You know how we had that obsession with Micro Machines for a while? Well, most of the regular Mic Maccers have moved on, the multi-tap has been packed away, the memory cards with the result of many a battle between FEK, POO, SEX and GOG have disappeared and the disc is sitting rather dejected in a pile of other old games.

Those days are gone and while we remember them fondly, Calling All Cars! has finally come out and, given a few weeks (it took us a while before it dawned on us that Micro Machines was a must-play-at- lunchtime title), it could become the new king of multiplayer lunchtime fun.

It could have been multiplayer lunchtime fun a bit earlier but Calling All Cars! was delayed for an extra month to clean up a couple of issues with the gameplay. It was just little stuff like the magnet being a bit too difficult to use, but it’s worth the wait because now we have a frantic multiplayer chase game without a broken magnet. And it’s really, really cheap. That’s "cheap" as in “bargain price” not cheap as in "dirty Ken with his pokes and cross-ups into supers" in Street Fighter III.

Like most great multiplayer games, the premise is simple: you play as a bounty hunter trying to capture criminals by driving into them in your car and then returning them to the police cells. Doing so earns you points and if you get the highest number of points, you win! That’s a bit obvious really but there are things you can do to ensure you’re earning more points than the other players.

Each police station has different cells to return the criminals to and each one will give you a certain amount of points for doing so. You’ll only get one point for just driving the criminal home to the cell on the ground, but you can get more points for taking him to a more difficult- to-get-to cell. On the city level this requires driving up a ramp to the side of the police station: go too fast and you’ll fly off it; go too slow and other players will take the criminal from you. But it’s this balance of risk and reward that proves to be very entertaining. Even more so if you manage to steal the crim at the last possible second when someone else thinks they’re going to get three points. Priceless.

When chasing down the criminal, you have to be aware that whichever player has him may not be heading for the cells. Driving and flying around each level are a paddywagon and a police helicopter; if you position your car behind or under them for long enough and the criminal goes in then you get a massive four points. This is way more risky because it only takes a slight knock from another player to eject the criminal from your car and it can take precious seconds to get the criminal into the back of the police vehicle.

When you have successfully snagged the criminal, the best thing you can do is press R2 and boost away from the rest of the players, lead them on a merry chase and try to put the criminal away before anyone can grab him off you. Jumping with L1 can help a bit by hopping over homing missiles, but it does leave you unable to steer and will usually see you slamming into a wall and in the ensuing pile up the crim goes flying and lands in a rival player s car.

Taking the criminal back involves chasing down the target and slamming into them; you need to hang about for the criminal to land near your car before the comical cartoon arm dragshim in.You can pick up various weapons such as a hammer that creates a shockwave and ejects the criminal. The homing missile doesn t work too well because everyone will be driving like a maniac and even it can t keep track of things. The magnet, however, is great: just aim it at the target car and soon enough the criminal is transported into yours.Time it right and you can rack up the points easily.

Calling All Cars! is incredible fun in multiplayer. Obviously it s a bit easier to see what s going on when you play it online rather than the split screen modes, though if your friends are round you can at least get revenge for when they managed to get a lucky missile shot in just before you dropped off the criminal, by punching them on the arm.You can t do that when playing online.

On or offline, though, the sheer satisfaction of driving up a ramp and landing in the three point cell is immense, although it s on a par with the frustration you feel when the chance of scoring more points is snatched away from you. And since Calling All Cars! is only a fiver, there really isn t any reason not to get it.

Tim Empey