Micro Machines

The Good
You do not see too much of the Micro Machines today, but they were a successful toy line during the early - mid 1990s.

The tiny toy cars were cool in themselves and, as an added bonus, their commercials featured a super fast talking man, whose name escapes me at the moment (but he also did the voice acting in the 1986 Transformers: The Move film).

Then, like today, anything popular with kids and juveniles was bound to get its own video game. As luck would have it, Micro Machines is actually a well done, enjoyable video game to play.

The programmers wisely resisted the urge to crank out a bad, poorly designed game in the hope that the familiar franchise tie-in would sell it.

The game features nice 16-bit era graphics, music and sound effects. The control mechanics are pretty easy to pick up, without too many trouble, and the controls consistently respond well.

As these are Micro Machines many of the levels are wonderfully designed race tracks, which creative kids would actually design, assuming that their parents would let them.

You can race against the computer, but the real treat is being able to tap into the multi-player mode, which was pretty cutting edge for its day.

The Bad
It is hard to find too many serious faults with the Micro Machines video game adaption.

Micro Machines were tiny toys and the video game adaption has followed suit. Most of the time this is not really a problem in the slightest, but the overhead perspective and small playable vehicles may turn off some gamers who are more use to the modern race car gaming.

The Bottom Line
Micro Machines is a fun, well designed 16-bit era, racing game that pays proper respect to the Mirco Machine franchise. It is a pleasant reminder that video games based on popular franchises need not be an embarrassment.

The Good
Micro Machines was a great little game. A top down racer that was frenetic and addictive. This was a game that was great in single player mode but also had a fun two player versus mode.

The main body of the game was in the challenge mode. You chose a character to play as and raced your way through a couple of dozen levels. Each level was usually a familiar scene, such as a breakfast table or pool table to a bathtub. Each had been modified into a racing circuit. In micro machines there were several types of vehicle to drive, ranging from sportscars to speedboats, each of these was different to drive and were found on different levels.

The difficulty curve was about perfect and the game was easy to get into to. The graphic detail was superb also. It was a triumph of both originality & playability from Codemasters.

The Bad
I find the music in this game to be a little grating.

The Bottom Line
A quirky top down racer which is very enjoyable to play.