Micro Machines V3

Release Date: March 21, 1997

After a series of delays Micro Machines v3 finally appeared in 1997. Codemasters claimed they were getting the gameplay just right. Strangely, they weren't lying...

Thanks to our frighteningly effective market research, and you bothering us on the blowes, we know that for a sizeable minority of you, the PlayStation is your first console. Frankly, you don't know you're born. But as well as missing out on blocky graphics and beepy music, many of you have missed the founding of one of the oddest videogame dynasties yet seen.

When little-known outfit Codemasters first announced that they'd obtained an exclusive licence from the manufacturers of Micro Machines, most of the world failed to notice. Those of us who did weren't dancing in the aisles at the thought of a game based on the smallest, most useless toy cars ever produced. As it turned out, we should have been.

The games featured mediocre graphics, very poor characters and strictly functional production values all round. At best they looked cheap 'n' cheerful. But what they lacked in Ferrero Rocher ambassadorial sophistication, they more than compensated for with great bucketloads of gameplay — particularly in multi-player format.

The next big question asked of Codemasters was whether the leap to PlayStation could be made without sacrificing the magical mystery ingredient. Could the gameplay remain as simplistically engaging but infuriatingly compulsive as before? Would the Micro Machines dynasty finally fail in the brave new 3D world that it had been dragged into?

Well, we weren't about to make the same mistake twice — if you'd come to our office then you'd have seen us jiving around the pews at the very thought of another 'go' on this superb game. The driving feel is the same as ever. The various vehicles still handle differently, but they all have the same intuitive-but-loose feel as ever, and chucking them around the game's many tight corners is still a joy. Better still, the multi-player game is as good as it’s ever been. Really good, in other words. Some brilliant thinking way back when did away with the need for split screens, link-ups and turns. In a multi-player game you’re all on the same screen at the same time. If you fall behind, you disappear; if you’re in front, you point. The last person driving takes a point, sets the first player to disappear and, if anyone reaches eight points, they win. Or if the race finishes before any player wins outright, the player with the most points wins. Simple, yes. Effective, yes. Fast? Christ, yes. The combination of racing, nudging and, thanks to new power-ups, destruction of your peers is simply unbeatable.

Amazingly, Codemasters managed to retain Micro Machines’ cute-as-a-bunny appeal while making the graphics genuinely impressive. Never before have breakfast tables, beach rugs and school desks been represented in such a sweeping, look fashion.

The power of your PlayStation has freed up the camera and allowed true 3D courses. The third dimension isn’t just a cosmetic addition, either. There are bumps which affect the handling of your wheels of choice, proper jumps to be made, plenty of switches of level and impressive perspective changes.

What Micro Machines v3 also tries to bring about is many imaginative oil pieces. In many races there are sections of competition that separate the from all other racing games. Suddenly, to the user's gameplay without disrupting the seventh momentum. When was the last time Super Mario Challenge told us about a tight and shiny landscape, for instance? And has Wipeout ever required that you be sucked through laboratory equipment, heated, fried, processed and spat out the other end?

If there is a quibble to be made with MM v3, it’s that the camera can sometimes be a little too mobile. In single-player mode it can occasionally take up willfully obscure angles, making the already tough tasks quite frustrating, while in multi-player mode the leader can be so close to the edge of the screen that the tracks tend to blind as he approaches them.

We have no time for such nit-picking, however — we just can play with the list of pieces of hindsight we can now categorically state that you’d struggle to acquire this many bucketloads of multi-player racing fun for 1/3 of your earth pounds (although Psygnosis’ Racers makes a decent team). So score the exactly £20 out-of-your-wallet.