Review

ModNation Racers

Common Sense Media says

Fun, customizable kart racing, but watch online voice chat.
Age
9
Quality
 
  • Positive messages3
    ModNation Racers is about competing in fast-paced, over-the-top races against either cartoon opponents or your friends, which can foster a spirit of friendly competition. You are rewarded for slowing down rivals using weapons, but it's clearly a cartoon game without any overt messaging.
  • Positive role models1
    You play as a graffiti artist named "Tagger," though he doesn't actually "tag" anything in the game. Little is revealed about our hero, so it's difficult to discern much about his personality other than that he's competitive and likes to race.
  • Ease of play4
    ModNation Racers is very easy to control on the PS3 version we tested, putting much of the emphasis on the analog sticks and trigger buttons.
  • Violence2
    This video game features cartoon violence not unlike what you'd see on a Saturday morning cartoon, such as tossing bombs at other drivers or zapping them with a lightning bolt. Rival drivers appear to be temporarily stunned by the attack. There is no other violence in this game.
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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that ModNation Racers is an "Everyone"-rated game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. It is no more violent than a game of Mario Kart, with action consisting of cartoon weapons and high-speed races. There is some minor off-color humor, such as a driver who picks his nose and flings it at another driver and a scene where the commentator gives a driver a "Spock" pinch on the neck to make him pass out. Note as well that this game features open voice communication and profanity-filtered texting during online play. Common Sense Media does not recommend open online communication in games for pre-teens.

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This review of ModNation Racers was written by
Age
7
Based on 7 parent & educator reviews:
  • 29% say language is an issue
Read the reviews

Most useful reviews by all members

Parent of 4 and 6 year old
January 10, 2011
8
OK for kids & up
 
Only for older kids 8-9 and up - very hard to play for young kids
Requires a lot of use of the buttons on the controller - making it much too difficult for most children under 8. My kids found it frustrating and hard - and while they've played racing games with the Wii, the fact that it is not Move-enabled and that it requires a lot of button work (shields, shooting) in addition to steering, braking, and accelerating, made it very difficult and not fun. I'm a pretty decent gamer and I couldn't play it well.
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Helped me decide (19) | Had useful details (11) | Read my mind (19)
Teen, 15 years old
June 21, 2011
6
OK for kids & up
 
Great game, flaw in online safety
The only problem with this game would be the fact that you must disable parental controls to go online. This enables both voice and text chat. You can disable the voice chat from the in-game options, but not the text chat, and the filter on the chat is easy to circumvent.
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Helped me decide (23) | Had useful details (16) | Read my mind (9)
Adult
June 2, 2010
8
Pause for kids & under
 
Cannot go online on PS3 without allowing full voice chat
first off my son likes this game, the single player is very hard and frustrating for younger gamers but I got him a 100% save from the internet and he spends most of his time building tracks and cars which he loves. He also likes racing the easier tracks and with friends he has over. The biggest issue I have is that with any parental controls on his account he cannot go online. I would have to enable full voice chat in order for him to connect. The problem with this is when you go online there is basically a home room with a handful of other people zipping around and you can hear anything they might say through a mic. All in all this is a pretty bad design decision for this game and with a 7 and 9 year old I am not willing to turn chat on for them. I am hoping they fix this soon but the above review implies that you can get online with voice chat disabled and at least on PS3 that is 100 % incorrect
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Kid, 9 years old
May 29, 2010
9
OK for kids & up
 
Great game, but a problem
This is a great game, but when I was in voice chat I heard this kid say "I don't touch sh*t. That's why I wash my hands." over and over again. Then I turned off voice chat. So, to be completely safe, turn off voice chat.
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Helped me decide (13) | Had useful details (19) | Read my mind (9)
Teen, 16 years old
May 26, 2010
8
OK for kids & up
 
Excellent racing game.
If it weren't for the annoying load times, then this would have gotten 5 stars from me. But it is still very enjoyable with tons of creation tools and responsive and fun racing controls. It is also age appropriate for kids, so this can be enjoyable for just about anyone.
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Adult
May 28, 2010
7
OK for kids & up
 
Load time fix on the way
Load times are a pain and most major reviews primary complaint. The devs have said a patch will be out shortly to fix this. Now, on to my review. Excellent controls and creation system on par with that of littlebigplanet. Great racing, best way i can describe it is an HD mario kart with a creation system. Custom levels shared online = free courses and as many as you want. If you want a kart racer with extreme replay value, look no further.
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Parent of 5 and 6 year old
June 12, 2010
5
OK for kids & up
 
Great way to express creativity. Fun for the whole family
The track, kart and character creation features are really easy to use and my kids have a blast expressing themselves and engineering their own things. Some times, they prefer the creation piece over the actual racing. The racing is easy to pick up, too and you can play up to 4 people on the same tv (split screen). I limit online for my kids so they aren't subject to the minor instances of language from older kids
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Kid, 11 years old
October 22, 2010
2
OK for kids & up
 
I PITY THE FOO
scruw iffy for 8 and up. this is so much fun lovee ittt.
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Parent
July 14, 2010
2
Not for kids & under
 
rated E is not just 6+
i think all 0+ should be playing E games.
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Helped me decide (9) | Had useful details (10) | Read my mind (11)
Teen, 13 years old
July 14, 2010
2
Not for kids & under
 
rated E is not just 6+
i think all 0+ should be playing E games.
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Helped me decide (9) | Had useful details (10) | Read my mind (11)
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