SOMEONE has copped out. Here is a game with three of the most interesting cars due to be produced in 1990 and Gremlin Graphics has cheated on the names.
Instead of using the names Cizeta Moroder, Alfa Romeo and Honda, Gremlin has made up some silly wimpish names. But that will only worry the real car buffs.
The game is what matters, and at first glance it doesn't look anything special. Nine Super Sprint style tracks which scroll as you race computer generated cars around them.
But that first glance rapidly turns into something more. A determination that you can do better if you try again. And you will: your line improves as you learn the circuits.
Race wins produce prize money, which can be spent on repairing the car after the last race - there is bound to be some wear and tear - or by buying bolt-on goodies like a turbo or missile which lasts one race, or by trading in your car for a new one.
The garage assistant looks as she has escaped from a Cinemaware title. Buying a car is hard work. Even if you win a couple of races and do very little damage to the Blue Zagato you start with it is unlikely that you will be able to afford the next vehicle without haggling.
You'll have to haggle hard with this new car salesman to get a decent price out of this Monty Python loving vegetarian with an Oedipus complex. The buying and selling adds both a random element and some tactics off-track. But it is when the lights go green that skill really starts to count.
The rival cars start to spread out since each has a level of skill. If you play dodgems a bit and let a slow computer car in front of a fast one you can start the kind of pile-up which will let you romp away with the first prize.
There is nothing special about the game, yet the more you play the more you want to. I kept going even after my trigger finger started to hurt. What the game lacks in sampled speech and dazzling copper lists it makes up for in sheer gameplay.