The right analog stick controls elevation, so you're free to climb to the sky or dip low into the ground and crisscross your already laid asphalt. You'll simply drive to lay your road and have the freedom to twist and turn however you like. When it's time to create a track, you choose from one of the preset themes - alpine, desert, seaside or jungle - and get to work. You can choose from a number of body styles, and then pop on wheels, hood ornaments, and your custom stickers. All of this creative wonder and ease carries over to the karts. I'm no artist, but I was able to whip up the Ghostbusters logo without any trouble in just a few minutes. You can even take the basic shape stickers and layer them to create your own unique logos. Toss in the fact that there are shirts, pants, hats, horns and more, and you're looking at a blank canvas you can do pretty much whatever you want with. How advanced? Well, you can opt for a preset pattern that'll make up your character's skin, but you can also jump into the color wheel and spin through a vast array of shades, then tweak if your creation is made of rubber, cloth or metal, and then go nuts with 247 eye types, 315 mouths and so on.

It's like working with a really, really advanced Easter egg. You don't have to worry about adjusting body types, heights and what not when you're making a Mod they're all the same body size, so it's just up to you to decorate them. Before you say 'Oh, I never create anything in games,' give these tools a look.

In ModNation Racers, you can create racers (known as Mods), karts and even tracks that you can then upload and share with the world, which means you can download other people's works of art, too. For starters, this is the second title in Sony's 'Play, Create, Share' catalog of games - a lineup that started with LittleBigPlanet - and it's worthy of that prestigious distinction. Our video review will set your tires on fire.

But as you settle in behind the controls, you'll find ModNation is so much more than just a kart racing game. It comes with a career mode, a plethora of colorful characters to race against and earn for your stable, and an experience point-packing online universe.

At first glance, this game is just another kart racer with HD graphics. Been ignoring IGN for, say, the last year? Well, first, welcome back, and second, you missed a whole bunch of ModNation awesomeness.

Download mod nation racers for free