Kart games were never on the top of my to-play list. They simply aren’t something that I go out of my way for. Sure, I play them, but more often than not it’s when I have a quick 30 minutes spare. However, things have changed slightly, thanks to a new take on kart games in the form of ModNation Racers. This is more than just the run of the mill kart experience. Rather, this game takes a few new ideas and melds them with what was (up until recently) a genre that was getting rather tired rather quickly.

By way of a quick definition, ModNation Racers is like the love child of LittleBigPlanet and any given kart racer. The game is all about kart racing, sure, but it allows for a massive amount of customisation to be performed across various areas of the game… thereby adding something very new, fun and exciting to the world of kart racing. The game has its tongue very securely planted in its cheek, as evidenced by a number of elements. The graphics, for example, are the typically cute kind of thing you would expect to see in a game of this kind, but the cuteness is edged with elements that could be described an grim, or even grotesque.

The actions of the drivers during the races add to this idea, with shaking fists combining with over-the-top aerial stunts performed while getting airtime. And the story that drives the single player campaign is rife with the kind of often-off-colour humour that gamers, in particular, appreciate. As a racing game, ModNation racers if among the better kart games on the market. The action is fast and furious, set on tracks that are sometimes challenging, always lively and even occasionally heart-stopping. The tracks are littered with shortcuts, traps and power-ups. These power ups will give the player a random ability to make use of.

However, instead of allowing the player to gather multiple power ups, they are only allowed one at a time. Each power-up can be increased in potency (up to three levels) by collecting additional on-track pick-ups. There are around thirty tracks available during the single player campaign. Each track has basic and extended goals, adding a large amount of replayability to the title. More impressive than the racing, though, is the high degree of customisation the player can apply to their character and their car. New objects, textures and finishes are unlocked as the game progresses, allowing for an almost limitless array of karts and drivers on the track. This extends to creating tracks too. The game features a very simple track building system that is deceptively easy to use. A little work and imagination can result in truly impressive tracks being made. Yes, the player is limited to how much each track can contain, but there is plenty of room to move within the editor.

Another cornerstone of this game is the online community. Through PSN, players can trade designs for karts, characters and tracks and, naturally, compete against each other in a variety of online race events. The simplicity of the game makes it ultimately accessible to all players. From youngsters through to seasoned veterans will all have a fair chance in what is essentially a typically kart-style level playing field. And the creativity injected into the title will keep people coming back for more – even if just in the hope that one of their creations will become featured content.

Games like LittleBigPlanet showed us that user generated content is a hot field to take advantage of, and ModNation racers, with its ease-of-use and myriad options, will do well because of this popularity. Tracks made by others will keep the game alive for ages, and the addictive thrill that the game provides players will have them coming back for more, time and time again. This game is a victory for lateral thinking in game design, and one that is well worth playing… even if kart games aren’t your thing. It’s entertainment value goes far beyond the track, and it will keep all kinds of gamers busy for a good long time to come. The fact that it doesn’t capitalise on established characters is an added bonus – this game has its own identity, and everything it takes to establish a thriving online community.

Conclusion - ModNation Racers is a solid and creative kart game with all the elements required to create a thriving online community.

We looked at Blur a few months back prior to it’s release, since then we have been playing it you could say, quite a lot!!

The racing genre is one that is heavily saturated. In fact, one could say that it is overly full, with a pack of mediocre games competing with each other while a few float on top of the genre as the cream of the crop. Adding something new to the genre is tough, too, because there really is only so much that can be done with car racing. However, there are developers out there who think outside of the box… one of them being Bizarre Creations, the team behind Blur.

Blur presents the player with what initially seems to be a hybrid between traditional racing games and kart games. Sure, that’s a gross oversimplification, but let’s look at it objectively: Blur combines real world cars and realistic physics with on-track power-ups and abilities. Where a kart game would present the player with a level playing field, Blur introduces varied vehicle performance. Where a racing game would give the player a real-world experience, Blur gives them near-whimsical vehicle-based weaponry and a looser application of physics.

