Developer: Just Add Water
Publisher: Codemasters
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Tested on: Xbox One
Micro Machines World Series – Review
Every 90’s kid remembers coming home after school, dropping their backpack in the hallway and sucking up to their mom if they can have some game time on the console. For most of the kids, this would be Super Mario, Pokémon, Zelda or Sonic. But most of the people nowadays forget the impact Micro Machines had on us. Full speed tabletop racing, drifting and crashing off the edge when you least expected it. The graphics were top-notch at the time and you felt like it was really you racing over the poker table your dad had in the basement.
Story
What happens if you give a couple of boys a couple of toy cars, building materials and a lot of free time? The answer to that can be found in the Micro Machine games. This new addition to the Micro Machine sequence stars all new content, including new maps, vehicles and challenges. Even though there isn’t much of a story found in the game, the maps can tell us a bit of what is going on in the game: you race competitors on the kitchen counter, capture the flag on a Ouija board, or play king of the hill in the garden over frozen ponds. A race game like this doesn’t need much of a story, but the different playing fields do bring a very nice idea of what is happening around you.
Graphics
Micro Machines started out as an 8-bit game. The developers felt it was time to switch over to modern graphics, with bright colours and a semi-3D setting. The game, as before, is played in bird view, so you can see what is happening around you. The graphics certainly don’t let down, and the special effects are splendidly done. On graphics, Micro Machines certainly stepped into 2017, without losing the feeling the game always brought.
Sound
Like the graphics, also the sound received a spectacular update. As you launch the game, an all new announcer blasts through the box. The man sounds British, and gives the game a really nice feel. The voice also announces when a game starts or ends, along with other special announcements during the game. The soundtrack is especially catchy and upbeat, which gives the game an energetic feel to it. Every different vehicle has a different voice actor, so each one of the cars has its own personality. Other sound effects are also well done and give the game depth.
Gameplay
Micro Machines is a tabletop racer, with the goal to win as much races and games as possible to rank the highest. Along with the normal racing mode, it also brings other gameplays, such as Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and Elimination.
You begin the game in a starting screen, where you will choose between 4 different starting points: Event, Multiplayer, Ranked and Skirmish. Events start every 7 days, and here you play King of the Hill or Capture the Flag to win loot boxes. These loot boxes can contain different skins, catchphrases, grave markers or markers for a vehicle. Every car has a number of these, of which of course the goal is to collect as much as possible. Most of these are just for show, but some of the skins are rare, but add special upgrades to your vehicle, making them better and stronger.
Multiplayer is where you choose what you want to play against players from all over the world. Ranked is where you can race online in order to climb in the world ranking of Micro Machines. Skirmish is a game mode you play alone or with several people in the room, either to practice or to have fun with friends. Although all these things sound like fun, the online player base is very small, which leaves you to playing with AI. This on itself is a shame, but not as big of a deal, if the AI were a little bit decent, that is. The AI in this game is terribly done. There is no sense in it at all, the only thing they do is make the gameplay extremely chaotic.
The game itself is well thought out. All the cars have 4 different abilities, which you can activate using A, B, Y and X. With A, you shoot your gun. B and X have a special effect, most of the time very short lasting. The ability you activate by pressing Y takes a while to charge, but they are strong and help you kill a lot more enemies. Every vehicle has its own special abilities, fitting the theme of the car. In racing mode, you cannot use these abilities, but instead, you find special items on the track. These include the use of a NERF gun or a hammer, but these abilities have a limited amount of shots. In Elimination mode, there is a special ability when you are eliminated. This ability is in the form of a missile launcher. Every time you die, you can choose a vehicle to shoot on, and if it hits, it represents an instant kill for the player. In some cases, you can earn a loot box.
Conclusion
All in all, Micro Machines is a fun and well thought out game. It has a couple of flaws, like the small online player base, mainly caused by little advertising and the bad AI, but aside from these, the game is fun and playful. The only thing the game misses, is the feeling the old Micro Machines had. It is very hard to bring out a remastered game and bring the old feeling back. Micro Machines is one of the games that one would be excited for, but it did disappoint a bit. It would be better if they released it under another name.
Micro Machines World Series - Review,
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