We’re getting misty-eyed with reading about Tinker Racers; bundling round a mate’s house, Megadrive pads plugged into the top of the Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament cartridge. It was one of the first battle royales, with players hurling their pads in frustration as they got left behind by the winning pack. What a game.
Rumbora Party Games and QUByte Interactive are clearly big fans. They’ve even stuck it in the end of their press notes: “This game is a tribute from two Codemasters Micro Machines fans. Thank you for the inspiration!”. Tinker Racers is absolutely a tribute to that classic franchise, from the 4-player local co-op to the top-down viewpoint, to the ‘Honey I Shrunk My RC Cars’ theming, with players racing around messy bedrooms and cluttered tabletops.
Tinker Racers is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. It’s been available on PC via Steam for a while.
It will have a couple of big questions to answer. Can it capture the anarchic fun of Micro Machines? That’s the big one, as Codemasters themselves didn’t even manage it, not quite, with their recent Micro Machines World Series. The emphasis on local co-op play is a big positive, and it certainly looks to play similarly in the various trailers.
The other question is whether it’s offering enough that’s new. There are increased expectations of a racer, too, in terms of features and handling. Tinker Racers seem to have an idea that sounds interesting: there’s a damage system, so you can’t just keep dinking opponents off snooker tables. We’ll know more about the features and handling when we get our mitts on it and supply you with a review.
If you’ve not played a Micro Machines racer before, you can expect a kind of ‘survival racer’, where the aim isn’t necessarily crossing the finish line first: it’s about being so far ahead that the cars at the back fall off the screen. Be the last car driving, and the points are yours. Gain enough points, and you win. There are free-for-all races here, single races and – most interestingly – a full-blown campaign, so it all looks fully featured.
Tinker Racers is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and starts at £4.19 from the Xbox Store. It’s also out on PS4, PS5, Switch and PC.
Game Description:
Tinker Racers is not about reaching the finishing line at all. In this Survival Racing Party Game, the challenge is to stay in sight on chaotic miniature tracks. You want to be leading the race to be the camera target. Especially because everyone that leaves the camera dies! Race with mini RC cars on tracks that your parents never allowed you to set at home.