Following their excellent 2018 virtual reality hit Gun Club VR, developer and publisher The Binary Mill are back a year later with an adapted version of their mobile racer, Mini Motor Racing X. This is more than just a straight port of the mobile game though, adding optional PSVR support, improving the visuals and more.
As soon as you start playing you will quickly get Micro Machines vibes with the isometric camera the game uses by default. If this isn’t to your liking though you have the option to switch to a more traditional behind the car camera. In total you have the option of six different views, with one isometric and the other five being various angles behind the car.
There are a wealth of tracks to race on here as well. Fifty-two stages in total, although there is a day and night option for each, so it’s really twenty-six unique venues. Still, this is way more than I expected and from the resort, docks, cliffs and desert all the way to the airport, they all look superb.
To get around all these cool tracks you will eventually gain access to a total of twenty-one cars. Racing cars, muscle cars, pickup trucks, cop cars and even a bus. There is a lot of variety here. Each car has slightly different handling, nitro, acceleration and top speed stats, but all can be upgraded with currency you gain in game.
Certain vehicles will have different ceilings on each of those stats, so the bus has a higher upgrade ceiling for handling than the cop car, but can’t compete in terms of upgrades for top speed. This adds some tactics to choosing which car you want to focus on with your hard earned in game dollars. Eleven of the twenty-one cars are locked at first, but you unlock them over time by completing certain career championships.
Speaking of the career, while no story is involved this mode is something that you will need to sink some time into in order to unlock all the cars. There is a beginner, standard, expert and master championship, each which has many races to compete in. I have completed both beginner and standard, but find myself struggling with expert. Perhaps once I grind more money for car upgrades it will become easier.
In both career and quick play you have the option of playing classic or type X modes. Classic is basic racing with only nitro boosts available to the racers. You start with six boosts that can be used at any time and throughout the race red nitro canisters that look like fire extinguishers can be picked up throughout the track that replenish one boost.
Type X mode gets a little more chaotic. You still start with nitro boosts, but you also have access to weapons. The suite is limited, but there is a missile that hits the person in front of you (a red shell), a spanner that bounces around until it hits someone (a green shell), a landmine you place behind you (a banana) and a tornado which runs for a certain amount of time which take out anyone in it’s path that is kind of unique.
The one defensive weapon is a shield which puts a green pod around your car for a short period of time protecting you from other drivers weapons. Bizarrely though I haven’t narrowed down exactly how you get these weapons. You do seem to get one at the start of every lap, but aside from that it appears linked to finding a nitro can on the track, although a weapon doesn’t necessarily appear right away upon landing that extra boost.
Another strange and rather annoying decision is to have both the boost and weapon button be X. This means if you have a nitro boost and a weapon, the weapon takes priority and you have to fire the weapon before you can initiate the boost. This seems like a strange oversight and perhaps there is a way to switch between the two, but I couldn’t find it.
Alongside quick race, time trial and career is the surprise inclusion of bumper ball. What is this you might ask? Well it’s Binary Mills version of Rocket League and it’s actually pretty cool. It can be played 1 on 1 or up to 4 on 4 with AI or other players. Unfortunately in Mini Motor Racing X the cars are grounded so it is a little more basic, but a super cool and fun addition nonetheless.
Now we come to my favourite part of the whole game. The VR mode. Unlike many games where the VR mode is a small, insignificant section of the game and feels tacked on, here instead we have the whole game just in virtual reality. The camera during races is locked to the isometric view, which is exactly what I would have chosen.
When playing in VR it feels like you are looking at a table top racing game. It’s like some incredible Scalextric has come to life right before your eyes.As with The Binary Mill’s last VR game Gun Club, the graphics are crisp and beautiful. If you own Sony’s PSVR headset this is absolutely the best way to experience the game. You can even play bumper ball while watching from the crowd.
I wasn’t able to test the online as the game is only releasing to the public today but once I have had a chance to try it out I will report back if there is anything note worthy. One niggle I did find when playing local multiplayer was that you can’t exit a game until both players have finished the race.
Trophies are varied but it is a challenging list. Completing the master championship is going to be a considerable roadblock for even racing enthusiasts while fully upgrading every car and having $100,000 cash resting in your bank will take some serious time. The experience is good enough that the journey towards these trophies will be fun though.
Overall Mini Motor Racing X is an absolute blast to play! The graphics and art style are beautiful, none more so than when you play in VR. There are cars and tracks galore, complete with a fun football (soccer) mode that was a nice surprise inclusion. This is so much more than just a mobile port. The Binary Mill have delivered another quality product and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
-John
A review code was provided by the publisher. Reviewed on a base PS4.
