I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game (XBLIG) every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and are not well represented in the top 50 lists on the Xbox Dashboard. Today is day #353, and today’s game is “”.
Like a reincarnation of Super Cars 2 from the heyday of the Commodore Amiga, Urban Micro Racers revved onto the XBLIG scene earlier this year. I haven’t heard much from it since, which is a shame given it has a lot of variety (20 tracks and 20 playable cars), features rarely seen in arcade racers (the ability to take enough damage to earn a DNF), and pick-up-and-play controls paired with challenging gameplay. A great buy for 80 Microsoft Points.
First, from the developer (Josep Monzonis):
“Fun top-down racing game where you control little cars racing over exciting tracks. Race in 20 different tracks with 20 different cars to earn all the trophies. Start your engines and prepare for the craziest and most addictive racing game ever. Urban Micro Racers is the fastest, most fun top down racer with a lot of cars to collect, loads of levels to race. Are you ready?”
Here’s another video of the game, this one from a user, that gets across a key element of it: the fact that your car takes damage and that you must manage your damage level, lest you be disqualified.
Additional features in the game are nitro (though be warned, the game isn’t messing around with its collision calculations, so it’s challenging to use effectively). The game is simple enough to be accessible but with enough variety and challenge to be fun. 80 Microsoft Points well spent.
Writings of Mass Deduction 