In 2018, gaming culture is massive, with games becoming increasingly interactive, engaging and realistic. But looking back on previous releases, there have been some phenomenal video games that were a huge part of our childhoods.
When it comes to game genre, many of us opted for racing and car-related designs. Fun, fast and absorbing, there are lots of titles that will bring back fond memories if you heard them again.
Here, we’re going to look at some of our favourite car video games — and discover what made them so popular.
Need for Speed
Need for Speed was all about illegal street racing and was highly addictive to play. Basically, players needed to evade — or out-drive — the law while completing multiple tasks and races. Creator, EA (Electronic Arts), has also produced lots of other hugely popular video games — including FIFA, The Sims and Medal of Honour.
When you turned on Need For Speed, you got a taste of living life on the edge, albeit in a car. Crashing through buildings and billboards were all part of the experience, and players also had the ability to tune cars, change alloys and swap engines and gear boxes for better power outputs.
Amazingly, NFS is the most successful racing game franchise ever! It’s sold over 150 million copies and has 23 main instalments of the game. In fact, it’s so well established, that there was even a film based on it starring Aaron Paul, released in 2014. You can also play this game on PlayStation, PC and Xbox.
Super Mario Kart
Overall, Super Mario Kart has sold about nine million copies — a massive achievement for a video game released in 1992.
What was it all about? Super Mario Kart revolved around speed and mayhem. It was just as much about getting rid of your fellow racers with crazy objects as it was navigating the course. To play, you’d take part in a manic go-kart race around multiple crazy tracks, winning special powers and launching bananas to knock opponents off course! The players you used in Super Mario Kart included: Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., and Koopa Troopa.
Driver
Almost a predecessor to massive gaming franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Driver was many people’s game-of-choice when it was released in the later 1990s. Not only were there action-packed missions and high-speed racing, but this was also one of the first games to allow an ‘open world’ environment — meaning that players could explore the virtual world at their own pace before taking on another task.
Winner of Game Critics Award’s Best Racing Game accolade in 1999, Driver managed to fuse independent play with perfectly crafted missions flawlessly.
Micro Machines
This game centred around an ingenious idea to take the ordinary and make it captivating. Playing Micro Machines, you had control of a range of tiny vehicles, which you raced around bizarre yet ordinary tracks — such as on top of kitchen tables and in gardens.
Micro Machines was available on several platforms, with releases coming out around every four years from 1991 to 2017. The ‘shrinking down’ of the player combined with the manic racing style and household-themed obstacles meant you had hours of fun with the Micro Machine video game.
Crash Team Racing
Everyone remembers Crash Bandicoot. Reported to be the eighth best-selling Playstation game of all time, Naughty Dog’s famous release was played by kids and adults all over the world.
However, with Crash Team Racing, you got the madness of the Crash Bandicoot characters with the speed of car racing. Choosing from well-known characters, players of Crash Team Racing took on other drivers on various bizarre tracks. What we love about this destructive kart-racing game is how you can not only steer, reverse and brake; but also hop over obstacles, crash through crates, use weapons to get ahead, and boost your speed with a power-up option!
This article was created by Lookers, a motor retailer, following an employee survey.
