Prerelease:ModNation Racers (PlayStation 3)
This page details prerelease information and/or media for ModNation Racers (PlayStation 3).
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ModNation Racers is a kart racer with a heavy focus on user-created tracks, characters, and karts. For whatever reason, only one-fourth to one-third of the game's content is actually on the disc.
Unsurprisingly, the game went through some changes in development.
Contents
E3 Build
At E3 2009, ModNation Racers' character creator and track creator were both shown off, although the presentation had more of a focus on the track creator aspect of the game.
Mods and Karts
In the E3 presentation, the first thing that's shown off is character creation. The area this takes place in looks much different from the final game, being only a white room. The Mod and Kart areas in this build aren't separate as they are in the final game.
There is a Mod that is named Chase that looks similar to Tag but with a blue skin tone instead of yellow skin tone.
When the Mod creation tools are shown off, the mod is shown jumping out of a kart, then waving its hands, taking a bow, then walking to the right. The animation past the jumping out of the kart is identical to the animation that is played in the PSP version of the game when entering the Mod Studio. When the UI for selecting the Mod is opened, it opens in a similar way to opening the Mod selection in the PSP version of the game.
Racing
The E3 presentation shows an early version of the "Alpine Drop" track first, then a custom made track later. The graphical elements of some items are drastically different, including the racing HUD. The boost meter has a line that indicates the required amount of boost points to activate a boost, which isn't present in the final game as you can boost if you have any boost points remaining. In addition, the weapon icons shown are drastically different from the final game, including one that has a Devastator icon that is not shown firing and thus is unknown.
There are also some differences in the track itself. The asphalt track is darker than in the final game, in this version of the game it is almost completely black, where in the final version the asphalt is mostly gray. The Start Line and other props on the track show ModRacing instead of MRC as seen in the final game. The Item Pods are white with red highlights, where in the final game Item Pods are red with white MRC text on them. An Item Pod is shown breaking open when driven over, where in the final game it would just disappear when being collected. The Mega Jump, referred to as a "Launcher" in the E3 presentation, is shown with a blank space on the conveyer belt where arrows would be seen in the final game.
Track Studio
Most of the differences between the Track Studio in this build and the final game are in the UI.
The cursor graphics are noticeably different from the final game.
The mode selection menu is different from the final game. In addition to the graphic theme being different from the final game, some items are named differently in the final game. The Place Prop options are referred to as "World Placement" and "Track Placement" where in the final game they are referred to as "Place Props" and "Place Along Track". Some items in the Track Studio menu are grayed out.
The track creator is shown raising the water level above the lower parts of the track path and higher in general than which is possible in the final game.
2009 Trailer
Props
Some props appear significantly different from the final version of the game. For example, a "ModRacing" brand can be seen on props which would be replaced with the "ModNation Racing Championship" (MRC) branding in the final game. The boost pads also are simply yellow outlines. The bouncer has a black block instead of the red as seen in the final game.
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Racing
The trailer shows a slight glance of racing. What would be referred to in the final game as Tag now has his final color scheme but he is shown driving in a generic red kart. In addition, a Swarm weapon is shown being propelled with green smoke instead of the white smoke as in the final game.
PlayStation Holiday Preview Build
ModNation Racers had a playable build at the 2009 PlayStation Holiday preview event. The only parts that seemed to be playable in this build were the Mod and Kart creation sections. This build seems to be much closer to the finished game than the E3 build was.
In the Holiday Preview build, the Creation Station, while it has a similar layout to the final game, has a very different overall look. A screenshot of the character creator from this build can be found on the ModNation Racers website, suggesting that it may have looked like this until very late in development.
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Exclusive Beta
There was a beta version of the game released to players who signed up for beta access before December 9, 2009. In the beta version, an "Exclusive Beta" watermark is always shown on the top of the screen.
Track Studio
The GUI is notably different from the final game. The budget gauge is on the left of the screen instead of the top as in the final game. The gauge itself also has a different appearance as the two bars in the gauge are differently colored from the final game, where the unique prop and total prop budget gauges are colored green and orange respectively in the beta, they are colored white and green in the final game respectively.
In Place Props, the prop list is shown on the right of the screen and not at the bottom of the screen. In addition, there is no way to place props from other themes.
There is no "Reset Zone" track style in the exclusive beta.
When creating branches, a prompt will appear to ask the player if they would like the game to create the branch path for them or if they would want to pave it out themselves. In the final game, no such prompt appears, the game will automatically generate the branch path and the player must manually enter Re-Pave in order to pave the track themselves.
Prop Appearance
The Boost Pad prop has a red border with white arrows on the left and right edges of the pad. The arrows in the center of the pad are yellow. In the final game, the Boost Pad has a black border on all four sides, as well as the arrows being green or red depending on if the boost pad is a Directional Boost Pad. There are no yellow boost pads in the final game.
