Hardcore gamers tend to avoid kart racing games without Mario in the title -- and for good reason, too. Ever since the success of Nintendo's original SNES effort, the genre has been flooded with mediocre copycat shovelware, starring mascots of rather questionable origin. (Seriously, M&M's Kart Racing is a real game.) While it may be easy to write off ModNation Racers as just another kart racing game, I was surprised by how well-crafted and deep United Front Games' debut title is. While it has garnered a lot of attention due to its "play, create, share" gimmick, ModNation Racers stands out as a deep, satisfying racer through its gameplay alone.

For better and for worse, ModNation Racers is cut from a far more hardcore cloth than the typically "family friendly" fare in the genre. ModNation demands skill, and no amount of luck will be able to compensate for sheer ability. The weapons are more balanced than in other games: almost no single weapon is as devastating as Mario Kart's blue shell and lightning bolt. The ability to enhance weapons by saving them adds an appreciable level of depth: do you use your weapon immediately, or save up for a better one? And the shield introduces yet another strategic element to the gameplay. These small additions to the gameplay add up to make a far more challenging (and satisfying) racer.