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REVIEW: Micro Machines V3

FORMAT: PlayStation

PRICE: £20

GENRE: Top Down Racing

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK

DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Codemasters.

If anyone saw the chart (on page 176) on digi Saturday, they will know. During this Winter Of Discontent (Normally around Jan-March), we have only one thing to confort us (apart from a large fire). MMV3 has been re-released. On Platinum. So I bought a copy. Surprised? Thought not.

This game, when It was first released, didn't sell very well. At all. Probably because it was released half way though the year, instead of xmas. The Thuth is release a game at christmas and it would be probably rememeberd as a classic, MMV3 was mostly ignored. It shouldn't of been, It is an incredible game.

As Usuall, there's no plot invouved. There's no evil Micro Machine eating monster that you must conquer, unlike other similar "spoof" racers. The FMV sequence is basically a short demo, it's not essential to watch or anything. The first thing to hit you about this game though, is the improved menu screen. It's in 3D for a start, reflecting the cartoony nature of the series. Bright colours, juming and waving kids everywhere, a sort of Micro Machines City. It's incredibly easy to use, and very clear. You never need to fall back to the manual for help. Now if you played the first set of games (MM, MM2 & erm, MMM) you can jump straight in. If you're sh*te at Top Down Racing, there's a Driving School you can visit to learn how to control the car and get the feel for it. This is run by Cherry (Codemasters must of been taking the piss when they did the voice overs for this woman) in a, erm, pink car. It sounds corny, but it convinced my mum, who hated the first two games because "I can't control it" to let me keep it. You can also have fun winding up cherry thanks to the exceptionally shite voice samples, but that's besides the point. (Don't fanatasise kids, BTW)

One Player mode has the usuall, moderatly good computer players, with the same time-trial, head to head & challenge modes. Now, however, you can win cars in these modes, which you can then swap with your friends (more on that later). The cars vary from crap to strange, from Ice Cream Fans to Juggernauts. They arn't just for looking at though, anouther option allows you to play with your cars on the same tracks as the other modes. And it's worth mentioning the time they must of spent on the detail with these things, for example, press the horn down when using the Ice Cream Van and you get a tune played in the backround. Though it's just for novelty value, of course.

MultiPlayer sticks to Head to head, with some new features too. You can now play with up to 8 people in Head to Head (albeit in teams). Some modes also allow 4 players on one pad, by holding the pad sideways. Although there is now Keepies, where you can play against other people to nick each others cars (unless you pull the plug, meaning nothing getting saved) and team head-2-head play, which with added alcohol can be very fun :)

Enough about the amount of diffrent ways to play, what really matters (and is most impressive) about this game is it's tracks. They're in Full 3D, as you would expect. But unlike some badly done 3D remakes, the gameplay has survived. it's an almost new game, infact. The Camera angles are excellent, there is almost no clipping invouved. The Floor textures are great and sometimes intresting to read ("How to be a Demolition Expert" I see CM havn't lost their touch). There are animals to ram, and racing can now take part on the floor, instead of being stuck on a 2D table top all the time. There are even Teleporters. CM have really done the works for these tracks, totalling around 20. The power-ups even manage to put a smile on your face (Since when have you been able to have a cartoon-style hammer on your car?). This is thoughly original. I really didn't think it could be done but they did it. And they made it better in the process.

Codemasters have made this genre their own, forget any other games in the past (Various Atari & Team 17 games, for example). Top Down Racing is Micro Machines. The original games are still playable now, though not as much as this classic. V3 also tries it's best not to be annoying so as to stop you playing, loading is quick, there's no endless FMV death sequences, though I had some gripes about the voice overs (which are truly awful), but then who dosn't? This is still one of the Best Multiplayer games around, get 2 multi-taps, 8 6-packs of larger in and 16 friends as this is probably the best laugh you've ever had. Buy. This. Game. NOW.

GRAPHICS: 10/10 (Some of the best PS graphics I've seen in a long time)

SOUND: 7/10 (The tracks actuall backround noise is quite good (and very realistic, the school backround sounds gave the effect of a real primary school), however the badly done voiceovers for each character never fail to piss you off)

GAMEPLAY: SINGLE 8/10 (Computer players can be too easy at some points)

MULTIPLAYER 9/10 (Head to Head is still the best way to lavish hatred on a friend)

LIFESPAN: 9/10 (Will last you ages, well, I'll be coming back)

OVERALL: 9/10 Definitly a multiplayer classic. Buy it.

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