One game. Simultaneous eight player! Inspirational.
Essentially it is a top-down (aerial view) racing game featuring the small toy cars of the same name as the game. Now, being tiny toys it is fitting that all the race tracks are based on home-made style courses. Do you remember playing with toy cars as a child and driving them across the furniture and table tops and outside in the garden or on the beach? You do? Then you know exactly what kind of courses are available. There are a multitude of tracks from anywhere in the home to the schoolroom and outdoors in typical childrens play areas. Each track has it's own type of vehicle to race and just like the tracks there are many differing modes of transport all handling differently. From trucks to sports cars, boats to hovercrafts, quad bikes to dragsters and even a helicopter too.
Multiplayer is heavily emphasised with between two and four simultaneous players allowed. There is no need for a multitap as the game cartridge itself comes with two joypad ports built in (this type of cartridge was called a J-Cart). With a full compliment of four players the fun can truly begin. Each person selects their in game character from a set roster (look out for a digital Violet Berlin-alike) against whom their scores will be saved to. Then just choose one of the many tracks and get ready to race for your life. Races can be free for all or team based. Free for all is every driver for themselves whereas team play has two drivers on the red team and two drivers on the blue. Complimentary driving works wonders in this racing mode. As a friend of mine once said, "You race to win and I'll knock them off the track!".
If, instead, you have rather more visitors than you do pads then don't panic. By two people sharing one pad (one on the d-pad and the other using the ABC buttons) you can utilise the simultaneous eight player races. These have considerably less tracks and use the mini-micro machines (even smaller than usual) to allow them all to fit on screen at once. The engines will have the accelerator fixed to the on position and all you need worry about is using the brake and steering left and right. It's as manic as it sounds!
In one player you race against the computer controlled drivers in a league table. This is all that needs to be said for single player as the meat and potatoes of the game really is its multiplayer aspect.
The aim of the game is to win by fair means or foul. One mode of play has you racing a certain number of laps while attempting to finish first and a second mode (more fun in multiplayer) has you racing around the track indefinitely until one player gets so far ahead that the other drivers disappear off the edge of the screen knocking them out. The winner receives two points, second gets one point while third loses a point and fourth loses two points. In team racing the one team gains a point and the other loses one. Racing then continues until one winner/team achieves an eight point total and is then declared the race winner. As a lot of the tracks are set on varying height levels there are many opportunities to nudge your opposition either off the course or into a hazard. Hazards? Yes. Hazards that would naturally occur in any certain venue. For example on the dinner table are blobs of wine and tomato ketchup which slow you down or an inconveniently placed fork that bounces you out of the way. Graphics whores need not apply as Micro Machines 2 has a fairly simplistic and basic display with bright colours and defined outlines. In fact it suits this kind of game perfectly and adds rather than detracts from its appeal. Sound is an aural delight with tyre screeches, twee exhaust note and relevant sound effects for the level. A nice touch is the use of a horn; totally useless but infuriating to an opponent when you have just doorhandled, bashed or overtaken them. Control is also exceptional with losses fairly attributed to your own abilities and not any game inconsistency (of which there is none).
All in all this is some of the most, legal, fun you can have with your mates.
Oh, and don't forget to use the specially printed book of invitation tickets supplied to invite your friends round for a marathon racing session. So who's up for another race on the track "Rim Runners" with dragsters racing around a toilet seat?