Having had two girls before Pierre, it always amazes me to see how much he is attracted to toy cars. I never stopped the girls from playing with cars - they had a few in their toy boxes - but they were never that bothered about playing with them. Put Pierre in front of a box of things with wheels, on the other hand, and he'll happily play for hours on end ! Needless to say, when the opportunity arose to review a Go Mini Crew-zers HQ Playset, I knew he'd be in his element.
Now the first thing to know is that the playet needs assembly. It's not too taxing and you don't need screwdrivers or anything complicated, but it is made of plastic that is fairly flimsy and could be snapped if you tried to force it together wrong so you might want to set it all up before letting the over-excited toddlers in ! Having said that, Sophie helped me put it together and, as you can see, it doesn't just appeal to little boys !
It has some rather fabulous features, such as this vertical wall where the car "magically" (or, if you're a grown-up, magnetically - it's only a few letters' difference after all!) defies the forces of gravity. It also has a trapdoor, allowing you to drop down through a secret chute and come out of the backdoor, shooting through the kennel and making the dog bark, much to Pierre's delight !
Another fun feature is the turntable which makes the car spin round but also sets off music and lights so you can have your own mini disco ! I love the cute car with the face too - the fact that it looks vaguely human means that it's just inviting you to make up stories and adventures, unlike the usual car tracks, where your children are much less likely to use their imaginations.
When looking at the photos, I suddenly realised that we hadn't stuck on the stickers - sure enough, I found them in the bottom of the box, so here's what it looks like once you've funked it up with the enclosed stickers. It's not the sturdiest playset that I've ever seen but for the price (RRP £34.99), I think it's good value, given everything that it does.
We also received two Go Mini Stunt Racers to play with, but you should be aware that they are slightly larger than the car in the HQ playset so they're not compatible. They're still great fun though. Each car in the collection has 2 modes - straight line speed or stunt mode. The official blurb says : "Pull them back, let go and watch as Boost does a wheelie, Drift drives on 2 wheels, Red performs a donut spin, Flash swerves into action and Fins does a super-cool side slide." We got Drift, the green one, and Red, the blue one (yes, we were confused too !) and all three of the Madhouse Mini-testers, regardless of age or gender, all had great fun making them whizz across the floor and do their tricks.
If you're looking for Christmas gifts or stocking fillers for car-loving boys or girls, these are sure to get a warm reception.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £34.99 for the HQ playset, £9.99 for the Stunt Racers
for more information : http://www.goldenbeartoys.com/collections/go-mini
Disclosure : We received the toys in order to write an honest review.
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