modnation racers

[HammR25]

I just got it. The singleplayer isn't anything to write home about but I got it for 4 player splitscreen more than anything and it does exactly what I expected there. I love that I can download other people's high quality tracks that are ranked by download, number of times driven and rating.

[Reaperman]

Still liking this game, though I'm mainly creating things, and screwing around in the modspot lobby. (odd that they didn't extend the lobby into add a free-roaming battle mode)

 

I'm more seeing the game as a creative outlet and social experience rather than anything to actually 'play.' I've gotten pretty good at kart creation, but it's hard to get noticed in the sea of downloadable karts. I made a pretty nice kart inspired by the calsonic skyline.

 

I think I've finally found a game with more 'replay value' than 'play value'.

 

Edited May 27, 2010 by Reaperman

[DaytonaUSA]

Just curious, it sounds very much like LBP in that the creation, customization, and community was better than the game itself. For me, LBP, while great, got a bit old, even with all the user created levels out there. Since this is less of a "playing" game and more of an experience, could you see yourself being bored of this soon? With some demos, especially Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing, the experience of the full game is much better than the demo itself with many problems like AI or control, fixed. I don't want to single this out unfairly because of a demo, but I also don't want to blow 60 bucks on a "toy" that isn't much of a game, ya know?

[Reaperman]

Since this is less of a "playing" game and more of an experience, could you see yourself being bored of this soon?

I tend to go for games that have a build/customize/manage aspect, and obsess over that part. I've probably got at least a week left of this, (longer if it starts rewarding me for my content) but really it's made me wonder how much customization/community/driving goodness I've been missing out on by not buying into the forza series.

 

If this weren't full price (and it won't be for long) Modnation would be easier to live with.

I also strongly suspect a battle-mode DLC will help this one later on.

This is in no way a super-game right now. 3/5 online races I get subjected to are ovals or vertical drift spirals. It's generally more fun just to hang out and screw around in the drivable online lobby.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

I'm finally starting to warm up to the racing mechanics of this game. They've done a great job creating a game that a novice can pick up and be somewhat competitive at, while at the same time getting that extra 10-20% better adds a tremendous cockpit load onto driving, especially in the higher speed classes. Back when I was mostly doing poorly, I found the racing relaxing to the point of boredom (I even thought winning was as much due to random luck as skill) but now that I'm better at managing my shield/boost/drift/weapons/stunts, the controls are even a bit much for me sometimes. It feels like I'm playing a very different game than the one I was losing at last tuesday.

 

Also my Calsonic Skyline seems to have taken off a bit in terms of downloads (just under 60 last I checked), providing me with a bit of the community validation I need to continue designing things for the game. Maybe I'll go through some of the track editor tutorials later.

 

I've been playing a lot of this game.

Edited May 30, 2010 by Reaperman

[DaytonaUSA]

Sounds good. I was fair to the demo and started customizing more. I didn't like that the demo restricted many things about the track editor, and that I couldn't race with my avatar either, but I saw the potential in the game, that's for sure. I'd love to see more, but I still don't know if it's worth 60 bucks. I picked up Split/Second instead today, and I think I'll have more fun with that game.

 

Right now, I have that to beat, 3D Dot Game Heroes, and F1 Championship Edition (I didn't realize how AWESOME this game is. I never really got around to playing the career mode!). With my progress on 3D Dot Game Heroes, I should be done in a couple weeks. I just finished Star Wars Unleashed, and the other games will tide me over for some time. I'll probably pick up Mod Racer Nation when it goes down in price to tide me over until F1 2010 (by Codemasters), and then GT5 in November. Unless some other games come up on the radar, that's pretty much my schedule with everything so far.

[moycon]

DaytonaUSA mentioned in another thread the PS3 kicked much ass these days because of its outrageous multitudes of exclusives that were even more plentiful than the 360 exclusive offerings. I gotta tell you, I don't care how much you try and sugar coat this game, heck no it aint worth $60!!...$19.99 MAYBE. "To be honest" I thought this was a PSN game. I would kick myself in the nuts if I paid $60 for this retail exclusive.

[HammR25]

Sounds like Moycon is a big fan!

[moycon]

Sounds like Moycon is a big fan!

 

 

Let's just say I wouldn't use as an example why a person shouldn't sell their PS3.

[Reaperman]

It's the most fun I've had on the system--there I've said it, and it took a long time to decide that I was properly warmed up to modnation. I've easily had my $60 of fun.

