Think of your favorite genre. Now, think of the best game in that genre. You may have some trouble defining the absolute best. Often, there are a few games at the top of their respective genre that are each great for their own reason. Sure, Mario is the king of platformers, but some people like Sonic or Psychonauts. Fighting fans have always been split between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I could go on and list every genre, but I think you get my point. However, there is one genre where there seems to be just one king that sits upon the throne. That genre is kart racing, and the game is Mario Kart. Now, as you may know, this is a ModNation Racers Pixel Pick, so why am I talking about Mario Kart? Well, that’s just it. It seems that, when talking about MNR, it is unavoidable to bring up that other Kart game. This got me thinking. Is it fair to compare one game to another when they are similar but still different in their own right, or is it actually responsible to make comparisons?
Let’s start with just a tad bit of history. Mario Kart really kicked off the kart racing genre back on the Super Nintendo. Since then, several companies have tried to recreate that magic with a fresh set of faces, all to varying degrees of success. We’ve seen companies such as Sega use their mascots while other companies have tried to create something entirely new. However, bottom line is that Mario Kart has always remained the undisputed king.
So, jump to present day. ModNation Racers is released and is pretty damn good. However, the entire time you play it, one question is nagging at you in the back of your head. So, back to the question, is this okay? Well, it’s hard to say actually.
Let’s look at both sides. On the one hand, ModNation Racers is a great, no, fantastic game. It does things differently than Mario Kart and even does things better than Mario Kart. So it would seem that the game can and should be judged on its own merit. It isn’t a clone of Mario Kart, and there is plenty of room atop the tower.
Now, on the other side of the coin, MNR does do some things similar to Mario Kart. Some of those things it does not do as well, so using Mario Kart as a basis for comparison seems fair. And there’s no reason for it not to copy some elements from Mario Kart. As the saying goes, don’t reinvent the wheel. So, comparing and contrasting similar elements seems reasonable at this point.
After turning those two thoughts over and over in my head, I came up with a mixed conclusion. It is fair and responsible to compare a game to the benchmark in its genre, however, it is not fair to mark it down for doing things differently. If that’s confusing, think of it this way. Say a shooting game comes along and is very similar to Halo. The controls are the same, and we see similar level design. Only in the new game, the weapons are different. Imagine that these weapons just fire differently and have a different amount of power than the weapons in Halo. Now, you may prefer the weapons in Halo, but that doesn’t mean the weapons in the other game are bad. Therefore, it is unfair to say that the weapons in the other game are bad just because they are different than what you are used to, and what you prefer.
ModNation does what I described above a lot, and that’s what makes it so difficult to look at. However, I think that if we look to other mediums, we can see this practice in, well, practice. The high school teen romp movie has been around for a while. We see the one night of crazy antics formula applied in many different films like American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and recently Superbad. It is inevitable to compare all of these movies to one another because they all have similar structures and even similar scenes that seem to be a staple in this genre. However, they each do enough things differently, and do them well, that they can all be looked at separately and each be considered great. It’s not a question of which do you like better. You can like them both the same because they all offer something great.
Reviewing a game is a difficult task and shouldn’t be looked at lightly. That goes for critics and everyday gamers. The next time a friend asks you if a game is good or bad, make sure you’re not rushing to judgment when you tell them that it sucks. Think about why that actually is. Is it just because it is different from what you’re used to, or is it truly a bad game? There’s enough room at the top of the mountain for more than one game to rule over the rest, and as we’ve said before, games are going to get better just based on advancing technology. So, quit being an old man gamer, and begin to embrace change because as they say, variety is the spice of gaming.