“Magic Racing GP 2” is kind of what I expected to get with “Little Racers STREET”, an online-enabled (for up to 16 players in this case) top-down racing game. As much as I loved LSR (and I’d still encourage everyone to also add it to their collections), there are things I prefer about “Magic Racing GP 2” such as tremendous depth and options such as four classes of cars, the ability to modify the speed the race occurs at (ever played a racing game where everything was too fast and twitchy, or too slow?), the option to turn off collision detection between cars (so everyone can drive optimal race-lines), unbelievable car customisation (right down to “Kinetic Energy Recovery System” which I’d never even heard of before), and so much more.
It’s a crazy level of realism for something that looks like a glorified version of an early ’80s Intellivision title. What title is that, you might ask? Well, “Auto Racing” of course. Here’s a clip.
While not shown, that game was also multiplayer (two players locally on the same Intellivision). While the graphical quality, not to mention the number of cars on screen, is unquestionably better in “Magic Racing GP 2”, it nonetheless turned my nostalgia meter up to 11. (Side note: I remember being so amazed with “Auto Racing”‘s graphics in the early ’80s, utterly blown away by the idea that your car would stay in place and the *whole screen* would move around it, I had never seen anything like that before… certainly not with that degree of graphical fidelity at least.)
“Magic Racing GP 2” forces you to respect physics and drive realistically, so don’t treat this like “Super Sprint” on steroids. It’s unbelievable that for 80 Microsoft Points it actually has courses modeled on real world courses, three go-kart klasses for those not into open-wheeled (Formula 1 and Indy Car) racing, and ghost car challenges for solo play that are challenging and enjoyable. If you’re more a Burnout racing fan then the realistic handling might put you off (and the small size of the cars makes that, at times, a bit unforgiving), but there’s so much here and it costs so little I’d still strongly recommend at least a trial to all racing fans.
Here’s what the developer (Magic73) has to say about the game:
“Magic Studio presents: A new Top-Down racing game is here! 4 classes: Open Wheel, Kart (85cc, 150cc, 250cc) Race over 34 circuits with different game modes: – Practice – Quick Race – Complete Weekend Race – Season Race against to 19 CPU drivers or play Online. The internal editor for full personalization of drivers and teams! Join the community and get more info at: http://www.magicstudio.eu”
Writings of Mass Deduction 