Motortoon is a racing game with all the cars, tracks and game mechanics
rendered in cute cartoon style. It is not a realistic driving game, by any
standards. The only major feature not common in other racing games is that two
player races use a spilt screen instead of needing two machines and a link
cable.
1.2 Driving mechanics
The cars in Motortoon are relatively easy to drive. They have gears, but there
is no manual shift option. There is even a 'drift' button to automatically
slide around corners.
1.2 Race mechanics
There are four race modes in Motortoon:
1.2.1 Grand Prix
One player. Three laps versus fifteen computer cars on one of three tracks.
1.2.2 Time Trial
One player. Two laps against the clock on any grand prix or match race track,
or one run of any dual race track.
1.2.3 Match race
Two Players. 1,3,5,10 or 20 laps on one of five tracks.
1.2.4 Dual race
Two Players. 1,3,5,10 or 20 runs on one of five tracks. Unlike Grand Prix or
Match Race, the Dual tracks are linear and the players race seperately, each
player on a mirror image of the other track.
1.3 Controls
Select the config option from the player select menu to see a control diagram
in English.
The five cars available to drive all behave very differently, much more so
than conventional racing games such as Ridge Racer or Wipeout. This adds a
lot of depth to the game, as you have each of the cars to master driving
aswell as each track.
2.1 Captain Rock
Top speed : 311kph (off road 137kph)
Acceleration : Average (0 - 311kph in 9s)
Handling : Average
Fast, but not easy to drive. The best car for experianced drivers.
2.2 Princess Jean
Top speed : 301kph (off road 121kph)
Acceleration : Average (0 - 301kph in 10s)
Handling : Good
Better than Rock when cornering, but not as fast on the straights.
2.3 Bolbox
Top speed : 280kph (off road 138kph)
Acceleration : Excellent (0 - 280kph in 2s)
Handling : Good
A good choice for novices.
2.4 Raptor & Raptor
Top speed : 261kph (off road 232kph)
Acceleration : Awesome (0 - 261kph in under 1s!)
Handling : Excellent
The acceleration and handling make Raptor the easiest car to drive, but the
slow top speed makes it the slowest car overall.
2.5 The Penguin Brothers
Top speed : 321kph (off road 68kph)
Acceleration : Dire (0 - 321kph in 30s)
Handling : Poor
Experts only. Capable of the fastest times, but you have to drive flawlessly.
It takes a good driver to get the Penguin car up to top speed anywhere.
The easiest course, with plenty of gentle bends for novices to practice
on.
Laughing Wood Chicane - A gentle chicane. Practice drifting here.
Prince of Toon - If you're bored, drive off the course in the direction the
blimp is pointing for a view of some local wildlife, complete with sound
effects :-)
You can drive on the right hand kerb on the next bend without slowing
down.
Jumping Spot - If you hit the jump at full speed, you'll land quite close to
the next bend, so pull left as you land to get around the corner.
Dori Dori Corner - This is the tightest corner on the course, with an uphill
section immediately following. This makes it a great place to loose a lot
of time.
Sea Side Fall Chicane - Another chicane, not as tight, but with walls either
side, so there's no room for error.
Baloon Sky Line - There is a narrow road leading up the slope on the right
hand side immediately after you exit the tunnel, that you can drive on.
3.2 Plastic Lake
More difficult than Toon Island, particularly in the Jumping Maze and
Dimension Hall. Negotiating these sections successfully is one of the tougher
challenges in Motortoon.
Jumping Maze - The best way to negotiate this section is to keep low,
avoiding the hills where possible. You can jump the pit near the end
safely if you're going fast enough.
G-Snake - Lots of tight curves. Slow down and use drift to get through.
G-Scramble - The left and right paths are identical.
Dimension Hall - It's virtually a blind jump, so experiment to find the best
launch point. Avoid the pillars and try to aim for the outside of the
bend, as the fastest route through is on that side.
3.3 Guliver House
The designers pulled out all the stops here, to give player one of the
wierdest experiences in racing game history. This course is a great piece
of eye candy, aswell as a tough challenge to drive.
Fruit bowl - you can drive closer to the bowl than it appears.
Sink - This is a long jump, with a junction immediately after it, so make
sure you line yourself up correctly for the jump.
Backgammon Board - Going round some of the pieces on the left can be
faster than driving straight down the right hand side.
The point is that the driving line of B is not as tight a curve as A, so
you get round it faster, even though it's a longer route. This does not
work with all cars.
Roulette Wheel - Expert drivers can take a short cut by going the wrong way
around the wheel. Actually pulling this stunt off is very difficult - even
the Raptor car has to slow down to get round the corners.
Domino wall - You can drive between the gaps in the Dominoes, but there isn't
much point.
Sugar Jar Hairpin - You can drive on the edge of the condiment rack on the far
side of the bend without slowing down.
Piano - If you hit the first black key fast enough you jump the rest of the
keyboard in one go. This is entirely pointless.
Telephone - There is a sharp drop after the bend just here, so slow down to
avoid crashing into the right wall.
Chess Board - It would have been cool if they'd used a proper chess position
for the pieces, but they didn't. There's not even a white king on the board.
If you have the engine revs at just the right level at the start, you'll get
an instant kick of speed off the start line. You have to hold the
acceleration button down a fraction of a second after the yellow light comes
on to get it. This does NOT work in Grand Prix mode.
4.2 Shunting
If you are driving a Grand Prix race and have lost speed, steer into the
path of any chasing cars so that you collide (use the rear view to spot
them). This can shunt you up to the same speed as the chasing car instantly.
If you are driving the Penguin car, do this right at the start of any race
and you can reach top speed before the first corner on any track. Shunting
is most effective on the 'hard' difficulty setting, because this has the
fastest computer cars.
4.3 Slipstreaming
In Grand Prix mode, positioning your car just behind any other will speed
your car up significantly. This can make a big difference to race times, as
it allows cars to exceed their usual maximum speed and acceleration. This
technique is essential when driving the Penguin or Raptor cars.
4.4 Using the walls
Unlike other racing games, colliding with track walls does not necessarily
slow you down. Depending on the angle of your collision, you either bounce
back to a dead halt, or bounce off without slowing down. This can help on
tight corners as you can afford to brush the inside or outside of the bend as
you go round. In general, if the back end of the car hits the wall rather
than the front, you should be OK.
On the two ice tracks, this can be used to significant advantage, due to the
amount of sliding that goes on. The right contact with the walls can actually
speed your car up!
