I would like to start this review out by
stating that I never got a chance to
play Motor Toon 1. Having said this
it becomes obvious that I can't
compare it to it's sequel which is
unfortunate, but from what I've seen
and heard, I didn't miss much. The
first thing that I'd like to mention
about this game is that it comes with
two CD's. This is so you can play
two players with the link up cable.
One disk holds the main game info,
and the other contains only the info
you need in the second PSX. A novel
idea that I hope continues in
forthcoming games. So on to the
game and what jumps out at you
when you turn on your
PSX....Graphics!
GRAPHICS
Color, color and even more
COLOR! I've seen a lot of games
that I thought took the PSX's palette
to the limit (ie. Rayman), but this
game throws as much color as the
PSX can at you and then moves it at
a comfortable 30 frames per sec.
Throw into the mix a good deal of
gouraud shaded and texture mapped
polygons, along with some amazing
light source shading, and you are
thrown into gamers' heaven. While it
doesn't move at the speed of
Wipeout or Ridge Racer Revolution,
you will still have to pause the game
everytime you play it to look at some
of the scenery that you missed last
time.
GAMEPLAY
After slamming into the sides for
awhile because you were looking at
the scenery, you find out that you
have to learn how to drive again, a
task that isn't easily picked up in
MTGP2. If you are looking for some
greasy slick handling like Ridge
Racer, forget it. The cars turn rather
sluggishly, a fact that will make itself
evident right away. Luckily you can
power slide in most of the cars, so
you will eventually pick up your
times, just be prepared to spend a
little time at the back of the pack
while you are learning. In addition to
just racing around the five tracks in
the game, you get to run over coins
on the road, and choose weapons to
fire at your opponents. Unfortunately,
you don't get to pick what weapons
you get as it is randomly choosen for
you. While some may gripe about
this, I think it lends to some on the fly
strategy like in Wipeout.
THE GAME
You get five cars and five tracks to
start the game with the ability to gain
more by winning the grand prix mode
on various difficulty settings. These
cars range the typical range that you'd
expect. An all-around car, a slow but
good handling car, a fast but poor
handling car, etc. While not much
thought was put into that, the cars
themselves are a sight. They all have
faces on the front of them, like a
cartoon (hmmmmm?), and when you
turn them around corners they bend
and twist like you'd expect a cartoon
to do. This lends a lot to the
atmosphere of the game. Also adding
to this atmosphere is the various
tracks. A villiage, a house, and a
haunted castle. They are all so well
done and so different from each other
that you don't quickly tire of racing
the different circuits.
SOUND
What can I say about the sound?
Other than some cute horn sounds
and the standard squeeling of tires,
there just isn't much to remember
about this game. Of course, I'm not
one to really judge these kind of
things, as I like to jam to my own
tunes while playing games. On the
whole, I'd say that the music is fairly
standard of a racer. Although,
everyone that I've shown the intro to
seems to like the theme song. You
won't run out to find the soundtrack,
but neither will your ears bleed
because of it.
GOODIES
As for the secrets, lovingly called
goodies in the game, I'm not sayin'!
What I will say is that you have to
beat the game on each of the 5
difficulty levels to get the 6 goodies.
That's right, they give you two for
beating it on its hardest difficulty. This
is how you access more cars, more
tracks, and a secret that moves at a
blistering 60 frames per sec. Wow!!
SUMMARY
To sum it up, I'd give this game a
must buy status. No, its not Ridge
Racer or Wipeout, but it is a highly
addictive racing game that is gonna
keep you coming back, and that is
probably its best quality.
SCORE: 9.0