But the game is much more than just that. Blur tasks the player – in single player mode – with working through numerous challenges, presented as sets of races. Each race set has a boss to beat, which only becomes available when the player achieves certain preset goals within the group. There are numerous event types, ranging from frantic races in which twenty vehicles vie for the top spot, trading slams and weapons-fire, through to checkpoint based time trials and destruction events (which pit the player, armed with lots of weapons, against a bunch of drones.)

Each of these races is a visual feast, with high end graphics and well modelled vehicles complemented by stunning visual effects. The sound is excellent too, providing the player with much needed information, as well as audio flavour. The sound of an incoming weapon can help the player dodge at the right time, for example, and each car has a unique and authentic sound signature.

The game is surprisingly strategic, too. Most weapons have a default firing direction, but the player can change that quite easily, and to great effect. A mine fired forward, for example, makes an excellent, powerful short range weapon, while a boost fired in the opposite direction results in massive braking power, rather than breakneck speed. A clever player will be able to use the pickups extremely effectively, but this is no assurance of victory. While each car can carry up to three power-ups at a time, good driving will be essential to placing in the top three.

The AI drivers are extremely aggressive, even at the easiest play levels, and most wins will be skin-of-the-teeth affairs. The player will progress through the game in two ways.
Lights are earned for winning races, and fan numbers are increased by performing well on the track. Lights unlock new events, and fans unlock new vehicles. Vehicles, of which there are more than 55 licensed variants, are classified as either drifty, grippy, or somewhere inbetween.

There are also off-road vehicles, which lose less speed when leaving the track. The player will have to choose the right kind of vehicle to match events and their play style to get far in Blur, and will also have to complete not only overall race challenges, but little ‘Fan Demand’ challenges within the races themselves.

The game is exciting and very fast paced, often even frustrating. The only real issue it has is that it doesn’t lead to the kind of addiction that will have you playing for ages. After a few races, you’ll probably want to take a break, before getting back to it later. That isn’t really the case with the game’s very robust multiplayer, though. With the facility to have up to four competitors playing on split-screen (complemented by 16 AI players for the total of twenty) or up to twenty players per race, either online or via system-link (which is pretty astounding) the game is a multiplayer dream.

In addition to the power-ups that can be found on the track, Blur also allows racers to modify their vehicles with power-up modifiers, leading to a variety of results and further deepening the game’s strategy possibilities. And that’s really what Blur is all about – strategy. Fast-paced thinking while responding to a changing environment. It is, as a result, a challenging racer that, while not superrealistic, is great fun to play… and it is also a nice break from the run-of-the-mill, tired racing genre.

Big negative point for me – Blur is NOT compatible with the Logitech G25 steering wheel.

 

Need For Speed: Shift (PS3 + 360) Review Based On PS3 Version

Upon starting Need For Speed: Shift you will find yourself behind the wheel on a track by yourself, with your trainer instructing you to take a lap and then popping the control settings up for you to fiddle about with. This isn’t so bad for experienced racers, but newcomers to the genre might find themselves a little overwhelmed, especially as the initial handling scheme is completely unsuitable for them.

A better option would probably have been for the developers to set the default controls to make for easy handling, thereby allowing less experienced players to breeze through the game’s introduction while still offering the more hardcore a chance to tune their controls. Unfortunately it went the other way and inexperienced players who stick with the default setting are likely to find themselves even more frustrated in the long-term than if they’d spent fifteen minutes experimenting with different settings on the practice track.

Still, don’t let first impressions scare you off, Shift is a solid racer and has something to offer players of all skill levels. The game’s single player career mode offers 150 different events, and doing well will unlock bigger events and better cars. It’s all building up to the World Tour, which you can unlock earlier than you might think, essentially offering you the ability to lengthen or shorten your single-player experience. You can do the bare minimum required to race in the World Tour, or you can hit every single event, it’s up to you.

The unlocks work by earning stars during races. You can earn stars by finishing in position but also for a number of other feats during each race. Run each race perfectly and you will unlock the higher level content more quickly. Race just adequately and you can still advance, it will just take you more events. The stars are a great game mechanic because they encourage you to focus on more than just driving fast and finishing first, which keeps the gameplay fresh. It’s also fun and challenging to go back and try for perfect runs in events where you missed stars, but it’s not required and you can simply move on to a new event instead. Online game modes also rewards players for precision and aggression like the single player does.