Though I do wish it were a downloadable so it wouldn't have to switch it's disk out.

 

Just finished my next car. Poorly done Subaru Impreza rally cars are pretty popular in modnation, so I decided to create it some competition, the 2001 Tommi Makinen Lancer Evo VII. I've chosen its conservative 'Tommi' badging, but I may be tempted to do a marlboro-badged version in the future (though I suspect it will be instantly reported).

Edited May 31, 2010 by Reaperman

[DaytonaUSA]

Sounds like Moycon is a big fan!

 

 

Let's just say I wouldn't use as an example why a person shouldn't sell their PS3.

 

So I said I didn't get why someone would sell a PS3 because of all the great games... and admitted here I hated this game.. and that means I was wrong? I'm sorry, but I'm not following you. Last I checked, MRN wasn't the only exclusive on the PS3 and it's success wasn't pivotal on the success of the system.

 

And lastly, if you bothered to actually read my post on the other thread, I was more ticked off on the flame bait that he wrote than his opinion. Anyone who makes a thread that only says "it was boring" and then runs off, only makes the thread for one reason only, and it's not to have an educated discussion on opinion, it's just to perpetuate tired arguments.

[DaytonaUSA]

It's the most fun I've had on the system--there I've said it, and it took a long time to decide that I was properly warmed up to it. I've easily had my $60 of fun.

Though I do wish it were a downloadable so it wouldn't have to switch it's disk out.

 

Just finished my next car. Subaru rally cars are so popular in modnation (one top 25 dl's or so) I decided to create it some competition, the 2001 Tommi Makinen Lancer Evo VII. I've chosen its conservative badging, but I may be tempted to do a marlboro-badged version in the future (though I suspect it will be instantly reported).

 

 

I like your cars quite a bit. How long on average is it taking you to make your characters/cars?

[HammR25]

I've chosen its conservative 'Tommi' badging, but I may be tempted to do a marlboro-badged version in the future (though I suspect it will be instantly reported).

I'm surprised the Nintendo characters have been left up for download.

[Reaperman]

I like your cars quite a bit. How long on average is it taking you to make your characters/cars?

 

I'd say about 4 hrs for a pretty detailed race car. While there are other folks out there making really detailed Karts, I'd guess most cars in the game took under half an hour. Either way that's not a huge time investment compared to the editors in Forza, or Ferrari Challenge where people spend days on things. There's just not that level of detail represented in MNR. It takes modnation creators about the same amount of time to make a good character as a kart too. Note that I have used basic, 5 min placeholder drivers in my pictures, but later I tend to go back and create a matching driver for the karts. The graphics editor makes text a bit of a pain (single letters at a time, only 4 fonts), but once a full word is done it's group/copy/paste/mirror functions are better than most car editors I've seen.

 

I'm surprised the Nintendo characters have been left up for download.

I'll confess to not having even glanced at the terms of use, but I'm sure 9/10ths of modnation players are probably in violation. Maybe I'm wrong and they're lax in terms fair use. I probably am far enough in violation of TOS as is and should stay clear of the cigarette badging, especially since there's an equally valid non-smoking version of the same car. The down side is that folks who aren't 'car guys' that I've raced against tend to assume my name is Tommi.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Reaperman

[moycon]

and that means I was wrong? I'm sorry, but I'm not following you.

 

I was just thinking about your post you made about PS3 exclusives is all and mentioned it in my post because while I can name dozens of reasons to like the PS3...this game aint one of them, I didn't mean to imply you were wrong about anything, my post was really more about my feeling towards the game itself. I just think it's generic and controls crappy, Reaperman posted two pics, I'm sure he spent good time on them and had fun, but to me they look about the same save for a couple minor differences, I can completely understand how they would get lost in the sea of other mods. There's really nothing to follow except that I don't like the game much. I was expecting more I guess.

[Animan]

I've been wanting a track editor like this for years. I think I now have a reason to get a PS3.

[moycon]

I've been wanting a track editor like this for years. I think I now have a reason to get a PS3.

 

If your interested in track editors (and already have a Wii) you might also want to check out the upcoming Trackmania.

Just FYI. Looks pretty fun but it's not out yet so who knows.

 

http://www.thetanooki.com/2010/04/30/trackmania-racing-to-wii-with-track-editor/

 

 

 

My big dream is that Sony adds an RPG editor to its "Play, Create, Share" catalog of games.

