Toybox Turbos

Toybox Turbos
69
Metacritic
86
Steam
78.314
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$3.74
Release date
11 November 2014
Developers
Steam reviews score
Total
86 (706 votes)

Codemasters reboots the classic table top racing experience in Toybox Turbos! Collect & customise 35 vehicles, take on 18 crazy tracks & send your rivals into a spin with awesome power-ups, including mines, machine guns & giant car-mounted hammers!

Show detailed description

Toybox Turbos system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 5400+
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: AMD HD2600 or NVIDIA Geforce 8600
  • Network: Broadband Internet connection
  • Storage: 1 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible soundcard
Similar games
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
mpegyna
mpegyna

Best toy car racing game for little children of the decades! Best local play. Would recommend 367 days a year.

SuperRetro
SuperRetro

fun small game, where you race laps inbetween junk from a household.
single player is collecting coins while racing, so you have money for customizing your car. Trying to hit opponents with a large oversized hammer is ofcourse a lot of fun.
The races are short and fast. The parcour has always some stuff to make your race more difficult, like splashes of water where you can slip, some sort of bridges where you can fall or other random stuff like balls that roll around and cross your path at certain points.

In Multiplayer-mode you have to make sure you either follow the lead of the first car, or make sure you stay ahead of the rest, because, when your car is leaving the screen/window, your car is out of the race.
At times it can lead to some feeling of frustration, but when you start to get the hang of it and finally win a game, it makes it all the better.

If you expect a serious racegame, you might not want to buy this one. But if you like fun small games that offer hours of entertainment, especially when played with some friend(s), make sure you buy this one. (Especially, when on sale, like now at time of writing)

muh
muh

Its good with some friends in multiplayer, but the multiplayer should have more options like the single player.
Overall its one of the better tabletop racers.

CuzzinFreddy
CuzzinFreddy

I wanted something like the old Micro Machines games and this does a solid job. Tracks are fun and have lots of shortcuts to learn.

533D
533D

As Micro Machines as it gets.
Even Better then Micro Machines from the same developers.
Perfect Party/Couch/Whatever Racing Game on one screen.

Pete
Pete

Played this with friends and family, 2-4 players. Excellent, excellent fun. Highly recommended. I've even played the single player a fair bit to unlock ths cars for multiplayer.

Agera153
Agera153

This game is a mixed bag of emotions. I suppose I recommend it, but like in the words of a slightly impolite passive-aggressive, "it's complicated."

The game, however, isn't complicated. It's Micro Machines. That means it's automatically got some value to it. The tracks and cars are adorable, the game itself presentation-wise is fairly well put together, and it's fun for all ages. It also runs as well as you can ask for, consistent 144 FPS on a midrange GPU at 4K.

But there's some downsides too:

1.) Nobody is playing any online matches, which means the "play online" achievement is unobtainable unless you have a friend with this game.
2.) The game is wayyyy to easy. I beat it completely, all achievements except the online one, three stars in every level, and all cars unlocked in under three hours. The AI are pretty poor and most of their wins come from your own incompetence.
3.) Expensive when not on sale (I got it for $4, which was reasonable)
4.) Some technical jankyness, including...

a.) Pretty much no graphics options. Resolution, AA, DOF, and Fullscreen on/off. That's all you get.
b.) TERRIBLE shadow quality. Minecraft has fewer pixels.
c.) Texture quality is below average
d.) Resets to 720p for no reason constantly
e.) Some weird physics reactions when two vehicles land on each other
f.) On monitors with refresh rates higher than 60 Hz, stutter occurs with faster cars in the game. This is because VSync is forced on for some reason.
g.) No audio customization. Music on/off and sound on/off, that's it. Which is a pretty big downside, because I'm the kind that likes to hear my own engine, and I can't hear anything over the loud as sh** (albeit kind of catchy) music. Without the music, the game lacks elegance, so I decided to leave it on.

Worst part of these issues is it doesn't look like this game is alive anymore. No players means no updates to resolve these matters.

If you can overlook its shortcomings, Toybox Turbos delivers enough enjoyment to justify giving it a go. It also has a free demo, which is a plus.

Final Score: 6/10
IN A NUTSHELL: WHAT LITTLE OF THIS GAME THERE IS IS DECENT.