One area where the single player game can be a bit frustrating though, is the AI driving of your competitors. The Need for Speed developers tied AI performance strongly to your own. In idealistic terms, this means no matter what your skill level is, your opponents will be evenly matched. In reality it means if you lose speed by taking a corner to wide and end up on the grass, your opponents all slam on their brakes and wait for you to catch up. The same thing happens in reverse when you’re driving exceptionally well: the AI drivers will also be driving exceptionally well, not only making them very difficult to beat but also lessening your sense of accomplishment at how well you ran the course.

Need For Speed: Shift offers an enormous variety of excellent courses and cars. It’s not without flaws but overall it’s an extremely fun ride.

Review Based On PS3 Version

This arcade racer has some hardcore appeal, but casual gamers will fall in love instantly with it. While many other racing games focus on buying new cars, customizing cars and climbing event ladders, that can be a bit intimidating (not to mention frustrating) and some gamers just don’t enjoy focusing on those aspects. They want to sit down and drive, and that’s what GRID offers. You can choose to race muscle cars through city streets in the US, touring cars on racetracks in Europe, or head to Japan for some drifting action in souped-up Suburus and the like.

GRID still has a system where you earn money, buy new vehicles and move up a hierarchy of events, but it doesn’t feel like it because the moment you start to feel muscle cars or urban environments becoming tedious you can head over to Europe and it’s like a whole new game. If something is getting old or simply frustrating, there are always two completely different things you can be doing. There are also no vehicle upgrades. You just sell your old one and buy something better. For hardcore gamers that might be a check in the minus column but for casual players it’s one less level of unnecessary complication standing between them and their next race.

The control scheme is also very accessible, which won’t give racing sim aficionados anything to cheer about but again is a feature that makes the game very accessible to less experienced racers. You’ll also see some sophisticated damage modeling and cars will begin to have performance quirks and problems as they take more and more damage to specific areas of the vehicle. Minor damage won’t affect driveability at all but a heavily damaged car can be virtually impossible to get across the finish line.

There is also a flashback feature that allow you to jump back in time to replay a portion of track where things went seriously wrong for you. This is not just helpful for when you accidentally drive straight into a wall, but also for when you’re thrown into one. Yes, the game’s AI opponents are extremely aggressive. This adds another level of excitement and challenge to the game, but because of the flashback option it’s unlikely to frustrate even the greenest driver too much.

Purists are still rewarded though, your prize money at the end of each race is determined in part by what difficulty level you raced at (which in turn controls how many flashbacks you can use) and is reduced somewhat every time you use the flashback feature. In this way the game remains accessible but the hardcore faithful will get better pay, and therefore better cars earlier in the game.

GRID’s graphics are smart and really add to the feel of the game. The AI opponents drive in a challenging, but realistic manner. You can also play online with up to 11 other players, and you can use any of the tracks or vehicles from the single player game during multiplayer as well. This game isn’t all things to all players but it doesn’t try to be. What it is, is just plain fun.

There is a notable lack of racing games for Nintendo’s Wii platform, a fact that has frustrated many a Wii owner. When a console’s top rated racing game is a kart racer, you may have a problem. Not that there is anything less than great about Super Mario Kart Wii. It’s just that sometimes you want to drive a Ferrari, and Mario doesn’t have one. That’s where Need for Speed: Nitro comes in, or at least where it *should* come in.

Don’t get me wrong, this game is extremely fun. The flaw is in it’s long-term appeal. Nitro suffers slightly from a lack of content and variation in the career mode and course selection departments. There is also only one camera view (chase cam), which is extremely unusual for a modern racer. For those of you old enough to remember what a video arcade was, this racer is much like the racing games of yore: you sit down, plop a quarter in and BAM! You’re speeding down a track and having a blast. Nitro is exactly like that, without the quarter. Or the leaving your house to go to the arcade.

Since it’s for the Wii it better have a great control scheme, and it does. Several, actually. You can use the Wii remote by itself to steer, accelerate, drift and nitro boost similar to the controls for Mario Kart and other racers, or you can use a number of other control schemes including one where you can use the control stick on the Nunchuk to steer. That will appeal to folks more used to racing controls on the Xbox or Playstation platforms.

