[GAME] Micro Machines World Series Review

Developer: CODEMASTER

Publisher: CODEMASTER

Genre: Racing, Multiplayer, Action

Platform: PS4, XBOX One, PC

Release Date: 30 June, 2017

To all of our Patreon subscribers for supporting us and voting on the poll for which review you wanted to see. A big thank you to all of you from the Vivify Team.

Do you like racing tiny weaponized cars which explode all too easily?

This just might be the game for you.

Micro Machines World Series is the newest of the Micro Machines games coming out a whopping 11 years after the last one in the series, Micro Machines V4, which was released way back in 2006.

With fresh new graphics and a nice assortment of cars to choose from it's like a whole new experience compared to the previous ones although there isn't a huge different in game play.

The principle behind the game is that you're racing what I presume to be a tiny remote controlled car (not all too brushed up on the lore if I'm honest.) from a top down perspective which is kitted out with an assortment of gadgets which activate upon collecting powerups.

You use these gadgets to mow through the opposition and aim to take the lead in this chaotic table top race.

The standard races play out very similarly to any other racing game in terms of win requirements. First to finish a set amount of laps is the winner.

It's not as simple as it sounds though because with the random assortment of weapons you can get very easily dropped from first to last and have almost no way in advancing through the track and recovering that position. But this is also a huge part of the fun, in a losing game instead of just giving up and making your way to the finish or relentlessly trying to catch up you can just hang around and try to mess with the positions and hold people back or get revenge on the person who put you in 10th.

But there are also other game modes which you can choose from which spice it up a little bit.

The one which I enjoy the most is the Elimination rounds which have a points system where you both gain and lose points depending on the position you finished in that round and each round starts at a checkpoint closest to where the last one ended. You also have to deal with the camera slowly getting closer and closer to the cars as the round progresses.

The winner of this game mode is the person who's points reach a certain mark first but if the round goes on for way too long then it brings in an overtime mechanic.

You just stop losing points for a bad round and it becomes a straight up race to get to the end but in return you have to come first place to surpass the win threshold even if coming second would have given you enough points.

You also have a more chaotic game mode called Battle which has several types of other game modes mixed in such as a team death match, capture the flag, detonation, etc.

Two teams are pitted against eachother to score points based on what the mode asks of you.

In these Team modes, instead of grabbing powerups you are given specific abilities based on which car you are driving and you use these to assist other teammates or just straight up flatten the opposing team.

It's a simple concept which so many games use as a selling point but it's not often you get to do it while driving a tiny car around obstacles and awkward turns.

Other than being pitted against other players as a team there's a sense of challenge added because of how the car moves. You can't just run in, fire a few shots then back up since reverse speed is obviously slower and teammates can hang you up all too easily.

You can also just get nuked before you even have a chance to try and escape but this just comes with the territory.

(You could also follow my example and just keep falling off the map too...)

Now let's talk about the games design a little bit.

It's primarily an online game and is based around a ranking system which gives you rewards depending on which milestone you reach.

The unfortunate thing about this is that there aren't really too many people playing the game to even call it a competition for the top.

From my experience, there has always been one person at the top with an overwhelming difference and several people with a decent score coming up behind them.

Other than that there's just rank up milestones and no-one to really get in your way or slow you down, which means that if you really want to rank up you'll be playing most of your online matches against bots which can be very lackluster and boring after a while

(Unless you like the idea of grinding it out without any real challenge.)

There's also a system for lootboxes which very much reminds me of Overwatch's Lootbox system in which you receive one every time you level up but you also receive some for meeting certain requirements.

Opening these will net you new skins and sprays for your cars as well as new voicelines and titles to show off to your friends. (since they're the only ones who will see them other than you anyways...)

Other than this though there are the previously mentioned graphical updates as well as new maps to play with.

I haven't really got much else to say so I think now's a good time to start wrapping things up.

All in all, I find it quite an enjoyable game and the mechanics add to the fun but it's something I can only really play with friends given the lack of online players.

If this doesn't bother you so much and you're happy to go head to head against bots then why not eh? But if that isn't your cup of tea and you prefer a challenge and a bit more personality to each race then grab a few friends to join you. It will make the experience that much more enjoyable. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it unless the online player base picks up in the future.

I would however, recommend that you purchase it from a site like G2A as the £24.99 price tag is a little bit too much for a game which doesn't have much of a player base.

That's all for me but before I go I just want to say another big Thank You to our Patreon supporters.

See you all later!

Rhiyous.