Something Different ...

       Three Racing Games Reviewed by Michael Raven

NASCAR RACING

"Hello, and welcome to Nascar Racing..." the announcer starts
with. Now on budget with 7 extra tracks to race, Nascar is
definitely a different kind of racing game. Although the main
object is still to win, this is more like the Stock Car racing
part of Destruction Derby. If your opponents have sped away, and
you're still crawling around the track, turn around, and strike
head on when they're coming to lap! (when you've got invincibility
on, of course. When I tried it without invincibility the car's
engine blew up ten seconds outside the pits!) The CD includes two
audio tracks to play, nothing special, but a nice touch. The
graphics in Nascar are quite good quality, and on a Cyrix 486
DX2/80, it ran with no slowdowns, with all features turned on.
Pitting, however, utterly confounds me! First, the pit wall.
You're speeding away from the chasing pack of cars, at around 180
mph. You move a bit too far left, and WHAM! You hit the pit wall
edge-on. You stop instantly, and fly backwards into the chasing
cars, and you continue, back in 20th. Then, the pit speed limit.
It seems almost impossible to keep under the limit, as I've gotten
a black flag even when under the top speed. Then you can't get rid
of the flag, and it hangs in the middle of the screen as a pair of
fluffy dice might. Again, it is now on budget, and is quite a good
game, for the price. Not my favourite racing game, but good for a
change.
PLAYABILITY 72% The car is often difficult to control properly.
LASTABILITY 68% Most of the circuits are ovals, and are therefore
rather similar. More of a game to play occasionally, than all the
time.
GRAPHICS 88% Very good, indeed. The cars look excellent!
SOUND 86% Again, very good. Perhaps a little low-quality, but that
may just be our sound card.
OVERALL SCORE 78% Cheap, a couple of pretty good non-oval tracks,
great for a change, and anyone wanting to play Destruction Derby,
but short of money or with a 486.

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX (The original Geoff Crammond classic)

Now around 6 years old, this game can run on a 286, or at full
speed on a good 486. Now with extra track packs available, you can
extend this game quite a good bit. Straightforward, with help
abilities, speed settings, and more, you take your F1 car around
about 16 tracks, many of them altered or removed from the F1
calendar now. Once you get the drivers renamed, however, you can
enter fully into the race...
PRIORITY ONE: Nail Jacque Villeneuve.
PRIORITY TWO: Nail Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
PRIORITY THREE: Win the race.
(Yes, I don't like Williams. Particularly Villeneuve.)
PLAYABILITY 77% Fairly good, but the car can be a bit hard to keep
on the road.
LASTABILITY 81% Definitely one you'll be keeping for a while!
GRAPHICS 69% A bit outdated, but still not too bad.
SOUND 60% Poor, now. Uses PC Speaker only, as far as I can get it.
OVERALL 81% Doesn't look or sound too good, but plays well.

POWER F1

Okay, Power F1, what a game, eh? Great graphics, good sounds, cars
a bit slippery - just like Formula 1 itself. It's based on the
1995 season, although you can change the names of the drivers, so
you could swap some around to try and make something like the
[current] season.

It's realistic without being too complicated - it's just steer,
accelerate and break on novice. It runs okay on my Pentium 75,
although I would recommend something a bit faster. Single races,
championships and shoot-out games are available. Shoot-out is
where you must finish higher and higher in each race. Although it
lacks the exclamations of Murray and Martin in Formula 1 '97, it
also lacks the high specifications. Good game for a low price.
PRESENTATION 85% Good movie clips and easy to use menus.
LASTABILITY 91% All the different 1995 tracks, with 3 different
games to go at.
GRAPHICS 88% Excellent - only one step below those 3D ones that
need Pentium 166's.
SOUNDS 79% A bit difficult to have good sounds for racing games,
but they do have a try.
OVERALL 89% An excellent game at a brilliant price (I got mine for
5 pounds!)















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