There is a career mode that spans five locations, and while it’s fun it isn’t nearly as deep as most racing gamers are used to. The arcade mode on the other hand gives you exactly what you might expect: Just pop into arcade mode, pick any one of ten tracks and choose from over 40 different cars, then hit the pavement with your tires spinning.

Nitro offers six different game modes and a star-based rating system that rewards you not only for winning races but also for precision driving aggression in the form of specific challenges. The more stars you earn in career mode, the faster you unlock cars, locations and other goodies. Customization options range from decals to painting your cars by hand — literally, with your Wii remote.

Visually the game won’t impress PS3 or Xbox 360 owners in the slightest, but Wii owners will recognize that the  developers did a great job pushing the graphical limits of Nintendo’s system. Considering the console’s reputation as a casual gaming machine, most Wii owners will probably enjoy this game a great deal. The only real flaws lie in the fact that Need for Speed: Nitro’s career mode won’t keep your interest for hours on end. I almost feel leaving the career mode out entirely would have been an improvement in the sense that the game wouldn’t be trying to be anything that it’s not, but of course that’s silly because some people are sure to enjoy the career mode option. Nitro’s true strength lies in it’s accessible, sit-down-and-play arcade mode though.

With double the number of tracks as its predecessor, boasting better graphics and even cooler course layouts, plus the addition of monster trucks, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift is fully prepared to blow away those who were blown away by the original. And if you haven’t seen the original Motorstorm, you may just find Pacific Rift to be jaw droppingly impressive.

The new courses are fiendishly designed with multiple tracks through, hairpin turns, bottlenecks, cliffs, even a claustrophobic run through the inside of a building, not to mention oodles of other innovative additions that will frustrate and delight. As if that weren’t enough the courses aren’t just brilliant, challenging and whatever the polar opposite of ‘boring’ is, they’re also drop dead gorgeous. Every one of the 16 courses has its own unique look, and even throughout each course the scenery is varied and consistently spectacular.

Add in a dynamic environment and the races go from interesting to riveting. Objects get knocked around as the race goes on and obstacles aren’t always in the same spot. Parts of courses with puddles or water can get muddier and ruts get deeper as races progress, causing handling problems for vehicles that try to drive through them.

Other games have a speed boost mechanic that you can only use once, or you have to recharge. Motorstorm’s boost is similar to the latter except instead of waiting for the speed boost to power up, you have to wait for your engine to cool down. It might sound like it’s just a semantic difference, but it isn’t. You can keep your speed boost running as long as you want, provided you can keep your car from exploding. In some cases there are actually nearby lava flows that will  raise the temperature of your engine, preventing you from using the speed boost as much as you normally would. In other sections there are sprinklers to cool your vehicle down.

Whatever the circumstance, the speed boost is an important part of winning. One way to use it is to power it on and keep it running until the last possible moment, especially on straight sections of track, then wait for it to cool all the way down. Another way is to constantly run the booster in short bursts. I imagine there are probably even better strategies but these two seem to work well when applied to the right sections of track. The main thing is you want to maximize the amount of time you have your booster turned on without losing control of vehicle (or exploding).

Multiple vehicle types also make this game a riot. With so many different types of vehicles on the course at once (12 racers at a time in single-player matches, and up to 12 in online mode) you’ll have monster trucks up against motorbikes, crashes, aggressive driving from AI opponents, and general chaos. Certain tracks through a course favor certain vehicles, and different vehicles handle very differently. Motorbikes are very nimble but crash a lot. Monster trucks can’t make sharp turns at speed, but they can knock the heck out of anyone else on the course.

This naturally leads some players to want to select the same type of vehicle over and over because they know it fits their driving style. Unfortunately in the single player campaign certain events are limited in what types of vehicles you have access to, so can’t always drive your favorite. It’s not so bad though, because it encourages you to get comfortable trying out and driving all of the vehicles the game offers, and learning each of their advantages and quirks. Online of course strategies also change, and a player who normally prefers motorbikes but finds himself beset by super-aggressive opponents might do well to get behind the wheel of a monster truck and dish out some damage of his own.

Motorsport: Pacific Rift is a truly a jewel of a game. It’s the type of racer you can consistently lose at, flying off cliffs and the like, and still have a blast. Definitely check this out no matter what your gaming background.

