Giveaway of the Day - Tiny Cars 2

Introduction and Installation:

Today’s game originally received 89% of 166 votes when it was first given away back in Feb 2007. You can read the comments from then HERE, then again in January 2008, HERE. The comments from the third time were more an argument about whether to write or not to write negative comments so I’ve not bothered posting the link.

The initial download is 10.2Mb expanding to 19.1Mb; hardly enough to fill a hard disk. The game installs to C:\Program Files\Realore\Tiny Cars 2 by default, but, as with most games you can change the install path to whatever you wish during the installation wizard. Shortcuts are installed to the desktop and the Start menu programs list. You’ll also find an uninstaller in the start menu.

Lockett wrote a very good negative review of the game in January 2008 that slated the game because of its game play. You can find it somewhere in the game discussion thread and will be in the posted from over a year ago.

Here’s what the developer had to say about the game:

The old amusing arcade racing game is back! All fans’ requests came into play in more bonuses, the multiplayer mode, and advanced cars. What is really important is that the game became more interesting and adventurous! Explore new realities of competing against your friends and relatives! Be the first bombing your competitors! Take advantage of new spirited tracks! Dump the oil to put your competitors out of action! Have real double fun!

Reference accessed HERE on the 14th Nov 09

The Game:

I’d actually say it’s not that bad a game despite my initial feelings. I found it very hard to control the cars that you had available initially at least; However it’s one of those games that once you’ve had a little practice the controls become easier and therefore the game improves as well. You just need to spend some time practicing first. Once that’s accomplished the game is actually quite good and fun to play. Okay it’s not Fuel, Grid, Burnout or the latest Need for Speed game, but as an arcade racer its actually quite good with a good selection of cars and race tracks to choose from. The only thing I didn’t like was the music, but that can be turned off.

The options Menu allows you to adjust the sound effects and music and you can customize the controls which are keyboard only in game. You can also use the mouse to select menu options. According to the help menu you can also use a joystick in game.

The default movement keys are the arrow keys and to select bonuses that you have picked up use the enter or space keys. You can also select either full screen or windowed mode.

There are four bonuses to collect in game, but you can only carry one at a time. Once you’ve selected a particular bonus you can upgrade it twice by collecting the same colored bonus, this either gives you more missiles or increases the length that the other bonuses are active. The bonuses are quite plentiful, and once picked up regenerate after several seconds. To select a new bonus you have to discharge whatever bonus you are carrying. Single bonus effects last for 4 or 5 seconds and increase accordingly each time you add an upgrade. Only two upgrades are allowed.

Green………..Speed
Yellow……….Oil
Blue………….Shield
Red…………..Missile

There are three modes of play, Single Race, Championship and Multiplayer.

In single race mode there are initially 3 car and five race tracks to choose from. The single race mode is a timed mode. To win you have to complete the race within a specified time; (which I’ve not figured out yet). As you complete more races and earn points more cars and races are unlocked. In championship mode there are six categories. You start at novice level. To unlock new championships you need to have earned a certain number of points:

Championship Cups

Novice – 5 tracks 15 points
Advanced – 6 tracks, 20 points
Bronze – 7 tracks – 25 points
Silver – 8 tracks, 30 points
Gold – 9 tracks, 35 points
Platinum – 10 tracks – 40 points

Scoring:

1st position —–4 points
2nd position—–3 points
3rd position——2 points
4th position——1 point

To progress in championship mode you have to earn points. Once the necessary points have been earned the next championship cup is unlocked which means more tracks to race in.

There are 9 cars; 6 of which need to be unlocked before you can use them. Each car has a different name and characteristics, which you can see via the car selection screen. These include acceleration, weight, breaking and handling. You’ll find that one car is suitable for certain types of race. Part of the fun of this game, apart from unlocking new content and winning races is being able to find which cars race better on which tracks (well for me at least, lol). You can also select from four different colors, red, blue, green and yellow.

When I checked the multiplayer option, there were no servers available. I installed the game on my Vista laptop to check to see if I was able to set up a game using one on my computers as a server, but it didn’t work, so I really don’t see the point in having the option. I tried using three different computers and the game wouldn’t show in the lobby. If anyone works out how to get this to work online please post what you do here.

You can set up your profile from the single race option and choose from either normal or hard difficulty. (I’ve not worked out the differences between each level yet) Once this is done you can choose whatever cars are available and then select its color. Only 3 cars are available at the start of the game and although there are nine different cars (which I found in the games installed folder) only five cars show up in the selection screen Each car has a name such as Lassie or Froggie, Choose your car according to its attributes which I’ve already discussed above. Once this is done you can choose initially from four different races:

Race tracks:

• Hawaiian Breeze

• Sleeping Castle

• Spring Rush

• Forestland

• Country road

• Indian Summer

• Evening Canyon

• Winter fairy tale

• Mountain Gorge

• Desert drive

While in game you can pause it by using the Esc key. This brings up an in game menu that allows you to either re enter the race you paused or abort the game. Doing this will take you back to the main menu.

Images:

You can see all the screen captures I took on one page HERE or as a slide show HERE. Finally, HERE are some images I Googled.

Conclusion:

Despite initial misgivings I really like this game. It only takes a few practice rounds to get used to the control options. For those with joy sticks it may play even better due to the force feedback you usually get (what I mean by that is; using keybord controls when turning a corner its all or nothing with the keys, whereas using a joy stick you can emulate turning a steering wheel, so going around corners is much easier – {unfortunately the two joysticks I have (Simon you forgot to take one of the Joysticks when you visited in August) have the old 15 pin plugs and don’t fit into any sockets on my computers}.

There are enough options and un-lockable content to keep me wanting to play for quite some time, so I think this arcade racer is worth at least a 7 out of 10 despite Lockett’s damning review which you can find in the game discussion forums (somewhere).

Thank you Realore for giving yet more games away and to the giveaway team for finding them.

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Alternatives:

Here’s several related games that you can download from Gametop. Please be aware that during installation you may need to uncheck tick boxes otherwise you’ll find new toolbars in your browser and also it’ll be opening up to Gametops page. Both are easily remedied if you do happen to miss the check boxes in your enthusiasm for getting the games installed. But it’s also even easier to avoid the problem altogether and make sure all tick boxes are unchecked. The first few are very similar to today’s game in that they are top top racers. Just click on the name of the game to go to the download page.

• Mad Race

• Mad Truckers

• Real Racing

• KGB Hunter

• Street Racer

The following games are all third person:

• City Racing

• Extreme Racers

• Nitro Racers

• ATV Quadro Racing

• Motoracing

Other vehicle games:

• Monster Truck Challenge

• Star Racing

You’ll also find several more car related games over at FreeGamePick HERE and loads of freeware games , online racers such as Trakmania Nations and Darkwind and abandone ware titles in the Wheeled games thread and the free games synopsis over in the forums HERE and HERE

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Is there any way to get this game to run on Windows 7? I’ve tried Running As Administrator and changing Compatibility in Properties.