Yet another game crashes into what seems to be an ever-expanding month of releases.  Today it was announced on the Playstation Blog that ModNation Racers will be released May 25th  for the PS3 and PSP.  Developed by United Front Games, ModNation Racers mixes Mario Kart style racing with LittleBigPlanet's customization to create a rather unique, yet familiar, racing game.

Along with the announcement of the release date, it was revealed that pre-order bonuses will accompany the game.  Each bonus is exclusive to a specific retailer.  GameStop will offer God of War 3's Kratos along with his Kart of Chaos.  Amazon will give you Ratchet and Clank.  Best Buy is offering Nathan Drake and his Jungle Jeep.  These bonuses are great, though they really leave PlayStation fans with a bit of a tough choice about where to buy the game.  The face of each bonus racer perfectly captures the character's overall personality.  I especially like how accurate Kratos' scowl is in ModNation form.

2010 seems to get more and more crowded by the day.  May is now jam-packed with many highly anticipated games.  If the ModNation Racers beta proved anything, it’s that Gran Turismo 5 may not be PS3's flagship racing title for 2010.

ModNation Racers is a very fun game with easy customization and endless possibilities.  In the beta, there were issues with lag and slowdown outside of the races.  During a race, everything ran fairly smoothly.   ModNation Racers could very well take its place along side LittleBigPlanet in terms of fun and ceativity.  However, there are two other racers that are waiting in the garage to be unleashed this May: Split/Second and Blur.

Both games offer an arcade take on the racing genre, much like ModNation RacersSplit/Second is extremely intriguing, with an emphasis on using destruction as a weapon.  Split/Second comes from the highly talented team at Black Rock Studios, who developed the underrated and rather brilliant racer PureBlur is from Bizarre Creations, who are coming off the successful Project Gotham Racing franchise.  Blur's beta is garnering very positive impressions, and it looks like the game has great potential.  All of which only puts more pressure on ModNation Racers.

So what do you think?  Are the pre-order bonuses a good enough incentive?  What racing game do you think will take your $60 in May?

ModNation Racers releases May 25th for the PS3 and PSP.

Source: PlayStation Blog