Super Toy Cars

Since last January 5, we have available in the PlayStation Store a title that already debuted on PC and Wii U and that now arrives in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One stores to try your luck. This is ‘Super Toy Cars’, a arcade racing game that follows in the footsteps of so many imitators of the great Mario Kart, proposing crazy races with weapons and power-ups and betting on a toy car aesthetic. Will he be just another of the crowd or will he have something worthwhile? Let’s see it.

The Spaniards of Eclipse Games They are the studio in charge of the development of this title. The philosophy they preach on their website is “making fun games so that people enjoy playing”, and that is something they capture in this work because ‘Super Car Toys’ is, above all, a fun and enjoyable game.

Eclipse Game has taste for classic games, and that probably led them to try to make a car game with a formula that many others have copied with more or less success. The premise is very simple, choose a car, go out on the track and try to get there first using all our skills, which are not limited to running more or drawing curves better.

The chosen aesthetics have been toys and it is very reminiscent of the legendary Micromachines, who has not played as a child – and not so child – with miniature cars in imaginary races on a table using cupcakes as an obstacle? It is precisely where this game is framed, varied toy cars in giant rooms full of food, tools, jelly beans or other larger toys.

Said this way, it seems clear that the public to whom it is directed is childish, also taking into account that the title is not complicated at all when it comes to getting started, with very simple menus so that we can take control immediately. We do not deny it, Super Toy Cars is a game for children, something that the PlayStation 4 is not very good at, but anyone, regardless of age, can enjoy it.

Game modes

There are only two And at the outset we say that the game is somewhat short on content. On the one hand we have the Fast race, in which we can choose car, circuit and difficulty. We have all the cars and tracks to choose from without having to unlock them in the race, a total of 16 different cars – from racing cars to 4x4s or classics like the beetle – and 15 tracks in 5 different scenarios, in which we can choose 5 types racing: Classic race against 8 players, time trial challenge, classic time trial, elimination and evasion. Without a doubt the strong point of this mode is the possibility of racing with 4 players simultaneously on split screen, which as we will see later is the great attraction of the title.

He career mode offers us a series of entry events – a total of 48 – in which to compete to earn reputation and coins with which we will unlock new tests and buy more expensive cars or improve the current ones, something that gives it a certain depth and allows us to Let’s opt for different types of vehicles for each event, as there are small differences in control. Once again we will find the same 5 types of race, of which we highlight evasion, a race on a track full of mines in which you try to advance very carefully so as not to end up in the ditch and where laughter is guaranteed.

Incomprehensibly the console versions have suffered important cuts in modes compared to the compatible version. On the one hand, the game on PC allowed online races with 8 players that have not arrived here. Furthermore, the option to edit the circuits has not been implemented, something that gave a lot of life to the game because it allowed them to be shared with friends and alleviated the small number of tracks available. We imagine that the lack of resources will have led the studio to make this decision to cut these two modes, and it is a shame because the lack of variety hinders the final experience.

Gameplay

The simplicity The proposal also extends to control. We have the triggers to accelerate and brake, a drift button and another to throw items.

The cars are toy cars and this is noticeable in the control, they are light and on many occasions they will go off the track or have a hard time maintaining verticality, taking into account that during the races the last thing we will think about is driving cleanly. . We will have a turbo bar that will fill up keeping the car in the air or skidding, we can choose whether we do it by holding down a button or turning the steering wheel.

Although the physical are poor and many times we will find exaggerated 90º turns when trying to skid in an open curve that will make us lose time, the game manages to get you hooked because it offers frenetic races with controls that are quickly grasped, where the AI ​​controlled by the machine does not hold back. push us, take us off the track or ruin a perfect lap by throwing a missile or a huge billiard ball at us.

Fun is one of the plus points from Super Toy Cars, and it is because even playing alone we will have a good time, the machine will make things difficult for us and the feeling of competitiveness is there thanks to a worked AI. Other games have tried replay those epic races that few like Mario Kart are capable of offering and the truth is that the guys from Eclipse have come very close to matching it, ignoring, logically, all the technical deficiencies that the game has compared to that of Nintendo.

Plus the game has some interesting ideas. In addition to the evasion mode that we have already mentioned, we found it interesting that when we stick an item to the ground (oil stain or platform that lifts the opponent into the air) a small camera appears in a corner for a few seconds to capture the moment in which that a rival runs into our trap or avoids it.

Another point to highlight are the cameras, although there is no internal one, the game offers a curious overhead view that is very reminiscent of other classics and that gives it a retro air that suits it wonderfully, in addition to providing a freshness and variety that makes it seem like a new game.

And of course races for 2, 3 or 4 players are the bombthere are few games that offer so much fun with offline multiplayer on PS4, and it is almost a sin to have the game and not share it with friends, the fun is multiplied.

Technical section

Super Toy Cars is a game discreet technically and it is very far from taking advantage of the power of PS4, taking into account that today we can find games that look much better in online smartphone stores.

The aesthetics, as you can see in the images that accompany the analysis, are quite simple, the cars have a certain level of detail, the scenarios have some dynamic elements that serve as obstacles (such as marbles that we will have to avoid) but their detail is low. , and the background of the screen is too blurred, plus a game like this would have appreciated a somewhat more colorful aesthetic, clearer lighting to give it a more childish touch because sometimes it is even gloomy.

The game also has certain framerate drops, a sign that it could be more polished. We have also sometimes collided with invisible obstacles on the edges of the track that have ruined a lap. Neither the framerate nor these obstacles are common or ruin the final experience, but when they appear they are annoying.

Nor is it very well understood music chosen, one might think that if the game is aimed at children, it should opt for less rock music. Furthermore, there are few themes and it quickly becomes repetitive. Worse are the sound effects, which except for a correct noise from the engines are missing when navigating through the menus, drifting or reaching the finish line.

Conclusions

Super Toy Cars is a game of contrasts. At first glance it does not catch the eye, visually it seems from several past generations and its content seems short. If the online and the circuit editor had been implemented and the visual section had been worked more, the feeling would have been very different.

But the truth is that the game is fun like no other, the little ones in the house will like it, and also those who want to enjoy games with other players on the same console. A server thinks that Graphics are of little use if the game is not fun and that this should be the main objective that any developer should seek. Eclipse Games is very clear about this and this game proves it.

The game is available on the PlayStation Store for 9.99 euros and its weight is 672 MB.