Motoring magazines will often tell you how much fun a small car is to drive. With power steering they're so easy to park, weave in and out of stationary traffic or nip out to the country for a spin. But let's face it, a small car is a functional thing, right? It's useful, practical and basically gets you from A to B . . .

. . .Well, yes, but then there's the small cars in Circuit Breakers. Ever fancied driving a mini through the Grand Canyon? You can with this new take on the concept of the top-down racer. With a wide variety of circuits, each based on a different landscape, the only problem with driving a mini down the Grand Canyon is that you have the other cars to deal with. And in Circuit Breakers, roaring past your opponents in a souped-up monster-car simply can't be done. All the cars conform to the same performance specifications (although chassis design varies greatly); the way to win races is by nudging your way onto the racing line whilst at the same time pushing your opponents off the track. And because all the cars have the same power, the races are bound to be close-run.

Dotted around the circuits as well are power-ups which you can also use to thwart your opponents . . .Spread an oil slick on the track, engage a rocket booster for a burst of speed, shrink the size of your car to get through those tight spaces, or simply blow the other cars up with a missile. Getting these little tricks means being first to pick them up on the way round.

Circuit Breakers has an impressive depth of multi-layered levels with some lovely 3D undulation going on, and with Dual Shock control (analogue and vibration) you feel all the bumps. The multi-player option (supporting 4-player multi-tap) brings another dimension to the gameplay as you try to score points by pushing your opponents off the bottom of the screen.

Wild and wacky - Circuit Breakers really puts the fun back into the small car.