[Reaperman]

I'm sure it's functional editor, the firebrand editors always are, but give Modnation a little more credit than mentioning a simple cube-based editor anywhere near it.

 

as for gameplay, unless the tired trackmania formula has grown up, there's no wheel to wheel racing, and even multiplayer games are just simultaneous time trials. Since I haven't played it, I can't say for certain, but the trackmania name has a half-decade history of being nothing but terrible. And this is coming from somebody who likes racing games, likes building things, and even likes the developer of the Wii port (firebrand games).

Edited June 1, 2010 by Reaperman

[moycon]

It was never a very good (free) game to start with, and it's been on almost a decade of life support.

 

The decent reviews including those for the latest versions( The DS version has a respectable 75 on Metacritic, the PC an 84) suggest many people don't agree with you. In any case, since track editor racing games are very very scarce on consoles I just figured it was worth mentioning especially if someone was considering spending about $400 to play one!

[DaytonaUSA]

I'm sure it's functional editor, the firebrand editors always are, but give Modnation a little more credit than mentioning a simple tile-based editor anywhere near it.

 

as for gameplay, unless the tired trackmania formula has grown up, there's no wheel to wheel racing, and even multiplayer games are just simultaneous time trials. Since I haven't played it, I can't say for certain, but the trackmania name has a half-decade history of being absolute crap.

 

Yea, as much as I'm not used to the driving mechanics and think it's not very fun, like I said above, the track editor makes anything I've ever used utter crud. I never thought I could make such a detailed track in no time at all. Being able to change the land like you can in a 3D animation program was pretty cool as well.

 

Still will be waiting for a price drop though. Too many other games to buy first .

[Animan]

I've been wanting a track editor like this for years. I think I now have a reason to get a PS3.

 

If your interested in track editors (and already have a Wii) you might also want to check out the upcoming Trackmania.

Just FYI. Looks pretty fun but it's not out yet so who knows.

 

http://www.thetanooki.com/2010/04/30/trackmania-racing-to-wii-with-track-editor/

 

 

 

My big dream is that Sony adds an RPG editor to its "Play, Create, Share" catalog of games.

 

I have the DS version, and was only a so-so game. I never played the PC games or any other version (I bought Trackmania Sunrise, but accidentally stepped on it before I installed it. I got it from a school book fair, so that meant no refunds ). Although from the videos, the Modnation track editor looks more complex than a grid based editor from Trackmania.

 

I heard about the Wii version, and it looks pretty good, but I probably won't get it. Modnation looks a little better.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Animan

[HammR25]

There's a free version of Trackmania for PC.

[Reaperman]

If there's one part of this game that really needs to be bagged on, it's the single player campaign. It's necessary to unlock items for the create workshop, which seems silly since there's obviously a huge rift in the game between people who would rather race about and people who would rather sit in alone in their toybox and build things.

 

As if that weren't bad enough the game's AI is really annoying. It's not that it provides a healthy challenge, but rather that the other drivers have pretty much only one objective--to power up weapons and launch them in a syncronized fashion. Unlike living racers, shielding is nearly useless against them, it's best to just take your lumps and use your energy for boost after they're done stacking rocket attacks.

 

As if that weren't bad enough there is roughly 3 times the load time for a single player mission as any other race in the game, and it seems to take longer to load the cutscenes up than it does to load 12 racers and a track.

 

and has anybody else noticed the $15 it costs to get a used copy of the psp version online? I know there are multiple other threads about it, but $15 seems a bit steep. On the other hand, I'd gladly pay $15 for a 'time saver unlock everything' pack, so maybe they can swing it.

 

 

The only reason I'm even playing single player is that there's a body/motor/spoiler I can unlock so I can start work on one of these:

Edited June 3, 2010 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

Haven't published it yet, still tweaking, but the 2006 pescarolo c60:

 

The controller took forever. Each one is made up of over 60 stickers.

 

This body has uncovered some real problems with the editor that show up in the front area of the car. Some obvious shortcuts that show up if you're trying to do very specific things to the inside surfaces.

[Reaperman]

well something happened, but I don't know what. I put on 77k+ of create xp in a week, and only had 6k total before that.

I'm up to level 27 now. ...somehow...

 

stat link

 

*somehow* I became 'a somebody,' and I'm trying to decide if I care enough to turn the game on to see why.

Edited August 11, 2010 by Reaperman