as other genre staples such as boost pads and on-track obstacles. Placing these, like everything else in the game, was both intuitive and easy. For instance, as we placed boost pads, they conformed to the direction of the road, ensuring that any driver that hit them would accelerate in the proper direction. However, if you want to be devious, you can opt to set the direction manually instead.

Eager to put our creation to the test, we got behind the pizza box wheel of our roaring muscle car and immediately began a race. The track looked beautiful as we made our laps, and one could barely tell that it was created in a matter of minutes using the tools provided. Everything looked so professional and unique, but best of all, it was fun to play. The actual kart racing felt similar to most games in the genre, with exaggerated but fun physics and tight controls, while the power-ups and boost meter bring a strategic element to each race. Online races will be available for up to twelve players, and local play can support up to four players via split screen.

Most kart racing games are defined by their characters and their tracks, and ModNation Racers will offer a limitless supply of both. With the ability to share Mods and tracks built directly into the core of the game, new fan favourites could surface every day. That said, the success of ModNation Racers will ultimately be determined by the community that embraces it, but with tools that are intuitive and easy to use, and gameplay that is both fun and engaging, United Front Games have given it a fantastic head start.

Join us later this week for an interview with lead designer of ModNation Racers, William Ho.