Was this review helpful? Leave a thumbs up if it was! You can read more about how I review my games by using this link. All of my game reviews can be found here.

[TFB] sci3ntist84
[TFB] sci3ntist84

What can I say about this gem of a game, at so little cost this game has so much fun and entertainment in one.

It’s a spin-off to micro machines which we all played in the 90s, you will guarantee to have a blast and laugh with this game as I did. So frustration and intensity in a small game yet so funny.

Well worth a buy 10/10

DevlinBlack666
DevlinBlack666

This game needs a controller that I currently don’t have because the local IT hub is either incompetent or understaffed. Normally I wouldn’t mind. However, this game isn’t optimized for keyboard and mouse. PC master race? Pfft. Puh-leaze. Whoever thought a top down watered-down Re-Volt was a good idea must’ve contracted the EA virus from sucking off John Ricatillo for too long.

It’s painful to play and agony to look at. Though sadly its still the best knock-off of the thing it’s trying so desperately to copy to appeal to a nostalgia blind audience that to be perfectly honest should know better. As far as racing games in general go, this stinks like the most magnificent turd in the genre of gamings great and vast toilet bowl.

I’d buy Split/Second on sale, or even Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit before this pile of hot wet garbage if I were you and I hate EA. Track design is as original as something derivative can be though the camera angles make me want to throw up in my mouth almost as much as the budget PS1 era graphics. I could let all of my criticism slide if the developer was indie. They’re not.

I expected better of Codemasters. Codemasters for FFS. By Christ, I haven’t been this disappointed since George Fan farted out Octogeddon and had the nerve to charge $12 frickin’ dollars for it. No, I tell a lie. Hand of Fate 2 was a much bigger disappointment because I actually adored Hand of Fate as much as Plants Vs Zombies and Re-Volt. Should I just expect less from ‘modern’ games?

I enjoyed racing games once. Cut my teeth on Diddy Kong Racing 64. Later Burnout Revenge. In an alternate universe where EA actually made good games. FlatOut Ultimate Carnage, even Gas Guzzlers Extreme is serviceable. Just, not this. Anything but this. Alas a return to the glory days of Re-Volt and F-Zero GX will never happen. I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

Its 2019 FFS. To this day, a good AG racer and a good RC or Micro-Machine style racer haven’t been as well replicated as they should be. It comes down to RedOut and this respectively – though as a fan of both genres I have felt for nearly 20 years both genres have been left sorely wanting while more CODs, Battlefields and useless DLCs keep getting shoved down our throats.

If this game can’t get something as basic as camera angles right, then I sincerely weep for the future. I’m not asking for a first person view in a game that should be as high class as your mum though handles as cheap and loose as your sister after 2 bundy and cokes. All I’m asking for is a camera angle that isn’t as top-down as Disney’s continued thorough sexual assault of my childhood.

James
James

Feel like Micro Machines but very lacking in content. Just emulate the old games for a better experience.

Minimanimoo
Minimanimoo

Really fun game, of course like the classic Micro Machines. Nice design, good controls and a decent variety of game modes. The camera takes a couple of races to get used. Really like the different types of vehicles you can collect and the colour customisation is a sweet little touch! Fun ^_^

Tyr
Tyr

A very soulless game that relies on the nostalgia of those wishing for a 90's Micromachines reboot. Of course it looks nice but the tracks are short & there is very little variety. Its an okay game but life is too short to play mediocre games.

Chatbert
Chatbert

A decently fun game ruined by abysmal camera behavior in boss battles making you unable to see where you're going and resulting in a frustrating experience.

5/10

1.44 Megabytes
1.44 Megabytes

This was a surprisingly high quality game. Very cool track designs and the racing feels solid. I did not encounter any bugs / crashes with this game whatsoever. Some of the single player races were challenging even for an adult in my 30s who's played a lot of driving games. The top-down perspective is frustrating sometimes but if you give it a chance it will start to feel normal and it helps to get familiar with the tracks so you know what turns / ramps / shortcuts are coming up.

It blew my mind this entire game is only about 300 MB in size. It even has local 4-player multiplayer.