Split second is an intense action racing game set within the world of hyper-competitive reality TV show. Competitors race against one another to be first over the finishing line in a made for television city built specifically for destruction with the ultimate goal being the one who can be crowned the season champion. Split Second is a blend of street racing skills, mixed with a sprinkle of tactics and an awful amount of sheer carnage.

Just as in any car racing game the ultimate object is to be first over the finishing line. Your dash for that line is however hampered by other competitors who will happily trigger destruction on the track to take out their opponents. Sure, your car may look fantastic and handle well, but can it outrun a falling building or crashing plane.

 

To set these disasters into motion you have to remain just a little patient. A power play gauge continues to grow the longer you leave it. Boost the gauage upwards by demonstrating your driving skills in avoiding near misses and entering fast slipstreams. Resist the temptation to use this gauage until it turns red and watch the awesome destruction power unleash as you hit that button.

Due for release by Disney in May it is set to go head to head with Blur for the top driving video game. It will be available on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 and no doubt it will have it’s devotee’s rushing home to play it online or in 8 player mode.

Burnout Paradise Playstation 3 plus Xbox 360
The latest Burnout will take you down to Paradise City where the grass may not be green but the cars sure are pretty. Of course, they won’t look pretty for long because Burnout is all about smashing & crashing, and Paradise is no different. What IS different is the way the gameplay has been organized, or in this case hasn’t been. This open world street racer gives you a freedom not often seen in racing games, but will be familiar to players of games like Grand Theft Auto. There are no real questionable moral decisions in Burnout Paradise though, just adrenalin pumping action behind the wheel of some of the sweetest rides you’ve ever pimped.

A large part of the game is just exploring. You’ll find fences you can drive through, billboards you can knock over, and and many other aspects to the interactive environment. You will also find events. When you first start out you’re not really given any direction or instruction, there are no events marked on your map. It’s up to you to discover them and make your own path to greatness. As you explore and discover more events and more of the city the gameplay just keeps getting better because there is simply an enormous amount of content. While you start with nothing specific to do except drive around, it won’t take long before you know the city like your own backyard.

 

It can be a little intimidating the first few times you race because you don’t really know the area and rather than finish a given race you might actually make a wrong turn and get lost. The beauty of it is, unlike other racing games where you need to score well in a race to get to the next race, in Paradise City you can just drive a few blocks over from wherever you happen to find yourself and there’s a different race you can join in. Once you’ve been around the block a few times you’ll find yourself back at events you’d previously flubbed, but now better equipped to meet the challenge.

One of the more interesting things you can do in Burnout Paradise is send your car into a controlled death spiral and just topple end-over-end while smashing everyone and everything in sight as your car flies violently through the air. The more stuff you smash, the more points you get, the further your car goes. It is completely unrealistic and somewhat disturbing to watch. In other words, Awesome!

Burnout Paradise also offers an online mode that can be accessed from anywhere in the city with a flick of your thumb and allows up to 8 players to drive around the city simultaneously. You can take part in any number of organized challenges (there are a ton of them), or just drive around and smash into stuff/each other.

Fans of previous Burnout titles may initially get the wrong idea, but make no mistake: Paradise is Burnout through-and-through. The unconventional format may not be familiar but it genuinely works to the game’s advantage and takes the title in a new direction for the genre as well. The open format and laid-back progression means you can play for as long or short as you like and both hardcore and casual gamers will find themselves really loving this game.

Nascar 09 PS3 and Xbox 360

With Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards added to the roster, Nascar 09 is the latest and greatest release for fans the sport. Gordon graces the box cover because he actually is your crew chief in the game and helps you through every step on your way to the checkered flag. Improved graphics and and some serious customization options also make this game worth checking out for both veteran and casual racers.

The centerpiece of the single player game is a new career mode that lets you start off by creating your driver and a totally custom look for your car. One of the customization options is sponsor decals, but only a few sponsors initially want anything to do with a newcomer like you. Get to the podium a few times though, and you’ll find new sponsors lining up for you to put their logo on your ride. There is also the small matter of being able to import graphics from the internet. Yes, you read that correctly: you can make your own designs on your computer, upload them to a server and then import them to customize your car.

