Mini Motor Racing EVO Review

Mini Motor Racing EVO released with quite a bang on Steam, citing Steam Workshop compatibility and exclusive tracks featuring scenes from both Portal and Team Fortress 2. The only thing that could have sold this more to me would have been a free hat in TF2, but alas - it wasn't to be.

Mini Motor Racing EVO is a semi-top down racer, in which you take your almost RC like car and tear around some tracks collecting Nitro and cash rewards with an aim to smash your opponents' lap times into oblivion. Not too far from the racing norm, the game also includes upgrade mechanics, in which you can plunder your cash into various upgrades, such as handling and overall speed.

Unless you throw your car into a corner with any amount of gusto, the cars tend to ebb on the side of 'too controllable' which does throw the challenge of the game off somewhat. Even after upgrading your car, it can still be kept in line without too much hassle. At times, this made gameplay somewhat dull and uninspiring.

The graphics are bright and fun, especially on the Halfbrick Studios' Fruit Ninja track. They certainly fit the bill and overall the game has a pleasing aesthetic.

When using a gamepad the control scheme is by default set up to have a "point to go in this direction" style, rather than what I was originally expecting whereby it would control like a remote control car (left & right to turn, controls reversed when you're heading down the screen). The Binary Mill must have seen this one coming, as they've included a control method in the options to allow for exactly that style of driving though. Once this was setup, I found the game to be more enjoyable.

The multiplayer aspects of the game seemed a little lacklustre in comparison to the career as there were no rewards from playing it other than being able to say you won. You can choose your car and the track, a level of upgrades to use and the number of laps, and then head out and race. In a couple of races with a friend, there were times where the action on screen didn't match up between us. I'd bash into their car in an attempt to overtake and go spiralling out of control, whereas they didn't see the collision. How and if this affects the outcome of the race was something we couldn't work out, however.

The games shining point is the inclusion of a track editor, linked up through Steam Workshop. This gives gamers the ability to have a never ending supply of new courses to race on, regardless of whether they themselves have any creative ability. Editing a track did seem a bit limited, in that there didn't seem to be a way to create hills/banks and the items you can place on and around the track don't have any clipping with the car. Place an articulated lorry in the middle of your track and you can drive straight through it, which is a shame, as this could have lead to some amazing creativity for course obstacles rather than having to use the outlining wall.

I'd also managed to create a section of track that was too thin to get the car through and some interesting walls that looped back through themselves.

From this, I'd love to see this game supported with further updates from The Binary Mill and it looks like we may well see some - when I loaded the track editor with the game controller it told me that support for the controller in the editor wasn't available... yet...

If we see some updates to the game - especially surrounding multiplayer and the editor this review may well need a do-over. If The Binary Mill leave Mini Motor Racing EVO as it is, I can't say it's quite on par with its £6.99 price point and would be best picked up during a sale.