Ready to step up from a familiar karting game to a not too unfamiliar karting game? ModNation Racers wouldn’t be a bad choice to make… and there are a lot of choices to make in ModNaation Racers. All those choices might not matter to AbleGamers wanting to enjoy this game.
If you’re after a karting game to revolutionize what it is to be a karting game, this title doesn’t quite do that. Gameplay is very much traditional karting; drifting, drafting, powered jumps, karts shooting stuff at other karts… It’s really just more of the same.
The differences come in the career mode and the ability to modify just about anything having to do with your character and your character’s kart.

The ability to customize as much as you’re able to in ModNation Racers is impressive, but I think more important than that is career mode and even more specifically, the cut-scenes.
I don’t want to call this game a kid’s game for the same reason Disney Pixar type films can’t just be labeled as kid’s movies; there is just enough adult humor to them to make them something a little less “kiddy-flick-ish”.
Basically, if you’ve got an okay sense of humor, there will be something in the career mode cut-scenes to make you smile.

The obviously huge aspect of ModNation Racers is the ability to modify most everything about your character and kart. I was surprised at the level of depth that can be gone to; Mods (your character) can be skinned meaning a full-body costume can be pout on them if you don’t necessarily want to invest that much time into customization but still would like something a little different. If you want to spend time doing it, your mod’s head can be outfitted with different eyes, mouths, noses, hairstyles, and facial hair with no rules dictating anything. Mods also have a pretty expansive wardrobe to choose from; upper and lower body attire, a top layer of clothing (for those times when a mod just needs short-shorts on the outside to compliment it‘s tight denim jeans), headgear and headgear accessories, eyewear, hand wear, and finally footwear. Why not take things even further? Stickers can be layered to make some pretty cool designs to slap on to make your mod as one-of-a-kind as possible. ModNation Racers doesn’t even stop there, there’s an odds n ends menu that allows for yet another layer of customization. The only thing left to do, if you haven’t already done it a couple times is save your mod to the hard drive then get onto even more customization.

It’s your kart’s turn next, and fortunately it’s not as involved a process, the only things you need to worry about is your kart’s body, it’s paint job, and it’s individual parts (engine, suspension, wheels, seat, steering wheel, spoiler, and license plate). Accessories can be added to your kart as well, but I’m not sure how they’re attained let alone what the interface is like.

Quite a few of the customization that can be made are really straight forward - just select it then go onto the next customization. A lot of them have an option to change the color of the item which itself is really straight forward with the color selection menu they chose to use for ModNation Racers being on the simple side as far as selection goes with every color residing in it’s own circle outlined in black and growing a little bit when highlighted. It’s not going to prove difficult for those without any hint of a color blindness issue, but for those who have trouble identifying shades of color, the few different choices for each color might just prove too subtle. I would have liked to seen the colors tagged with names as opposed to having to go up seven tiles from the bottom and over two from the left to end on the same color - that’s probably nit-picking, though.

If you don’t want to invest time into creating a mod or kart of your very own, the ability to download pre-created mods and karts is there also. Some can be had for free while others are premium content and will need to be paid for. Keep in mind, none of this will help or harm your ability to cross the finish line before the next person. It’s all aesthetic.

That’s probably enough of that - let’s talk about the game…
It all starts with an subtitle-free cinematic explaining that your role in ModNation is Tag the tagger turned racer. It does a great job of setting up the story, but it’s a little boring if you’ve got hearing issues. As luck would have it, all you really need to do here is hit the X-button twice thus skipping this cinematic and going to the game’s start screen which will eventually lead to the Modspot.

The Modspot is the ModNation Racers’ main menu, and when I say main menu, don’t have any preconceived ideas about what it might look like, but just know that you navigate the Modspot in your kart.
Also noteworthy: the Modspot is not only the game’s main menu but also accessible to all other online ModNation Racers, so be careful of heated verbal disagreements ongoing as you enter the Modspot.
Having caught ourselves up to speed on the Modspot, we can go ahead and take a look at the options menu which is done by hitting start then navigating the circular menu which can be done with both D-pad and left stick to the extras menu and then to options.

The first option you’ll be presented with is the difficulty setting - you can either race on the “casual” skill level or the “expert” skill level. Personally I believe that the “casual” skill level is too much for a person of my skill.

The next option is whether or not to have subtitles turned on or off. Since we’re here, we might as well talk about the subtitles - they’re awesome. The size used could be a bit bigger, but when the subtitles appear, the font is a very clear white on a see-thru just-about black background. The thing that makes these subtitles special is that they pop up in a little tab on the bottom of the screen when either of the announcers talk.
That’s all there is to the options menu in ModNation Racers, if so inclined you can hit the back button on your controller taking you to the extras menu again. From there you’ll be able to navigate to the controller map and look at the button functions. There’s no re-mapping or even different schemes to choose from, just the default controls.

All of that being said, let’s go race in our first career mode race. That’s most easily done by hitting start then selecting race, then selecting career.
The first race you enter will start with a cinematic as they all do, but this cinematic is special because it’s the cinematic you were first shown when you started up the game, only this time if you turned on subtitles, you’ll know what’s going on if otherwise unaware.

From the start of the race to the finish, there is nothing that happens in the form of audio only, everything is either paired with feedback from the controller or an on-screen representation.
Those with visual impairments are a little less fortunate; the colors used in the environments of ModNation Racers are easily seen and don’t leave much room for improvement, and the HUD is a little inconvenient and confusing - at times almost feeling as if there is too much going on and not enough explanation.
Mobility is in the big second runner up position as it’s a kart game calling for quick reflexes, a certain amount of precision, and more patience than should be needed to play a game on “casual” difficulty. Never mind the inaccessible control scheme for those that might benefit from a different button layout.

The game’s personality comes out a bit after the end of a race; if you drove well in the race, you’ll be given a compliment by the announcers, and if you raced less than favorably the announcers will let you know about it.
After either being insulted or complimented, you’ll then be given your rewards for completing tasks while racing.
As always, check out the demo available on the Playstation Network to see if it’s something you’d be able to play.
At a glance.

Mobility:

Only one control scheme.
Control scheme not conducive to one handed play.
Competitive racing depends on quick reflexes and a fair amount of precision.
Menus and submenus are easily navigated.
Game’s main menu (Modspot) is essentially a strip-mall for cars.

Visually:

Menus and submenus are easily read and navigated.
Subtitles are done in an average sized white font on a semi-transparent background of dark gray/black that pops up whenever a character speaks to you.
This game uses just the right amount of color in the right way to get everything across that needs to be gotten across.
Customizing your Mod (character) and it’s kart are left up to you - there are a lot of choices to be made, and some might feel a bit thin because of some players inability to make out detail.

Hearing:

Subtitles are turned off by default, and game opens with a cinematic.
If subtitles are turned on, all speech is subtitled from then on.
Subtitles are an average sized white font surrounded by a see-thru near black background which pops up as a character speaks in both cut-scenes and races.
Most sound is unaccompanied - all sounds are represented by controller feedback, an on-screen event, or both.