I can only imagine how the pitch meeting for LittleBigPlanet Karting went. I'm sure that Sony called the team from United Front Games into some boardroom and I'm sure that they praised the team's previous game; Mod Nation Racers, and told them how much they loved it. In fact, they loved it so much that they wanted them to make it again. A sequel? Sort of. I'm sure there was a bit of confusion as some Sony exec told them that they wanted the studio to remake the same game -- just without any of their own intellectual property -- and one of Sony's biggest franchises in its place.

Yes, LittleBigPlanet Karting has a lot in common with 2010's Mod Nation Racers. You create your own racer, your own kart and your own tracks, but it's different..because...there's Sackboy. Perhaps that's a bit unfair, there's a fair amount that can surprise you and a lot of fun, especially if you're playing with a group of dedicated friends, but there's no way around the fact that this is a game you've already played.

"...unquestionably more LittleBigPlanet than it is Mod Nation Racers."

Between the two, Karting is unquestionably more LittleBigPlanet than it is Mod Nation Racers. Narrator Stephen Fry returns for narration and gives each race a bit of a narrative push, and your hub is a bit of a renovated hub as you've seen in the two previous LittleBigPlanet Games and its little brother on the Vita. In fact, the whole game has been given a LittleBigPlanet-esque paint job -- to make you forget about Mod Nation Racers completely.

It's almost a shame then that the team at United Front Games merely copied and pasted a good portion of the mechanics from their previous game and didn't even bother to fix the issues. Each kart, regardless of how you built it feels the same in terms of speed, acceleration, boosting and handling, which makes you wonder why you're spending so much time building your kart in the first place. Of course, the game also suffers from the same problems that a lot of kart racing games do, like powers that will make you lose a race regardless of your performance throughout.

"...create remarkable raceways that anyone around the world can enjoy."

Where LittleBigPlanet Karting does excel though is with its track creation suite. Where Mod Nation Racers was impressive, LittleBigPlanet lends itself perfectly to a game like this. It's completely possible to create a basic track with the most basic tools, but delving further in will allow those with the time and skill to create remarkable raceways that anyone around the world can enjoy. Some of the tools are holdovers from Mod Nation, but the good majority of the content here is unique, and allows for a player's real creativity to shine through.

Despite all of these flaws, there's a lot of fun to be had with LittleBigPlanet Karting. It's a blast to run through user-created levels and try to beat your friends' and their best times. That, in essence is what makes it such a fun game, the amount of fun you'll have is entirely dependent on how many friends you have who are dedicated to the game.

Look, there's no way around it, Sony loved the idea of Mod Nation Racers, they just loved it a lot more with one of their key franchises at the center. The inclusion of the LittleBigPlanet World melds well with the structure of what was Mod Nation. If you're familiar with bos franchises, you're bound to get a bit tired of Karting quickly, but if you're new to the fold, or playing with a bunch of dedicated friends, you'll be hard pressed to wipe that grin off of your face.