B4U
B4U

Simply put, it's the REAL Micro Machines for modern machines. Absolutely gorgeous. Get it now! And most of al: Get it instead of that desperate remake originally titled Micro Machines by the same dev team. This one here is the real deal!!!

OLDr! Silencer
OLDr! Silencer

This might have been a ''meh'' kind of fun, but for the following major issues:

- The game does not run unless you go manually download missing files, edit xml's, and change your screen res to 720p. No, I am not joking. Look at the posts.
- Even AFTER you waste ages stuffing around to finally get the game to even launch, you cannot run it in full screen, ever, as it will crash instantly.

So sorry, but no: I cannot recommend this broken, half-a$$ed 2014 ballsup that has less support than my Dosbox emulator running games from the 80's. The fact they even charge money for this non-functional travesty is enough to put me off Codemasters for life.

Horse with a Horn.
Horse with a Horn.

If you have beer and friends, buy this game!
This is very funny and easy to learn. Way more funny than i thought.
I bought it during sale.

[SC]Kaneeiiiiqri|wiWi
[SC]Kaneeiiiiq…

Looks good, plays well, and is heaps of fun.

It's a pretty simple game, so people of all skill levels should enjoy it. It's a go-to game for playing with people that aren't exactly gamers (while still plenty of fun for those who are).

LeakyGuy
LeakyGuy

Cute, little game. Definitely worth on sale. My little brother will love it!
Not sure why people are experiencing issues like bad camera or the game crashing on start-up because of a different native resolution compared to in-game. 1080p user here, win10-64bit, game launches without problems, changed in-game resolution to native, no problems. It never crashed once for me and runs super smooth. Never had to do any of the fixes compiled by the community.

Computers work fine if you know what you are doing. Just quit messing with the settings.

\1Crash master
\1Crash master

INTRO

It just looks so fun from the screenshots!

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

+ Cute graphics
+ Simple gameplay which is easy to get into
+ Nice variety of vehicles
+ Creative track design

- Would massively benefit from having more tracks
- More camera angles would have been nice as well

OVERALL

It's a fun little game. Do not buy at full price, the content doesn't justify it whatsoever.

RATING

6/10

Brouk
Brouk

In my view this is the best racing game, which includes small cars. If you are into tiny cars racing, you will be satisfied. There´re a few jokes, such as bee happy.

Foxfall
Foxfall

I loved micro machines (1991) and I was super excited to get this, especially with all the good reviews. MY MISTAKE. I got the 4 pack to play multi-player but didn't see anyone say that it multi-player only has elimination mode, which means if you go off the track or get behind the pack, you "die" and don't respawn. This means each match only lasts 10-30 seconds and you end up restarting matches over and over. It is very frustrating. The single-player mode is fun and is what the multi-player version should be.

Revenge209
Revenge209

A remake of Codemasters' Micro Machines franchise. Compared to Micro Machines: World Series, this does have a single player Campaign.

FozzieLad
FozzieLad

Quite boring. Lacks any of the charm that the old Micro Machines games had, or in fact most other top down racing games. Give it a miss.

Captain Slow
Captain Slow

The last few levels of the single player campaign are so frustratingly difficult due to the bad camera modes and the fact that the AI virtually never ever makes any mistakes, while it punishes even your slightest mistakes. That's why I've come to the point to stop my ambitions to finish the game and to get all achievements in order to preserve my mental health and not to go berserk...

erc493
erc493

Toaybox Turbo is a little fun racing game its not long between 3-4 hours to beat the single player mode:

+ 35 cars
+ 42 events
+ 18 tracks
+ nice Powerups
+ games modes like Time Attack, Escape, Overtake, Klassic Race

I had fun with even it was so short!

Nowi Doki
Nowi Doki

Overview

Toybox Turbos is a pretty small game. I've only played the game for a little over 4 hours. I would usually play games I review a lot longer however I've completed the whole singleplayer section of the game with all 7 cups. Even though the game itself is quite short it is a good racing game that I would recommend.

Gameplay

This game is quite similar to micro-machines and has many good and has a variety of maps to play. I completed all of the cups in the game and completed every event in each cup with all stars so it is not a very long game at all. I started also playing some custom matches with bots which was also fun to do. It is absolutely something great to play with friends.

