Motor Toon Grand Prix

by Sony

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00002SVWM
• Item Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,350 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Motor Toon Grand Prix, one of the most popular Japanese-exclusive Playstation exports, is finally here. This variation (actually based on the Japanese MTGP 2) is an excellent racing game, combining humor, combat, and competition to the delight of older gamers and youngsters alike. Although MTGP may not have the finesse of sharper, more realistic racers like Sega Rally and Ridge Racer Revolution, few will complain after checking out Motor Toon's gameplay.

The visuals are very stylish, reminiscent of a no frills, Roger Rabbit-style Toon Town. The tracks are quite impressive. On one course, the player can peer through the track as it loops through the sky, glimpsing opponents behind, ahead, or through the ground. Players shoot silly, cartoon weapons at their opponents, and cars bend with cartoonish flair as they swerve to the sides (this feature can be turned off). The theme music isn't particularly memorable, but it isn't annoying either.

Control is pinpoint sharp, a necessary quality for any quality racing game, and it's easy to pick it up. It's a little difficult to keep the gas button down and still maintain easy access to brakes and weapons, but it's manageable. A unique over-the-shoulder glance enables players to look behind them at the press of a button.

This game does have a few drawbacks: First, there's no two-player split-screen play. MTGP foregoes this feature in favor of linked-console, head-to-head play - worthless to those not in possession of two Playstations, two monitors, and two copies of the game. Also, the game is awfully easy. It's a snap to finish in first place on all six courses on normal level the first time through. However, difficulty is selectable, and the game is targeted at youngsters. These are minor problems in a great game with charming visuals, excellent control, and enjoyable gameplay. Motor Toon Grand Prix delivers for kids and kids-at-heart alike. --Hugh Sterbakov
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Motor Toon Is a Nice Game (& the Grand Turismo Predecessor), January 4, 2005

By 

Arthur Blenheim "arthurblenheim" (Boston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Motor Toon Grand Prix (Video Game)

Motor Toon Grand Prix (MTGP) is a good-looking game with cartoon characters in a fantasy world, similar to Mario Cart and Crash Team Racing, but this is only a one-player game without the link cable system. The Sony studio's very next game was the critically acclaimed and famed Grand Turismo (GT1), and it shows in MTGP. Sony owes GT1 to the great 3D graphics engine of MTGP. (Some people look at the TV and ask, "Is that a PS2 game?" This is one of those.) MTGP has high-resolution graphics, very little "pop-up", and a high frame rate.

MTGP has great level design, plays well, and has moments of laughter. One level is a Haunted Mansion, similar to Casper and Scooby Doo cartoons mixed with the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World/Land. Another level is a highway city at night under bright stars. Another is a larger-than-life Gulliver's Travels world where you drive over gigantic piano keys with the black keys as speed bumps, across humongous chessboards through towering chess pieces, over pool tables between pool balls, through large rooms. One room is for card games, another for betting games where you try driving across a roulette wheel while its spinning and between a pair of large red dice.

It's a creative fantasy world and the exotic settings and atmospheric art give the game a look that's worth paying the money for MTGP, particularly if there are children around. MTGP doesn't have the pressure and violence of some seriously extreme games, and so this MTGP fits in with other exuberant games like Ape Escape, Spyro the Dragon and Parappa the Rapper. Some days, I'm a casual gamer. Many games like Crash Team Racing and Mario Cart received top ratings in the magazines, (and these two sold really well back when first released,) but the mags and I thought MTGP was a "Sleeping Beauty".

One other recommendation: most PS1 games devised a system to open up levels after playing the game and winning the initial levels. For MTGP, I recommend forgetting that and going directly on-line to find the codes to unlocking this game because beating it takes away from the fun like a chore. I think the game begins with five levels open, and they are very good, but the codes will unlock them all, as well as many additional characters and options menus. When you use the codes, save the unlocked game to your memory card.