Retro Video Game Reviews: Micro Machines (Game Boy)

Thanks to the best-selling success of titles such as Gran Turismo and the Mario Kart series, one of the most popular console genres is the racing game. Due to the race-title viability, countless examples have been released, with some inevitably being better than others. One of the worst of the bunch was an attempt to capitalize on the Micro Machines car craze, a self-titled racer for Game Boy.

Gameplay

This is a top-down scrolling racer. Although different vehicles with differing capabilities are available, it is not by choice: They are assigned by track, two tracks for each type of vehicle. The tracks themselves provide the twist and supposed selling point of the game: Since the vehicles are miniature, the levels are household locations, such as a kitchen tabletop, bubbly bath tub, etc. Thus, pool table levels are the formula-one cars, while the bath locales demand speedboat use.

Graphics

Although the miniaturization theme is humorous at points, like slogging through syrup on the breakfast table or avoiding the eight ball, the game is otherwise completely unremarkable in its appearances. Sure, the different types of cars and trucks and other mobile units are recognizable in their distinctiveness, but this is hardly a trait worth writing home about.

Sound

The soundtrack was apparently rushed through development and forgotten on the checklist. Racetracks have no music and the effects are primitive. The efforts elicit a hearty meh.

Creativity and Innovation

The different vehicles are interesting (one can hardly deny the appeal of driving a tank that is able to blow up other racers), and the novelty of the house-party levels is there, but there are no other groundbreaking ideas to be found. In fact, the two-player mode, which supposedly solved the at-the-time problem of simultaneous play on a single Game Boy unit, instead creates a laughable scene: Both vehicles automatically accelerate, one player steering with the control pad, with his or her opponent using the A and B buttons, and points are scored by outpacing the opponent to reach the edge of the screen, thus apparently taking advantage of the inherent limits of two racers on one Game Boy screen. The result is atrocious, and only good for mocking amusement.

Quickly pushed out as the inept spawn of product promotion and scatterbrained development, Micro Machines provides a replay value and enjoyment factor as small as the titular toys. It gets one and a half stars out of five.