A nation of racers

Modnation Racers Media Day at Formula E Indoor Raceway

My guess is that if you are a company in any sort of media or entertainment market then the dawning of the modern Internet age must be your dream and your worst nightmare all at the same time. The opportunities presented by technology, mixed with the finicky nature of the modern consumer mean that you are either going to hit the mark and reap the rewards or miss it and be chastised over the Internet for the whole five minutes that people care about your last attempt.

Sony, as you would expect, seem to have a firm focus on being at the forefront of this entertainment technology and their last few big releases for PS3 have built on the traditional platforms by including more interactivity and social networking.

Modnation Racers is the latest game in their line up to try and jump on the networking bandwagon and I was lucky enough to get an invite to their release event.

Pictured above left: Chang from C4 complete with customised racing outfit and ice cream. Below: Racers lined up, complete with customised racing outfits on the real racing karts.

For my money, I don’t think that there is a company that does a release event better than Sony and this was no exception. Modnation Racers is a racing game where the premise is that everything is customisable; your driver, your car and the track. This leads to an event where there is racing (at Formula E indoor raceway) and everything is customisable – from your racing outfits to your hamburgers and ice creams.

For the game itself, the target audience is a little younger so your driver is an alien looking cartoon avatar and your car is cartoon go-kart that is chosen from a range of options including a cardboard derby racer and a school bus.

When I say that everything is customisable, I do mean EVERYTHING is customisable. It is not just your car body and engine, it is the wheels, suspension, seats, steering wheel. The same goes for your character with skin, features and clothing all customisable and with a promise of more mods to be able to be downloaded through your console.

The part where the game really comes in to its own though is in the track building. You start from a blank template, like a beach location, and can then manipulate the terrain before laying your track down. Track creation is as simple as driving an asphalting machine around the terrain and then features can be auto completed. If you don’t feel like auto completing your track you can literally put as much time into as you want to get it exactly how you want it. Because it is an arcade game, features are not limited to just buildings and trees, but also rickety bridges, skateboard ramp corners, ramps and turbo pads.

Below: Racing track + turbo pads + ramps = good times.

If you just want to go racing there are, of course, tracks already completed so you can just get into the racing but the beauty of the game is that you can upload your tracks or download and race other people.

In a world where our focus on interaction and social networking also bring up a raft of privacy issues, especially around children accessing it, I think that a game like this one would be a great option if you want to be entertained as well as having something that will engage your younger family members. It is entertaining, aimed at a younger audience, has a good amount of downloadable content and keeps evolving the more you download.

A good option for the whole family – especially if it is followed up by customisable ice creams.

The game is a hit with the younger players.

By Jeremy White.