ModNation Racers, the latest in the go kart racing
genre, has all the fun and excitement of racing
games such as the Disney racers, but definitely not the heavy pulse pounding and temple throbbing action of NFS. Featuring cartoon characters and settings, the game, developed by United Front Games and SCE San Diego Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, is fun. It is
designed and available for PSP and PS3 platforms.
   The creative tools available enable one to create karts, racers and even tracks. If you go online, you can share these with the online community. The karts can be made to look like trains, airplanes and cars among others and you can drift and accelerate along the track, collecting power ups and missiles.
Scattered along the track are weapons and munitions with different power levels. These are boost, sonic attacks, missiles and lightning strikes and vary in intensity. The sonic attacks at first level create small rockets and rings that knock off nearby opponents. Power up for more intensity to lightning level and you can shower thunder bolts on opponents.
    The kart also has a turbo boost that helps to put a shield and protect from incoming missiles. What is interesting is that the AI is very smart and this means the other racers are quick and agile and would knock you off or side swipe you at the first chance. The races are usually for three laps and the tracks are filled with short cuts and traps that get you down if you are careless. Races are divided into quick race, story mode, online race, stunts and grudge race. The idea is to master the track and learn how best to corner, use the short cuts and use the missiles properly. A first place in the podium requires lots of practice and work. The game plays very well and the controls are quick to respond.
   I would give the game a 9 for its game play, creativity and handling. It will cost you about Rs 3,000, but is worth the price. Whether you are six or sixty, you’ll enjoy the game.

Shashi Kadapa

Last Year at Marienbad is director Alain Resnais’ existential and surreal masterpiece. At a social gathering at a château, a man approaches a woman. He claims they met the year before at Marienbad and is convinced she is ‘waiting here’ for him. The woman insists they have never met. A second man, who may or may
not be the woman’s husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man. Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorientating shifts of time and location, the
film explores the relationships between the characters. The characters are unnamed in the film; in the published screenplay, the woman is referred to as ‘A’ (Delphine Seyrig), the first man is ‘X’ (Giorgio Albertazzi), and the man who may be her husband is ‘M’ (Sasha Pitoëff).

Ravish Khapra

For those who welcomed their evenings turning on the radio as it boomed: “Hello, behno aur bhaaiyo!” this five-pack audio CD will bring back memories of Hindi film songs
of 1959 and 1960 and hit flashes. There are so many of them that even mentioning some would defeat the purpose. Besides the songs are sound bytes from the likes of Asha Parekh, Shah Rukh Khan, Mahendra Kapoor, Sudha Malhotra, Meena Kumari, Shammi Kapoor, Mala Sinha, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulshan Bawra, Waheeda
Rehman, Tanuja and Usha Khanna! Like the earlier ones, this volume too is likely to become a collector’s issue. What makes this album precious for music lovers is
the presence of songs from long-forgotten movies like Hum Bhi Insaan Hain, Bindiya and Bahana. Listening to the album makes those good old days come alive.