Mini Motor Racing Review

Top down arcade racers have been a staple of gaming for the last twenty years.  After a brief lull due to lack of interest, the growth of mobile gaming has led to a resurgence in the genre.  Mini Motor Racing is looking to cash in on that trend, while delivering solid gameplay to boot.  Does it race a perfect lap, or get stuck spinning its wheels?

From the moment that the light turns green one thing will stand out above everything else: amazing visuals.  The art style featured in Mini Motor Racing looks almost as if a Pixar cartoon has come to life on iOS.  It's easy to marvel at how everything seems so fantastical that it almost jumps off the screen while still seeming grounded enough in reality to be believable.

The core game mechanics are less about a battle between the different cars on the track as they are about combat between players and the game's physics engine.  Successfully navigating the track comes down to being able to work within the constraints of the environment in order to drift, slide and boost to the front of the pack.  Helping to aid that progression are upgrades to the vehicle that are unlocked throughout the progression of the rather massive campaign.

Each car's controls vary slightly in terms of responsiveness.  Again, this is a side effect of the legacy that other games in this genre have already established.  The more successful a player becomes,  the more they can tweak their vehicle to maintain the proper balance of steering and speed.  At first the looseness of the controls can take a bit of getting used to, but over time it will become as second nature as breathing.

Mini Motor Racing takes a proven genre and improves upon it by providing its own additional artistic touch.  The result is a very gratifying racing experience that will keep players coming back for lap after lap.  Everyone start your engines!

[gallery]