XBLA is a crapshoot sometimes. We get kick-ass games, terrible games, forgettable games and "meh" games. Some of them are updates to classic games and others are wholly original titles.

Mad Tracks is another in a growing list of Xbox Live original titles. It bills itself as "an action-packed toy-car racing game." And while it certainly is that, does it offer up enough to warrant your hard-earned Microsoft points? Yes, it does. Read on to find out why.

Mad Tracks is one of those games that make you love the Xbox Live Arcade. It's easy to realize that without the service, a small arcade-like game like this would never see the light of day. It might be wrapped up with some other games, or beefed up to justify a high retail price. But with the ability to charge 10 bucks and be done with it, we're able to get plain and simple arcade action.

The game plays like a combination of Micro Machines and ReVolt. It's actually quite simple really. You drive miniature cars around everyday tracks like poker and foosball tables. The racing is fast and frantic, 4 cars on a narrow kitchen table will do that to you. The controls are nice and simple so the technical side never gets in the way.

Of course like most racers out now, you have a bevy of Mario Kart-like weaponry at your disposal like rockets, oil slicks, high beams to blind opponents (especially fun), boost, etc. You also have the ability to store all those weapons and cycle through them during the race, which is much better than the standard "one-at-a-time" system most of these types of games seem to take.

Some levels are races while others have more specific objectives. For instance there's a level that takes place on a pool table where you have to knock your balls in before your opponent does. The unwieldy car as a pool cue is what makes it fun. You'll be K-turning like crazy to try and line your car up to get a good shot.

Other non-race levels have you engaging in a mess of other seemingly random things. Driving off a ramp to land on a bulls eye, playing miniature golf with your car, playing bumper cars on a dining room table, playing foosball (my favorite) and more. Some of these are much better than others, but they all add some much needed variety and keep the game from getting stale. Of course you'll still be throw into both races and time trials as well, it's not all novelty games here.

My only real complaint is in a section of the multiplayer games. It's a shame to have to bring this us because the multiplayer games some of the most fun I've had yet on XBLA. The foosball game in particular has been a blast with other people. But the set-up of these games nearly ruins the experience. One night Kevin invited me to play some Mad Tracks, so he sent me a game invite. He then chose the game and we were off and running. After the game we saw a status screen and that's it. No option to play again or anything. He had to press the Guide button and send me another invite. We had to go through this process for each game. Each time trying to figure out why there's no lobby or choice for rematch or anything. With the 2 of us it was merely annoying, but if 4 friends were trying to play together... I think they'd give up and go play something else. This reason is why the "Presentation" score seems low.

It's a shame because when you're in game, the multiplayer is a damn blast. It's a minor blemish on an otherwise fantastic addition to the XBLA library.

Comments (1)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment