Mashed (Xbox)

The single player seems brilliant at first with some good modes to play. Then after about 30 mins you come across fugitive. It seems like a stroke of genius but then you realise how hard it is. Even if I do all three laps without making any mistakes I still can't catch up with the fugitive. Out of four of these missions throughout the game only one of them seems possible and that's when head on traffic slows the fugitive down. Also the second last mission of the game seems almost impossible (for a gamer like me anyway). You are up against 3 enemies all working against you and they seem to be superior in every way. This mission seriously stressed me out.

Then you get to the wonderful multiplayer. If you bought it for this you wont be disappointed. Invite three mates round and you can playon it for hours. Air strikes add a nice twist and some of the tracks are genius.

So, in conclusion, the single player is good at first but soon becomes very hard. The multiplayer has an almost unlimited lifespan and I suggest you get the game just for that.

The single player missions are challenging and varied, and are a must if you want to unlock the additional goodies (tracks, vehicles, etc.)

Where Mashed truely excels is the multiplayer aspect. I won't go through all the standard stuff that you'd normally expect from an MP car racing/combat game. The beauty is in the subtleties:

1) 2 to 4 players can play on a single console with no split screen. This is achieved through a 'gladatorial' system where players are forced out of a race if they fall too far behind the race leader (ie. a screen's length).

2) 9 different weapons (10 including Air Strike but I'll come to that in a moment) including a variety of forward firing, rearward firing, side firing, drop and lay offering a multitude of ways to slow or disable your opponents depending on their race position in relation to you.

3) A 'slip-stream' effect allows players at the back of the field to travel faster when behind opponent vehicles and hence increases the likelihood of them being able to claw their way back into the race. It also makes overtaking a forward vehicle less difficult and hence there's naturally more changes in race leader generating more interest and excitement.

4) Air strikes may be enabled permitting eliminated players to still participate in a race by targeting and locking on to enemy vehicles whilst they are still racing. Thus the eliminated players may still influence the precedings to try and prevent a leading player from winning that particular race and gaining more points to put them further ahead.

I couldn't find any noticeable flaws with the game but perhaps some slight enhancements would have earn't Mashed a 5th star:

a) Although a choice of vehicles is available, all players must drive the same type of car for a given race. Allowing each player to choose a different vehicle would provide more variety and give players an opportunity to pick their preferred vehicle for certain tracks.

b) Sometimes it can be a little difficult to see what type of weapon you've collected, especially when the view is zoomed out (where the field is spread). A small weapon indicator near each players vital stats would be nice.

c) Co-op mode. Current modes are essentially team (where players team up and compete against each other) and free for all. Allowing 2 human v 2 AI would be a good mode when it's not possible to drag 2 more friends around.

All in all if you like car combat/racing games you'll love Mashed which could best be described as a superb 'Gritty' Mario Kart.