Micro Machines V3 (PC) : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

Author's product rating:

Gameplay/Playability
Graphics
Sound
Value for Money
Longevity

Advantages:	easy to get into, very playable .
Disadvantages:	requires 3D card, not much new in comparison to playstation version

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It's been a bit of a disappointment having to wait this long for the conversion of this title from PlayStation to PC, and it wouldn't have been so bad if it had been improved a little more than it actually has been. The graphics are undoubtedly better than the PS version, but then we have come to expect that from any conversion, and the lack of any extra or different cars or tracks to race with was a surprise. What I really would have loved to see, though, would be a track-creator, the perfect way to exercise the PC's capabilities. Under their graphical skins, the tracks aren't exactly complex and a track-creator was available for Micro Machines 2, so why not now? Even the addition of a few extra camera angles would have been very well received.

Anyway, with the conversion being nothing special in itself, it's lucky for Codemasters that the game is by no means short of tracks and cars. There are some 48 imaginatively designed tracks set in a number of original themes, and 32 varied vehicles to race on them. By any PC racer's standards, that's a hefty set of figures. Rather than having the whole game open to you at the start, you have to earn the right to access all the tracks and race all the vehicles via means of your own excellent driving. You collect vehicles by winning certain races, rather than buying them, and you also win upgrades to make them faster, accelerate quicker etc. and this unpredictable and uncontrollable way of collecting cars is actually a great reason to have another go rather than a turn-off.

There are a number of different race opportunities in MMV3, with the championship, head-to-head, and time trial modes all making welcome appearances. These are fun, by the game really comes into it's own when you grab a couple of mates and have a bash at the multiplayer section of the game. These are the reasons why you have been collecting cars all along - so that you can pit them against your friend's best, and then race to win them off each other, in a 'keepsies' style game, reminiscent of playing marbles in the playground at school, all those many years ago.

Being able to have 6 players taking part in a single game on one PC is a real charm, especially if you don't have the network facilities to have 8 at once. You can also side in teams, competing against each other in several heats to see who can get the best times and win. The power-ups you can get in races, despite being extremely fun and inventive, strangely are only welcome in the single player modes, where they can be relieving as you pull past the race leader with a bizarre spring-loaded grabby thing. And what is also great is that the AI is developed in such a way as the dastardly computer controlled cars won't be scared to try a trick or two on you. However, the hammer, fireball, rocket and other such bonus items tend to ruin the multiplayer game a little, serving up less friendly rivalry and battling as one player can simply steam into a large lead.

So, overall, MMV3 is an excellent racing game, providing a spot-on combination of fast fun, fury and turbo-charged dumptrucks. As long as you have a 3D card and a few friends (that discounts most of us), you'll love it.