Visuals and Soundtrack

The visuals of this game give it a great feel and everything looks great. All of it has a nice cartoon feel and it leaves a warm feel. This is further complimented with the soundtrack of the game which always makes the atmosphere of the game good.

Conclusion

Overall this game is something that I would recommend. I wouldn't recommend it at base price and I got it on sale for about a little under $4 so I would recommend this more around a $10 mark if you plan on purchasing it.

Suggestions & Criticism

Although you could comment on my review to suggest things or criticize pieces of it, please consider posting in my the discussion forums on my community group, linked below, so that I can respond. You can also chat with me some more as well. Also feel free, if you like my reviews, to follow my curator page to see me in the store and join my community group if you want updates when I post new reviews.

Curator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40789272/

Community Group:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Nowi-kun

Castigo
Castigo

Absolutely recommended. Heaps of fun when playing with friends, but also a single player campaign that's pretty fun. Lot of cars and tracks. After a session with your friends your face will ache due to the excessive smiling.

For the lover of the Micro Machines games of the past this is not bad at all and will bring memories back. The single player campaign is not as long (but it was crazy in V3) and the epic long tracks are missing, but it's still very very worth it. While there is no super long epic track, the one in the game are very well design having many iconic elements from the previous games and something new as well.

I really hope to see more games like this bringing back the Micro Machine v3 gameplay in the modern gaming era. Definitely not games like Micro Machine World Series, that make me want to cry instead.

hertzigger
hertzigger

Haven't been able to get this game working for a long time on windows 10. I tried today and it started up but when I changed my resolution if came out of full screen mode even through it was selected. changed it again and it crashed. Game is a bit of a buggy mess. Had high hope for this when i bought it

Yory
Yory

i played this game and really enjoyed its really god for basic car game controllers a little bit toxic but despite him this game is good if you like basic car game just play 6/10

Scotchskillz
Scotchskillz

great lil top down racer a little short for my liking but a great game overall
would also like to thank stream discussions to get the online achievement!

Mtanoes
Mtanoes

It is a fun game, similar to the old masterpiece: ''Revolte''. Game mechanics are more fun, but easier in a way, but the cars unique abilities are much more clear than Revolte. It would be better if we could used the previous cars in the next episodes but still, it is a nice game. Could be much more fun in multiplayer, can't wait to try!

Oberon
Oberon

A fun and frantic take on the old-school Micro Machines games; very much surpassing it's spiritual inspirations in both gameplay and execution. Toybox Turbos is the game the newer Micro Machines game should have been. Between the sheer charm of the animations, gameplay, fantastic level design, barring *some* repetitiveness, Toybox Turbos is a MUST HAVE if you have any appreciation for isometric racing.

⍆.𝕊pencey_𝕊pence.⍅
⍆.𝕊pencey_𝕊pence.⍅

This game will never be micro machines but it is the closest we will ever get to having it back!
What is not to like? great fun to be had!

BluDiceThief
BluDiceThief

Got 3 stars on all levels in about 3 hours, but with that said, if you can get some friends to play it with you, you can play this game for 10's of hours. Hardest achievement for me to get is playing with a friend in a Local Match. XD

Grim Godslayer
Grim Godslayer

This seeming cute racing game has a lot of charm, but both the single and multiplayer modes have terrible balancing issues.

Long story short, the vehicle choice matters too much in multiplayer, presenting unfun advantages and the later levels of the single player are more frustrating than than fun because of the vehicles you're forced to use.

I don't consider this a solid racing game because of the balancing issue. With all that said, I think this game does deserve recognition for the environments and charm. Sadly I can't recommend.

Pickle God
Pickle God

this is a great game fun for anyone who likes mario kart would storngly recomend to anybody who is looking at this game

babybigbluebird
babybigbluebird

Cracking little racing game like micromachines for the playstation in the 90's, buy it and enjoy it, but don't expect to be able to play with friends over internet. Totally broke for that.

The Reapero
The Reapero

Far better than Micro Machines World Series and at half the price. Despite the game not being that long it still has more content than World Series. If you don't have any way to play the classic Micro Machines games then this game is your best option.

