Previous Next

Use your joypad skills to out run the choice of computer opponents on 27 courses split between eight different vehicles.

Inside every tiny miniature car there is a tiny miniature driver bursting to get out. These impish shrunken motorists content themselves with waiting until no one is looking and then haring around any available surface at high speeds. Micro Machines tells the story of eleven such tiny tearways imprisoned in their mini-mobiles. These chirpy characters have decided to organise a tournament to discover who is the bestest all-round driver of them all, competing as they do in a variety of vehicles in all locations.

Micro Machines is an overhead-viewed racing game using steering to send you zooming around the track.

There are two one-player modes in Micro Machines. The first pits your character against the remaining ten. First of all, qualify for the cup in an easy-peasy boat race. Then choose the three other drivers you most wish to race against. After this, simply race and race again, making at least second place in each event, knocking more and more drivers out of the running and selecting fresh opponents, until you have won the challenge or lost all of your three lives.

The second one-player mode is played in much the same way as the two-player, although, surprise surprise, the second car is computer-controlled. This is an ideal opportunity to put your dirtiest tactics into play, ruthlessly knocking your opponent off the edge of the table, or into plugholes, snooker table pockets or even garden sprinklers!

There are eleven drivers to choose from in Micro Machines, and some are better than others. James Dean-alike Spider, for instance, is the best driver that ever there was, whilst "I want me pigeons" sad fat boy Walter lags behind, as his portly stature slows his vehicles down somewhat.

However, just to make things easier, the rating of each driver is written above their picture on the driver select screen. This means it's simple to pick the good drivers at the start of the tournament, knock them out in the easy early races and then just have the weedy racers to contend with when things get a bit harder!

There's more to Micro Machining than flicking a little toy car down the table. There are eight vehicles, each with its own handling style, to master along with 27 courses to memorise! Each transport is fully detailed below.

1. Warriors Fitted with front-bumper detonators, crashing into another Warrior generally leads to these trucks blowing up! The nut, bolt, oil and sticky glue-laden garage floor environment they race in is also a hindrance. Watch out for their skiddy cornering, too.

2. Turbo Wheels These sand-hoppers are spritely little buggies which race around beaches littered with buckets, spades and sandcastles. With a high top speed, cornering is a little tricky, and their light weight means they bounce around a great deal if they hit so much as tide mark.

3. Speedboats Bathtime racing is the order of the day here. Steer clear of the plughole which swallows your boat and the soap suds which slow you down and bounce you around. Also beware of the savage rubber ducks who bar your way.

4. Tanks Pondering and cumbersome with a wide turning circle the tanks don't seem to have much going for them. However, each tank is fitted with a cannon fired by pressing the C button! One hit temporarily destroys any other tank, allowing you to get a clear lead around the bedroom-based toy-littered courses.

5. 4x4 A good start to the day, these slower speed breakfast table racers are easy to control and not too demanding. Still, there's always the other drivers to worry about, as well as the marmalade, oranges and breakfast cereal laid out...

6. Choppers These floaty fellers zip around the flower bed and are difficult to get the hang of. Choppers tend of get trapped in bushes and other garden-related snagging items although the courses are generally quite straightforward.

7. Sportscars Impress your schoolmates by zooming these around the desk-situated courses. Very nippy, but cornering is a problem at first. Try to get the hang of the Miami Vice-style "power skid" for maximum advantage and pose power, and watch out for that homework!

8. Formula 1 The ultimate challenge, the F1 cars are very, very fast and very manoeuverable, but the pool table courses they are set on are the trickiest out! Going Heck for Leather is the only possible road to victory, which only makes things harder, especially when screeching around the pockets on the very edge of the table!

Should you be skilful enough to achieve first place in three events running in the single player tournament, you are treated to a bonus event, the Rufftrux.

This event gives you a strict time limit in which to negotiate a tough off-road course littered with boulders and precariously tight paths through rivers. Win through and you are awarded an extra life for your troubles, although there is no penalty for failure. These courses get tougher and tougher as the game progresses, until only the most capable Micro Racers get the prize!

If you fancy going head-to-head against a friend, Micro Machines has just the option for you. The two-player mode allows you to take part in either a single race challenge or a longer tournament.

The single race mode allows you to choose your vehicle out of the eight available, plus Pro Formula 1 and Pro Sportscars showcasing two of the tougher tracks. Tournament selects events randomly, and the first player to win four races is the victor!

Two-player racing differs from the regular game. Instead of the first past the post winning the race, there is instead an eight-light bar in one corner, lit, at the beginning, with four red and four blue lights. Each time one player reaches the forward edge of the screen, leaving the other tailing behind, one light of the corresponding car colour (red or blue) is lit.

When the bar is full of one colour, that player is the winner. Alternatively, should the race run the full four laps, the winner is the player with the most lights lit or, in the event of a tie, the first player to score a point.

Micro Machines is one of my favourite NES games ever, and it's great to see that all the vehicles, courses and playability of the original have been faithfully ported over to the Megadrive.

The graphics have been tweaked up a little, although nothing really drastic has been done, and the same goes for the sound. Megadrive Micro Machines certainly moves faster than the original, zipping along at a fair old lick, and the controls are even more responsive.

A couple of changes have been made, though. The computer drivers are far more aggressive, some of them even head the wrong way down the track trying to knock you off the table! The two-player mode has been made more competitive too, as knocking into other cars in the right way sends them flying off, so there's plenty of barge-related japery in store. However, the single player mode is a bit too easy.

I was able to complete it in the first couple of sittings, although the last race too quite a while to beat. Also, I was a little disappointed to see that there are no new vehicles or courses to master.

If you're a single, lone Micro Machiner this probably isn't for you, but anyone with even a sniff of a second player around should seek it out.

What was unquestionably fab on the NES, gets the perfect conversion treatment on the Megadrive. Micro Machines doesn't look any great shakes from the stills (the slightly rough look has been preserved), but the scrolling is super smooth, super fast.

In my view, all other previous racing games on the system have been bores. Dump the 3-D view and bring in the playability.

Two-player Micro Machines is addictive, not a little due to the wide range of wacky courses and vehicles to try out. The single player mode is frustrating at times, due to the dirty tactics of the opponents, but perhaps overall the game is a little on the easy side.

The best thing the game has going for it is its sense of humour: Snooker tables and desktops, and marmalade stains to race through. This has to be a bit of a two-player classic.

Presentation 93%
P. Loads of characters to choose from and presentation screens abound. N. There are no real options to tweak.

Graphics 78%
P. Colourful sprites and great backdrops with a lot of attention to detail. N. The sprites themselves are a bit on the small side.

Sound 73%
P. A selection of alright tunes play throughout the presentationy bits. N. The effects are a bit dismal, and there's no in-game tunes.

Playability 97%
P. Very smooth and responsive and fast, and great fun to play.

Lastability 80%
P. Two-player frolics may well last forever and ever. N. The one-player option is too easy and won't last very long.

Overall 93%
A cracking game, but one which single players might not appreciate.