I remember when I was a young boy. At this age, that is a distinct achievement but back then we didn’t have computer games to keep us occupied. At the centre of every boys collection was the toy car. Usually made by Matchbox, Hot Wheels or Corgi, these stalwarts of an 80’s childhood are still popular, even today. In 1986, however, the toy car market was rocked by the introduction of Micro Machines, toy cars so small that they were about the size of a pencil sharpener. This turned toy car collecting in to a hobby you could keep in your pocket and so popular was the Micro Machines phenomenon that a computer game was bound to follow. Sure enough, in 1991, Codemasters released the first Micro Machines game as a top down racer. It sold well enough to spawn three sequels and two spin offs, although the last of these games was in 2007.

This has paved the way for the team at Playrise Digital to release their take on the mini-combat-racer genre with Table Top Racing: World Tour (TTR:WT). At the time of writing, this game is available for free to anyone who has a Playstation Plus account and with a 15% discount on Steam. In fact, there aren’t many platforms this game isn’t on. It has even made its way on to most tablets.

On first playing, you might be surprised at why anyone would like this game. The cars seem slow and difficult to handle and the pickups not particularly visually attractive or even enticing, being blue question marks sitting in little bubbles. There is no handbrake turning, there is no jump, although you can fit tyres to help you drift. Like a real car, however, what’s really important is what’s under the hood. As you progress through the levels you can purchase upgrades for your vehicle. They’re not expensive and with the amount of times you play to get 1st position in all of the tracks, most things will be easily available to you fairly quickly. Upgrading your car is only part of the fun, however. The skills you need to start achieving in this game are much the same as you would in a traditional racer. You have to know what your best lines are if you want to make the best times. Usually, this isn’t as important in combat-racers like this, the pickups and attacks being a larger part of the action. Here the pickups could easily be an afterthought to what is a fairly good racing game that doesn’t bother with the hard numbers, like a proper simulator would.

That said, the pickups are still fun. There are several available from rockets to targeted rockets. There is the ever popular oil slick, the bomb and a really nice frost ray that turns your opponents in to blocks of ice. To that end, however, none of these items are particularly special, although the ice was my favourite as it could take out more than one player at a time.

The AI in the game works well with the surroundings. There were times, when I was in the pack, I really felt like I was racing hard against another player, and the cars will try to push you in to obstacles, or off the edge of tables, in order to get past you. The largest selling point for this game is, however, the multiplayer. Gamers can set up tracks the way they want and include the specific options they want in the game before others are invited in (joining through the simple multiplayer menu). You can see exactly how many people are already waiting to start a match, so finding people to play with is pretty straight forward. Once in, you’ll be able to compete with people of different skill levels, really helping you to up your game. Don’t have a car of the right class? Don’t worry because one will be provided for you.

Multiplayer is actually really fun and it makes the game a little more dynamic. This is where I learned about some of the shortcuts and some good tactics for knocking other players off the table or in to obstacles. It really does add something to the game although one of the ‘hosts’ of a game seemed to be suffering from lag, which made playing difficult for everyone.

Of course, the big thing about this game is the setting. There aren’t many locations yet (a total of five) but these are broken down in to 20 tracks, each with challenging jumps, passageways and shortcuts for you to find. One of these locations is a Yo! Sushi restaurant and I must admit to having a few pangs of excitement as we rushed around the semi-familiar setting. It’s actually a really nice touch from something that could otherwise have been a bit of a corporate grab and something missing from the Micro Machines games that I played. Let’s not fool ourselves, the biggest sell for this game is that the cars are very small in a big and familiar world. The Yo! Sushi location really cements this in to your consciousness. I do wonder how international audiences would take to this, however, as the company is a distinctly British one. Generally, you won’t be disappointed with the locations here and it is clear that a lot of thought has gone in to them.

Of course, this leads us in to talking about the graphics. I rather liked them even though they are a little bit plastic in their look and some of the animation could be a little smoother. What they have done, however, is really fill the environment with well created elements that are reminiscent of an attic with toys in, a yacht, a junk yard or a garage. What can I say, it works.

I really liked this game and it is one that I think I will return to from time to time. It’s an easy game to pick up and put down, something simple to give you a break from the vast fantasy lands or sprawling battle arenas of other titles. You find the fun with TTR:WT because it’s a good racer without being a simulator. As such, it’s much more accessible than something like Gran Turismo but without the quirkiness of Mario Cart. A micro-combat-racer for a more discerning gamer. This won’t give you the pangs of excitement that the old Micro Machines might have done or the true to life racing experience from F1 Simulator, but it can get your adrenaline pumping. I’d really recommend getting the game and giving it a go. Even at its full RRP, it’s not that expensive and will give you hours of enjoyment. Overall, the game is well worth three and a half corgi miniatures out of five.

Table Top Racing: World Tour is available Now!

On STEAM and Playstation4 (Coming soon to XBox One!)