While not radically different from most racers on the PSP, M.A.C.H. has one particularly distinguishing factor. Instead of racing in cars, you’ll be racing in modified aircraft. In fact, the vehicles could be almost described as a cross between the fighter planes in a game such as Ace Combat and the craft in a game such as Wipeout. There are numerous vehicles through out the game, and they are all accompanied by varying stats and various shapes and sizes. The vehicles are mildly customisable, but primarily in terms of their colours.
Ah, zoom zoom.
M.A.C.H. has four general modes of gameplay and each of these modes has two differing aspects. There are the Arcade, Campaign, Challenge and multiplayer modes. Each of these modes is further divided into the Race and Dogfight. Race has you (obviously) flying around a predetermined track in an attempt to finish first. Unfortunately, there are only five tracks in the game but each of them can be played in reverse. Dogfight places you in an arena with several other craft, where you fight it out either to a predetermined score or across a time limit.
The Arcade mode is self-explanatory, you pick your vehicle (though most are locked at the start), track , mode of play and you are on your way. Even though there is a Campaign mode, there is no real story behind M.A.C.H.. Instead, the mode is divided into five difficulty levels and under each level, there are a couple of different “Grand Prix” style tournaments. The purpose is to win each event, races and dogfights, in order to gain the highest amount of points across the tournament. Winning unlocks the higher difficulties and more vehicles to use in all modes.
The Challenge mode, throws up a few twists with predetermined stats and objectives (e.g. only fight with lasers), and again is divided up into five difficulties, of which the latter ones need to be unlocked. The Challenge and Arcade modes become somewhat standard fare, so the variety that is found in the Challenge mode is welcome. In terms of the multiplayer, you can play with up to eight players but only over a local network and there is no Game Sharing. This is a bit of a shame, as the game is reasonably well suited to multiplayer.
Good luck avoiding that.
In terms of the actual racing, the game has a respectable sense of speed and each of the vehicles has some decent distinction to it. Furthermore, weapons have been included into the game. You get pick-ups along the way, ranging from speed boosts to rockets to cluster missiles. While it certainly is satisfying to knock someone out of first place, you don’t have any real protection when you’re the one being hunted. Apart from this, the one noticeable downside is the lack of precision in the controls. Whether is be with the d-pad or analog nub, they never feel quite right but in the end, it is serviceable.
The dogfighting, as mentioned, places you in an arena rather than a track. There are up to eight other fighters in one bout, and each of you are left to your own resources to track down the weaponry pick ups. The pick-ups are pretty much the same as in the races. Handily, for items such as missiles, you can lock onto you opponent before firing them. Again, the issues of control accuracy or lack of it is pervasive, but at least there is a fair bit of lenience to the aiming. You don’t have to be pin-point accurate to make a hit.
While it may initially seem that control is the issue to worry about with this game, after a while it becomes serviceable. It may never feel as good as a game like Burnout or even Wipeout but we can live with that. The game’s biggest downfall is the lack of scope. That is, you only have five tracks, five corresponding arenas and not that much variation to the modes. The actual Campaign lacks the necessary variation and drive and the Challenges only go so far. Indeed, it is very possible to see everything in the game, in a very short time. Actually completing is unlikely to take you into the double figure hour mark and as mentioned, you can only play multiplayer if you know people with the game. Finally, the game could have used an extra coat of paint. It plays just fine but does have a slight budget feel to it.
Gone!
Graphically, the game looks reasonably good and manages to support the sense of speed quite well. In particular, the craft are all quite well detailed and the game looks quite good when you look into the details put into the distant backgrounds. That being said, the close in details and structures aren’t that impressive and as we mentioned, the visuals feel like they could have used a little more refinement. In terms of sound, the game has a set of seemingly prerequisite engine noises, explosions and up-beat tunes, none of which are bad but on the other hand, none make a great impact. They just get the job done.
Overall, M.A.C.H. is quite a decent entry into the PSP racing market. It does things a little bit differently and most importantly, it has a decent sense of speed to it, despite the less than precise controls. Unfortunately, the aspect of the game that holds it back is the scope and lasting appeal. There simply isn’t enough here to keep the players interest over a greater period of time. Even though there is a fair bit to do, it can all be done and seen within eight hours. If you can find the game at a discounted or budget price and like sound of the premise, it might be worth a dip. Otherwise, waiting for the aforementioned discount is probably the way to go.
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