I want to start off this review by making it clear that I am not a fanboy. I am as unbiased as a person can possibly be. I love video games and I love them regardless of the system they are on. I decided to make this a double-review, because these are very similar games for two different handhelds.

Mario Kart 7 is the latest installment in the long-running Mario Kart series, exclusively available on the Nintendo 3DS which is by the way, a great video game system; you need to buy one, if you haven't already. It features 16 new tracks and 16 retro tracks from previous games. The quality of the course design ranges from very good to excellent. There are flight and underwater segments in addition to the familiar mechanics. You can also customize your vehicle with various parts, a lot of which you have to earn through GP mode and other methods. The online races work very well and it's a lot of fun to own noobs. The graphics are clean and the 3D is very nice to look at.

Controls: Excellent.
Graphics: Superb.
Sound: Brilliant.
Value: Limitless.
Nintendo Factor: Satisfactory.

Verdict: You can't go wrong with this title. It's everything you want from such a game and more. Nintendo, the best video game developer on the planet, did a splendid job. Final score: 10/10.

...

ModNation Racers: Road Trip... the name alone already rubs me the wrong way. It's lame and not in the slightest bit memorable. The same goes for the game's courses. There's a track editor, so in theory you could try to recreate Mario Kart 7 tracks, but if you want to play them, then you might as well get the real deal. The character design is uninspired and generic. There are no online modes, because the PlayStation Vita can't go online out of the box, unless you buy the more expensive 3G version. But that model doesn't sell, so the developers of ModNation Racers: Road Trip didn't bother to implement online functionality.

Controls: Lacking.
Graphics: Meh.
Sound: Annoying.
Value: Non-existent.
Nintendo Factor: Shameless rip-off.

Verdict: I cannot recommend this game by any means and I am grateful that my experience as an unbiased gamer alone was sufficient to tell that this game isn't any good without even playing it. Final score: 0/10.

I want to start off this review by making it clear that I am not a fanboy. I am as unbiased as a person can possibly be.....

ModNation Racers: Road Trip.....

Nintendo Factor: Shameless rip-off.