Has Micro Machines come of age?

By Tom Fahey

These are micro stunt boats - don't try this at home

Atari has once more presented us with another Micro Machines iteration. Whether or not this is a good thing, well, I'll leave that to your judgment, but here's what I thought...

I remember playing MM on the good old SNES emulator not so long ago.

128-bits later, to be truthful, I could hardly spot a single difference in the game engine.

However, there were, as you would expect, rather substantial improvements on the graphics side. So, if you're looking for the same old fun, frustration, and game style, then look no further because this is Micro Machines to a tee.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this style of game, let me fill you in: It is a racing game where perhaps four vehicles race on the one track, with the view the game from above. Oh, and in case you're expecting Porsche GT3's and Jaguar XJ220's, well I'm sorry to say that you probably wont find them here. It is a game based on "micro" cars, after all.

Seeing as how the cars are miniature, it's only right to have the scale of things correct. Therefore, the tracks are generally composed of kitchen tables, backyard ponds and work benches - even the most innocuous of objects can be a massive obstacle in MM.

Judge Judy is a big Micro Machines fan

It makes for a vivid and slightly odd-ways game world. It's not that often that you'll hear someone say "Oh gee wiz! Did you see the air I got off that ruler next to the pencil behind the glass of water?" ^_^

I think you get the picture...

So as you could imagine, Micro Machines doesn't exactly push the PS2 to its limits with the game engine.

Although there are many different weapons including homing rockets, electric charges, bazookas, extending boxing gloves, flame throwers and all of the other usual suspects, there is still plenty of processing power in the humble black box to render some pretty nifty graphical effects throughout the courses.

There are eight different characters (or as I like to call them - freaks of nature) to choose from, each with slightly varying statistics.

The game doesn't exactly take it to the extremes of GT3 and tell you how much horse power there is, torque, and how many cup holders your new concept car has, but the game does create differences between each players' acceleration, top speed, handling and that kind of thing.

If you liked the original games, this one will impress

So if you're good with the touch-and-go steering, then perhaps a high top speed will give you a substantial lead. If you crash a lot, then quick acceleration is a must-have to stay in the race.

There are also about five different types of vehicles for each player to use in the various conditions. There is the standard car, a racing car, a hovercraft, a speedboat, and a motorcycle.

But each of the individual players have their own unique style, so one person's race car may look like the land speed record holder, and another may resemble a shopping trolley.

There are several different game modes to try and keep you entertained: The normal exhibition race, vs mode, and a championship mode.

Not the most original title of the year, but all the same the latest installment of Micro Machines is quite a bit of fun and I would recommend that the fans of the early 16-bit versions grab a copy to see what 128-bits can do to such timeless gameplay.

Game: Micro Machines
System: PS2
Players: 1-4
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Atari
Distributor: GameNation

Rating: 70%

(Ratings Key/Explantion)

Micro Machines is on the shelves now.