Common Sense Media Review
By Marc Saltzman
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Reasonably fun cartoon racer with light weapons use.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
ModNation Racers: Road Trip
What's It About?
As with ModNation Racers for the PlayStation 3, MODNATION RACERS: ROAD TRIP is a kart racing game that challenges you to reach the finish line through speed, savvy driving, and by using various weapons to cause opponents to wipe out, spin into a dizzy, or blow up in a cartoon-like fashion. You can play through all the courses provided or log onto the PlayStation Network to download more than 500,000 user-created tracks already available -- and compatible -- from the other ModNation Racers game. Players can also use their fingertips on the PlayStation Vita's 5-inch display to create a track and share it with others online. Additionally, the game offers a career mode for those who want to progress through increasingly challenging courses.
Is It Any Good?
ModNation Racers: Road Trip is both good and not so good. On one hand, ModNation Racers: Road Trip is cute, accessible, and fun to play. The various karts and weapons add variety, not to mention the (literally) hundreds of thousands of unique tracks to download, created by other players. And you can create and share your own creations, as well. But, on the other hand, the game suffers from a poor frame rate -- especially when there's a lot of action on screen at the same time -- plus there's long load time between tracks. Given the PSVita's processing power, this is disappointing. The lack of an online multiplayer mode is also a letdown as it would be fun to race against human players in other cities. While it could've been better, there's still a lot of value given the sheer number of tracks available.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether gamers like the idea of creating and sharing content in games like this or the LittleBigPlanet series. Or should game designers do their job and we should simply enjoy their professional creations? Or is the blurring of the line between game player and game designer an exciting one?
How do you like playing games on the PS Vita?
Game Details
- Platform : PlayStation Vita
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Sony Computer Entertainment
- Release date : February 15, 2012
- Genre : Racing
- Topics : Transportation ( Cars & Trucks )
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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