FIRST LOOK: CODEMASTERS'
MICRO MANIACS

Combat racing with a twist. Building on the success UK-based Codemasters had with their top-down racer Micro Machines, they've dropped the machine part to give us a frenzy of tiny humans determined to reach first place, or else.

Supporting up to 8 players at once with no split screen or link cable, Micro Maniacs may redefine the party-game category. For those of us who prefer to race alone, the 32 tracks and 12 characters almost guarantee replay value. Much like Micro Machines, Maniacs features racing environments from real life, blown up to ridiculous proportion due to the characters' size-challenged state. It's 'Honey I Shrunk The Kids' with more horsepower.

You can count on plenty of wacky attacks and silly antics here, but the racing crowd will be happy. And, with Codemasters' knack for presentation and quality, Micro Maniacs is likely to be packing some serious heat when it hits store shelves in the US this Summer.