Mad Tracks

Mad Tracks, also known as Small Cars 3D in France, is a 2006 racing video game developed by Load Inc. and published by various publishers for several platforms. Inspired by toy cars produced by Darda, players assume the role of spring-powered toy cars in racing competitions and minigames through various everyday environments.

Mad Tracks was the debut title for the Paris-based studio Load Inc., originally released for Microsoft Windows in 2006. It was later ported to the Xbox 360 as part of Xbox Live Arcade on May 30, 2007, and became backwards compatible with Xbox One in February 2017. It was also released on the Wii in Europe and Australia in 2009, followed by a mobile port on iOS in 2011 and Android a year later. In February 2019, it was announced that the game was delisted from Xbox Live Arcade because of a change in publishing rights from D3 Publisher to Plug In Digital. The latter released a reworked high-definition (HD) version of the game on Steam on March 10, 2020.

Mad Tracks was a commercial and critical success, being praised by critics and journalists for its multiplayer elements.

Gameplay

Mad Tracks is a 3D racing game featuring both a single-player mode and a multiplayer mode. There are 46 courses in total, set in 10 different locations including, kitchens, bistros, and a table football set. Courses in the game are divided into races and minigames.

Inspired by Darda's toy cars, the cars in Mad Tracks feature spring-powered batteries. The longer the player accelerates, the weaker the spring becomes. The battery eventually runs out, after which the player can no longer accelerate. The player can regenerate power by letting go of the acceleration button; the spring immediately recharges. It will also recharge whilst being airborne or reversing. The amount of usage of a spring will also depend on which type of car used. Other methods of recharging the spring include finding and using one of the power-ups, along with one that drains opponents' batteries. The player can also teleport to the last reached checkpoint, automatically or manually by pressing a button, if they happen to fall off the track. As well, they can switch to one of the camera angles and enter in first-person, at any time.

In single-player, the player's objective is to achieve gold trophies by completing objectives, such as driving around a track or landing cars on a dartboard. The multiplayer modes are similar to the single-player mode and include the same objectives, albeit they allow up to four on locally at split-screen, and up to eight players online to play simultaneously.