Mimic
Mimic

TL:DR - Fun game but wait until a large discount, too short for the price it is asking for. Only buy on discount if you have some spare change laying around.

+ Creative level design
+ Nice selection of cars to choose

- Short game
- Some maps are reused too much
- Camera can be your enemy in some modes

This game reminded me of Re-Volt, toy cars going around a large environment that is small to us. The small amount of maps we are given are fun to race around in and adore the ways they used everyday objects as ramps, walls or even to mark out the lanes/shortcuts.
It is a shame some maps are rarely re-used in single-player missions, my favourite only being used once out of the 7 cups.

There is however some nice modes, from having to out-race a wave for as long as possible to having to keep your timer up over 3 laps to win. There is a nice little selection to choose from but wish there was a bit more to it.

This game is very short, single-player can be done in around 2 hours without trying due to how short the maps are and easy to memorise in one lap where the short cuts are. The A.I is ok though some maps they will just be very stupid while in others they are on their A-Game.

The power-ups are nice but the hammer is OP, one hit and that car is gone. Making even boss mode very easy though they are easy even without the power-ups. If anything it was the camera that was my enemy on the boss missions (mainly last 3) because it kept trying to pull back to the boss behind me and leave me with little to now head-way to what was coming ahead of me but again 1-2 laps and you pretty much will know the map off my heart to counter this.

Each cup you can only use cars from that cup, you cannot use ones you bought or won in previous ones which I can see why, gives reason to use other cars but some cars are just better than others no doubt about it. Some you legit will be sliding on ice with while others you are faster and have tighter control. In each cup you will most likely find that one car everyone else uses for the missions.
I guess if you want hard-mode you can choose the worst cars and see how you do.
Only other reason to do single-player is to buy and unlock cars for multiplayer, which is pointless because online is dead.

Online is pretty much dead unless you ask on forums if anyone wants to play but not a big loss, from the A.I I played against in online mode, I was only ever given "Elimination" mode where you need to race ahead and leave everyone behind to win points. I never saw the chance to make it a proper race or even escaping the wave against other players, that would of been nice instead of it being legit one mode.

LunaTickle
LunaTickle

not quite micro machines but decent if you can pick it up cheap. defo a little lacking content wise but other than that controls well and is a decent substitute tho id recommend you just emulate micro machines. wish they'd patch the stupid resolution crash, if you have that issue just turn your monitor display to the games default resolution, load the game and change the games reso to your normal monitor reso, it'll crash then revert your monitor to your normal reso and it should work!

Demona's Pet
Demona's Pet

I have heard a lot of hate for Codemasters' Micro Machines game that came out (which, admittedly, I am about to try for the first time once this review is done). From what I have seen that game is a bit of a disaster. Toybox Turbos, however, is NOT that game. The racing feels smooth, the car selection is fun, tracks have a childlike imagination to them and the event choices are also varied and have some thought put into them. The camera can certainly get a bit ion the way of things at times, but this does hearken back to the original Micro Machines games for the NES, so if you are used to that, it will feel similar. As other reviews noted, there is a bit to see in each level and if you have the time, go ahead and see the sights. The levels have nice details that make the world feel more like a lived-in place than an empty racetrack would. Highly recommended.

Algames
Algames

WARNING: Not great with certain types of hardware! If you can get it to work, great arcade fun. As with most racers, you probably won't get the most benefit out of this without a controller.

[Xpndλbles]-Cody-
[Xpndλbles]-Cody-

i really like this game and i like to play it a lot, but the game has a severe lack in updates and driving the same cars over and over and over again starts to get boring, maybe do an update with more tracks and vehicles?

Zthun
Zthun

This game is......I want to say OK, but there's serious issues which I just can't overlook.

The first major problem is starting the game. You have to do this stupid workaround in Windows to set your resolution to 720p (1280x720), start the game, go to the options, set your resolution to 1080p (1920x1080) or whatever you want, let the game crash, set your resolution back to what you set in the game, and relaunch the game. This is horrid and there is no patch or fix that will ever be implemented. Most users will just consider this game broken and move on. This is enough for me to just not recommend this game. If you can't even get the game started without a non-intuitive workaround, that's just a critical bug and the game belongs in the garbage.

