Not quite the podium finish…
To say that I was excited about this release would be an understatement. 20 years ago I absolutely loved Micro Machines on the Mega Drive. Racing mini cars around a pool table or dining room was very simple, but something I could not get enough of. Fast forward 20 years and Codemasters have brought it back with the Micro Machines World series game. After a few hours with the game, it didn’t have the same magic it did back in the day.
Whether that’s because they’ve tried to add things in that weren’t necessary in the old games is something I can’t be sure of, but everything does’t feel quite right. It’s a fun game still, don’t get me wrong. Racing around the levels can be fun, but it doesn’t have that feeling you had on the Mega Drive. The various levels you have look really nice on the PlayStation 4 but sadly, there is only 10 of them to speak of.
What really surprised me was the lack of offline action. There is literally no offline mode (apart from local multiplayer) to speak of. I was hoping for a Championship or even very simple Career Mode but sadly not, it is all based on the online side of things. Battles, races or Elimination, they are the options for you to have. The way it works reminds me of Rocket League, but not as fun or nowhere the nostalgic feeling that I should of felt when playing this. You play in races of 12, but the problem is, you never seem to get a full team of human opponents. It always puts you against 6 humans and up to 6 other CPU controlled opponents and these CPU opponents are over-powered as hell and always often come out as the eventual winner.
That’s not to say the game isn’t fun though, because on its own merit, it really is…. it’s just you’re always going to be comparing it to the original Micro Machines series and it fails in that respect. However, if you award it on its own merit, there is some fun to be had with this game, but in all honesty, this offering should of been made free on PlayStation Plus; I do feel that it would of been received much better if that was the case. The driving mechanics are as to be expected, crazy and off but just like they were back on the Mega Drive version. You’ll often find yourself falling off the side or missing a jump, but that’s the whole point of the fun you can have in Micro Machines, its just many flaws and lack of content let itself down.
Battles and Elimination are interesting but for me, I couldn’t really get into it. You get to pick a vehicle, which all have their different power-ups and a ‘super’ power when it charged enough. You are then given the task of eliminating all of the other races with your equipped vehicle and weapons to be seen as the eventual winner. This is where I didn’t quite get the new version. I would of preferred Codemasters to focus on the racing side of things. Having battles, weapons and stuff like that isn’t what I remembered. If it’s not broken Codemasters, why fix it?
That’s all there is to say regarding what Codemasters have to offer with Micro Machines. What was once full of nostalgic hope ended up being a disappointment. To its credit, this is a game that can offer a fun and somewhat alternative to that of Rocket League, but those looking for their Micro Machines fix will end up with disappointment.
A PlayStation 4 review code was provided by Koch Media.
