Okay, so I've owned this game for literally a day and I've decided to make a topic about it. Now, those PB fans who actually remember and keep track of what I say and post might remember my huge E3 2009 post last year in which I stated that ModNation Racers was the game I was most interested in that was showcased at E3, because it looked like a fully customizable Mario Kart 64. Well, I can safely tell you that it's not and that once again I don't think any game will come close to topping Mario Kart 64 as my favorite racing/kart game ever made (okay it's my 2nd fav game of all so it's a tough bar to cross). HOWEVER, after playing it for a good portion of the day, I can probably safely say that Mario Kart Wii serves little purpose, and that Nintendo is going to have to do something really extraordinary with their next Kart game to top this.
Again, I haven't played a huge portion of it yet, but ModNation Racers is an absolutely fantastic game. It's so customizable that you can literally spend your entire day in the game and not race, but instead create and mod your character, your kart, and your own race tracks. The customization in the game is pretty much flawless, cept of course for them charging you real money for stuff at times. Not a whole lot mind you, but PB ain't having none of dat.
As you progress in the Career Mode, you unlock more items in which to customize your character/kart/track with. The Career Mode itself is a lot of fun, with hilarious dialog & writing, very silly scenarios, and of course lots of fun driving. The handling for the karts is similar to Sonic & Sega All Stars, in terms of drifting, but I believe it handles it better. Not only that, but you can customize your handling as well. Also, the drift/boost system is very well done and adds an awesome level of skill & strategy to the game.
When you drift, you build up your meter. The longer you drift, the more meter points you get. What's great is that you can use your meter for 3 things: boosting, shields, or sideswiping. This is where the skill & strategy comes in, because all 3 meter abilities are very useful. The weapons in the game are very creative, even though there are only 4 of them: bolts, missiles, sonics, and turbo. The creativity comes in with the ability to upgrade your weapons with each item box you get. The level 3 weapons are pretty devastating and this is why one might want to save their shields instead of constantly boosting.
Another great feature of the game is the fact that you can share your customizations with everyone, as well as download other people's creations as well. Currently I have the Green Ranger and Lion-O for racers. I haven't even fully explored all the customization features yet, but what you can do is incredible, just judging by what I've seen available for download.
All in all, this is a game I would highly recommend to all PS3 owners who love Mario Kart type games. This game is sexcellently awesome. I hope some RPMers get it so they can race with the PB!