As far as the game-play goes, it's Micro Machines and Road Rash. It's fun to a degree, but there are points in the single player which get very repetitive, and in the later levels which do get hard, you wonder why you keep torturing yourself to play. The camera is a turd. Your car stays near the top of the screen and not in the middle so it's hard to see what to do next. The feeling you get when you play this is the same feeling you get when you play Diddy Kong Racing. It's hard enough to be frustratingly annoying due to issues, but it's just fun enough to keep going, just for the completion. Sadly, this game doesn't have planes or motorboats.

The multi-player is great. If you have friends that want to play couch co-op and get drunk and party with Toybox Turbos, that's a thumbs up for me. In fact, if you have friends that actually own and want to play this, then I would say this is a great play. Just understand and make sure everyone knows how to get the game started. The camera is still s***, you have to basically memorize the map, and you tend to lose control of your car more often than you want, but for a party game that nobody cares about, this is OK.

So overall, I give this game a 3 / 7. Probably best to stay away.

Bli33ard
Bli33ard

Not enough single player content. Completed it in 3 hours 100%.
Needs other elements like time trial or harder difficulty.

VoidSixx
VoidSixx

Remember when games were about just having fun? This game isn't pretending to be something it's not, it's just some good old fashioned fun.

Honved77
Honved77

I still consider the first Micro Machines for NES one of the best racing games ever, top down or not. Toybox Turbos got many of the same qualities, but also some flaws that, I believe, contribute to making the game uninteresting quickly.
First, tracks are too short. Second, control is not so good. And third, worst of all, there is more emphasis on shooting opponents down with items than racing, which unfortunately seems to be a trend - see what they did with Mario Kart and clones.
It can be fun in multiplayer if you consider it a party game. But as a racing game it's a disappointment, for me at least. I would enjoy the game much more if it were possible to disable itens/weapons in single player mode.

Tatt
Tatt

i like how codemasters proved they could revive micro machines with this game and still fucked up hard with world series.

NeZ
NeZ

It's MicroMachines but in 3D. So it's MicroMachines in worse.

PROS
+ Classic maps
+ Classic cars
+ Nostalgia
+ Multiplayer (Local and Online)
+ 5+ different game modes
+ 30+ different cars
+ 15+ tracks
+ Runs very well on Steamdeck

CONS
- At least 1 mandatory shortcut on every track... this is 2022, not 1995
- All cars feel more or less similar
- All tracks have similar corners, similar jumps, similar obstacles
- The track surroundings have really bad collision... and the physics engine makes it worse
- Horrible physics engine, why does this game even have 3D physics??
- This game has 3 different camera modes and ALL THREE are just plain bad. The standard cam moves around way too much, the overhead vintage one is too close to the cars and the regular overhead one... it's the worst of both worlds. It moves around too much AND is too close to the cars. Well done, devs. The moving overhead cam might be the worst camera mode I have ever seen in a racing game.
- The regular classic Race mode is fine, but WHY ARE THERE ITEMS IN MY MICROMACHINES GAME
- Yes, this game has ITEMS. Machine Gun, Hammer, Mines. Pretty much a ton of OP items. If I want to play Mario Kart, I'd go and play FUCKING Mario Kart ffs
- The "Escape" mode feels like it was added to the game shortly before release
- Time attack. No one likes time attack.
- A weird "Overtake" mode where you have to rely on the AI a lot
- "Elimination" mode, the #1 mode that we all know & love from MicroMachines, is reserved for the boss fights in the single player campaign
- The boss fights aka "Elimination" are a joke because you can cheese the bosses with items / weapons. Can't outrun the boss? Don't know the track? Doesn't matter, just kill the boss 4 times. This mode requires 0 skill.
- Annoying & repetitive music
- Annoying car horns
- The horn button is on the same button as "use item" so you'll hear the horns a LOT
- Controller controls not customizable... in 2022

So overall... yeah. No thanks. I'm gonna finish the single player campaign (around 2-4 hours of content) and then I'm gonna uninstall it for good. Yes, my review says 5 hours or something but that's from farming cards.

Heihatzi
Heihatzi

was looking to play micromachines, discovered this in some comments, a lot of fun to play !

adamsarney
adamsarney

A cool game, fun to play and good with friends