Reader Reviews

Mashed (PS2)

by Pots

However advanced AI drivers have become, they still never act with the sheer 'making-it-up-as-I-go-along' instinct of human opponents. Never is this more apparent in top-down racing games, where you can only see the track 2 seconds in front of your car. Humans weave and swerve across the course as thumbs desperately attempt to follow orders from brains struggling to remember what comes next.

For this reason alone, top-down racers really don't work as single player games. Mashed is no exception. Computer cars rarely stray from their transparent tramlines, never deliberately slow down to use a weapon, and more annoyingly, seem to have an unfair speed advantage at times.

Playing through single player mode is unfortunately a necessary evil in Mashed, where only 1 track is open from the start for multiplayer wheeled warfare. There are 13 tracks to unlock, each set in diverse but rather basic landscapes. Some of the favourites are Nukov (a war-torn village, including a trusty old 'moving platform ferry' inciting Sumo-style pushing until it reaches the shore) and Tierra Piedre (a mining town with a 90-degree turn following a sharp incline and jump). All are designed with race-deciding flash-points in mind, with shortcuts, cliffs, jumps and open-sided hairpins all waiting to be misjudged.

All courses are accompanied by the hum of missile-wielding helicopters, the game's one true innovation, whereby early casualties of multiplayer races can each control a coloured crosshair, allowing them to remove the rival of their choice. There is a delicious element of chance in this though, as the time between lock-on and impact can sometimes lead to skilful snaking evasion, or cause the wrong car to be destroyed.

The weapons are rather standard fare, but the lock-on weapons use a clever green 'line-of-sight' tracer which turns red when locked-on, but can just as easily turn back to green if your intended target quickly evades. This can lead to misplaced missiles or wasted machine-gun fire, and adds an important element of skill to the free-for-all riot.

The cars are satisfyingly weighty when used as battering rams, and this is often the most effective way of despatching enemies as none of the weapons offer instant kills. The success of mines and missiles rely on the car being upturned, and cars landing on their wheels can continue unhindered. This is an oversight in my eyes, where perfectly well planned and executed attacks often have no effect.

Next to my personal favourite top-down racer, Micro Machines V3 (with its crucial 8-player carnage potential), Mashed stands up rather well. The camera issues (see Eurogamer's own review) hinder the game in certain places, and the lack of more devastating weapons means battles can stretch out a little too long. Desperately long loading times (on PS2 version at least) and the rather small number of tracks hold Mashed back even more. Hopefully Empire Interactive sell enough to iron out these flaws in a sequel. 8-player mode next time as well, please?