Binary Mill brings “Super Off Road” to the mobile generation.
At the risk of dating myself, did anyone else out there absolutely love those Super Off Road arcade cabinets? The red, yellow, and blue motif, the three steering wheels, the in-your-face rivalry when playing against two buddies… ah, it warms the super cockles of my heart. Apparently the developers at Binary Mill also had their cockles warmed, because Mini Motor Racing takes the isometric racing genre of Super Off Road to an all-new level on the iPhone.
One of the first things about Mini Motor Racing that popped out at me are the graphics – they’re simply gorgeous. It looks and feels like you’re playing an XBLA or PSN game. Since every track has a nighttime mode, you get head lights and shadows on top of the usual skid
The nighttime tracks look fantastic.
marks and effects from rolling over various terrains. The action was buttery smooth, with my car tilting on two wheels as I flew around sharp turns, and cars flipping over and rolling as I fought for first place. Rather than actual cars, the game feels more like you’re playing with mini remote-controlled cars, like those seen in the recent remote-controlled Mario Kart toy packs.
Apart from extensive control customization, MMR also allows you to customize your vehicles in story mode. In addition to colors and stickers, you can also individually upgrade their vehicle’s tires, top speed, acceleration, and turbo depending on how you like to race. There are 4 different types of vehicles: Sports, hatchback, pick-up, and big rig. The sports car offers better drifting while the pick-up truck offers better acceleration, but these can be changed through adjusting the stats.
There are over 20 levels across 5 multi-race cups; MarioKart style. Each level has a night time counter part that creates a different camera view and a different race. Each race consists of one player racing against 7 other computers. During a race, you can pick up nitro boosts, as well as money to help with the aforementioned upgrading. We’re not sure if more powerups will make it into the game before launch.
Mini Motor Racing will launch with local wifi multiplayer for up to 4 players, but we weren’t able to check it out due to sucky wifi at the convention center. After playing the game by myself for 15 minutes, I was itching to smash Pat in a multiplayer match, so I’m looking forward to the release to test my skills on a human opponent or two. I’ll add more info and a release window when our contact at Binary Mill gets back to me with details!
