AUTHOR: Codemasters RELEASE: 1994 TYP: Top-Down Racing SPIELER: 2 LEVEL: - SPRACHE: Englisch Partnumber: 19001 EAN: 5024866190014 WERT: 75 Euro

Es geht drunter und drüber, diesmal klitzeklein! Fahren Sie mit winzigen Autos, Motorrädern und Booten! Rasen Sie durch die spektakulären, maßstabsgetreuen Ministrecken! Schaffen Sie Rennen in und auf Sandkästen, Billiardtischen und Schulpulten! Dann los, es ist einfach super!

It's miniature mayhem! Race micro cars, choppers, boats, tanks and formula one! Whiz around the spectacular scale mini tracks. Can you handle sand pits, pool tables and school desk courses? It's excellent!

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Rock hard mode
At the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Button 2, Up, Up, Button 2, Up to activate „Rock hard mode“, which causes you car to skid a lot more.

Faster car
On the qualifying race, get well ahead of the pack and then stop just before the finishing line, turn around, and hold button 2 to reverse over the finishing line in first place. A sound will play if you do it right, and you will have a faster car.

Easier opponents
On the first race („The Breakfast Bends“), drive off the top right corner of the table backwards. A sound will play if you do it right. This makes your opponents' cars slower.

Explosive Opponents
On the first race („The Breakfast Bends“) stop your car at the top left corner of the table and press 1+2. A sound will play if you do it right. This makes your opponents explode when they touch you.

Infinite Lives
On the first race („The Breakfast Bends“), drive off the bottom right corner of the table forwards. A sound will play if you do it right. This gives you infinite lives - although they don't show they are infinite if you lose that race.

Interesting bug
In two-player mode, on the pool table tracks, try reversing, or being pushed by a collision, into some of the pockets. Sometimes you can get weird effects, including removing the speed limiter on your car - you just keep accelerating until the game crashes - but in one player the effect is generally bad.

Stage Select
At the title screen, press Up, 2, Down, 2, 2, Left, 2, 2, 2.

Always finish in first place
Start the Breakfast Bends level as usual. When the round starts, turn around and race the lap backwards. When you cross the finish line you will hear a jingle to indicate the code has worked. Whatever happens, you will now finish every race in first place.

Super Skid
Go to the honey puddle in the center of the table on the „The Breakfast Bends“ track and press 1+2. A sound will confirm the code. This will cause your car to skid more (similar to hard mode).

Hard mode
At the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Button 2, Up to activate „Hard mode“, in which your car skids more.

If you're bored of racing Formula 1 cars, rally cars or MotoGP bikes in their natural habitats, the Micro Machines series could be for you. It involves racing miniatures representing particular vehicle types across a particular terrain found around the house. The Sports Cars race on the desktop, 4x4s in the sandpit, Formula 1 cars on a snooker table, and so on. These levels were packed with variation. The Snooker tables has the track painted on, although this is open to deviation (as are most levels), and had you racing through the pockets and across the rim of the table. Tanks raced as well, with the chance of shooting out your opponent if they got directly in front of you. The desktop levels include binders to jump across, pencil-sharpeners to avoid, and lots of visual jokes in the open homework. Viewed from overhead with small graphics, the races include up to 4 cars. In one player challenge mode you race through the 21 tracks in a set order, selecting your 3 opponents as you go along (adding a fair amount of strategy - ideally you should aim to eliminate the better CPU cars early on), eliminating one after every third race (assuming that you can finish in the top 2 of a race within your 3 lives). If you win 3 races in a row without using a continue you get a time-trial race which can earn you an extra life. The real innovation of the game was in the multiplayer modes. You started with 4 points each, and when one car gets far enough ahead to force the other car off-screen, the slider moves in their favour. Once it reached the end (which involved beating them 4 times more than they beat you) you win the level, although if 3 laps were completed, the person leading at that point is declared the winner - with a sudden death play off if scores are level. 9 of the tracks are available in this mode, although you can also play this Head to Head system as a 1-player game across all the tracks. - www.Mobygames.com

There are several modes of play which are challenge, head to head and two player. The challenge mode allows you to win different types of cars to create your own collection of Micro Machines. This is done by completing races around various household objects. In head to head mode you must try to get one screen length between you and your opponent to score points. The two player mode is the same as the head to head mode only two players can compete for the points. I find the game to be very enjoyable, especially with two players, which keeps you coming back for more. One of the major points that I noticed in the game is how fast it is. This makes it exciting and really tests your reflexes (oh, the amount of time I've missed a corner and gone straight into a hazard). The opponents are also worth a mention as later in the game they produce a good challenge to even the best driver. Although I assume their AI is simple path finding they do seem to ram you into obstacles too. One of the games major strengths. For the Master System the graphics are amazing. With bright vibrant colours that really help the courses come to life. It could be mistaken for a Megadrive game. The game also boasts some smooth screen scrolling and there is no sprite flicker either. Again despite the Master System's sound capabilities not being great Codemasters have put together an assortment of catchy and fun tunes that never get boring or irritating. The sound effect can be a bit on the weak side with the engine sound seeming a bit pathetic but on the whole they are okay and suite the game well. The controls for this game are easy to learn. The D-pad controls the steering, button 1 is the accelerator and button 2 is the brake. This makes it accessible to even those who may not normally play video games. This makes it a fun party game when the relatives are round. The lastability is high. The game starts off with some easy courses but soon both the courses and the opponents become quite difficult to beat. Some of the later courses require you to memorize them so you know when you will hit the corners. Despite this though it never becomes frustrating as you seem to get a little further each time you play. The extra game modes also add a lot to the overall package. A great SMS game that deserves a place in your collection. It is one of my top five multiplayer games for the SMS and the best racing game for the system. You can always trust Codemasters to create good looking, polished games for the SMS. - www.smstributes.co.uk