 

In Nascar 09 you advance the single player game by gaining new sponsors and by completing over 70 different challenges, which can range from standard fare (complete a lap without going slower than 150mph) to some more creative tasks. You can also custom-tune your car before every race. The tuning mode has an easily modified difficulty setting, essentially allowing more experienced drivers to fine tune anything they can imagine but offering less hardcore players some preset tuning options that won’t leave them scratching their heads.

Difficulty tweaking isn’t just limited to tune ups though, it’s an area this game excels in overall. There are three difficulty levels that will change how tough your competitors (AI drivers) are and two driving schemes: one that offers accessible vehicle handling casual gamers will enjoy, and one that’s trickier but will offer hardcore veterans more control. There are also a couple of in-game settings which indirectly can affect difficulty, it’s all very straightforward and no matter what your skill level or preferences it won’t take you long to set this game up exactly to your liking.

The game also sounds great. From the roar of the crowd to the rock tunes playing on the track, you’ll get the feeling you’re really behind that wheel. Visually, Nascar 09 is pretty good too, especially the first-person camera mode that puts you in the driver’s seat. Where the look of the game falls short is crashes — not because of the graphics themselves but you just don’t see spectacular crashes in this game. It’s just one of those little things that would have been nice for the programmers to think of, a detail that doesn’t really affect gameplay too much but would have added to the immersion and ambiance a great deal.

Online play is available for up to 14 players simultaneously but is still subject to a race being yellow-flagged if any of those drivers decides to go off the reservation. The nice thing is you can turn yellow flags off, and even turn off collisions in online or single-player game modes. Overall Nascar 09 is a fun racer anyone can get into and Nascar fans in particular will enjoy.

Looking for some thrilling dirt-track action? MX vs. ATV Reflex is the latest and greatest. In an attempt to combine elements from both arcade racing and the more realistic racing sims the developers have met with mixed success in a game that can sometimes be both frustrating and fantastic.

First, the good: This game has a ton of content. The title is misleading because you’re not limited to motorcross bikes and all terrain vehicles. There are also buggies, UTV’s and even offroading trucks to try your hand racing with. Each type of vehicle drives very differently, as you might expect, making each track feel different even if you’ve raced it many times in other vehicles. That’s not to say you have to replay the same tracks over and over, MX vs. ATV Reflex has a ton of courses and most of them hit all the marks when it comes to both visuals and how the tracks handle.

 

You’ll also notice new environmental challenges. Vehicles now leave ruts in the mud and while these aren’t too worrisome while driving a truck, smaller vehicles and especially motorcross bikes can get jarred around by them and occasionally lose control. Speaking of control, there is now a dual-stick control scheme that ties your left control stick to the vehicle and your right control stick to the driver. The purpose of controlling the driver is primarily for balance. You can lean into turns, lean forward to keep balance while climbing a hill, lean back just before a jump, etc. You can even lean in mid-air to adjust your vehicle’s orientation, and on landing to prevent wiping out.

It’s not all mud and rainbows though. The controls can sometimes be finicky and the physics of the game can occasionally just seem to go haywire. These things happen more often than they probably should and can cause some real frustration. Also, some of the tracks can be overly challenging in and of themselves. More experienced players will no doubt be used to racing a track multiple times trying for a perfect run but there are no real options to make things easier for less hardcore players who just want to finish one race and advance to the next level.

The single player career mode is excellent. Not only is there variety in tracks and locations but also different types of events to compete in. One of the more interesting, although occasionally frustrating, are the freestyle events. In these events you are judged basically for doing jumps and tricks, but it’s not clear exactly what the judges want to see and therefore difficult to plan a run you know will score big if done flawlessly. Overall though, the single player game will keep you occupied for a while and is a boatload of fun.

Multiplayer was not forgotten either, and the game allows online play for up to 12 players, or a 4 player split-screen mode. There are also a couple of game modes which are only available in the multiplayer game. MX vs. ATV Reflex is a good looking game, but lacks the high-end graphics and sound some other recent titles sport. Don’t let that stop you from checking it out though. This title may appeal to hardcore racers more than casual gamers but it’s really a game anyone can enjoy playing.

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