FoxKids.com Micro Maniacs Racing

"The Micro Machines franchise gets a makeover"

The Micro Machines series has been around since the heyday of the Sega Megadrive, and they've always offered exceptionally fine gameplay, even if the graphics were a bit basic. Micro Machines V3, released earlier in the life of the Playstation, brought the whole thing bang up to date in 3D Whizz-o-vision (TM). What Micro Maniacs adds to this mix is manic little genetically engineered people instead of vehicles, and for a few other reasons that I will go into in a minute, its by far the best of the lot.

Graphics: Wow. This game has to be seen to be believed! All the tracks are rendered in fantastic, colourful 3D and the amount of detail is staggering. One of the tracks is a 80's retro room, complete with an old Atari style console that you can be magically sucked into. Then there's a kitchen, where you can run around the work surfaces, past a microwave complete with a pie rotating witin, and slide down a string of spaghetti! All the little people are well animated to and when charged up in the later stages of the game their attacks can look quite spectacular too.

Sound: This is probably the weakest thing about the whole game. Don't get me wrong, it is adequate, but none of the music or sound effects are mindblowing. I know some gamers think music and sound aren't really important, and can possibly even detract from the atmosphere of a game, but in my opinion it's as important as getting the graphics right. The Wipeout series and Rollcage have brilliant music, and it really adds to the whole experience and gets the adrenalin running. Music in Micro Maniacs is a wasted opportunity.

Gameplay: Micro Maniacs scores highly here, especially if you have three other chums round. Then the fun factor truly hits the roof. Believe me, best friends can become bitter rivals when your jostling for position around the edge of a bath, for example. Expect much cursing and gnashing of teeeth. The one player side of the game could never hope to compete with the multiplayer version, but it's fun in it's own way and is the only way to unlock the later tracks (without cheating). The computer AI can be quite fiendish later on, and this is frustrating, but you always seem drawn back for just one more go.

Value: Now the price of games is a lot less than it was, Micro Maniacs is real value for money, but only if you don't already own Micro Machines V3. It is the better of the two games by far, but the fact is it's still extremely similar, even if the cars have been replaced by little mutations. If you own the older game I suggest you part exchange it for the new one, you won't regret it. Anyone else who hasn't tried a Micro Machines game yet and has plenty of mates should get it in straight away. Oh and don't forget the multitap and extra joypads too!

Overall: Well, Micro Maniacs doesn't score many points for originality but when the games as well made and fun to play as this little game that hardly matters. I recommend this game to everyone. The colourful nature of the graphics may make you think it's for kids but the gameplay and the competitiveness of the multiplayer modes should be enough to keep any adult happy for a long time to come. It's always worth keeping one Micro Machines game in your collection just in case you have a party, and a the moment this is the game of choice.

Until they make a Playstation2 version, of course!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/00, Updated 05/09/00