Super Skidmarks 2

Title		Super Skidmarks 2
Game Type	Driving
Players		1-8 (on AGA)
Compatibility	All
Submission	Isaac Abraham

Before I go any further, I`d just like to say that this game, after all
those 3D games, rewards those who have big machines the best. A1200 owners
can have 8 players at once, A500 owners only 4. A1200s can use hi-res gfx,
only lo-res for the ECS/OCS lot, you get the picture.
Super Skidmarks apparently is the follow up to the original Skidmarks. I
played a demo of that once. Well, anyway, from what I can extrapolate, Super
Skidmarks is not that different from Skidmarks, but for a few things which,
in fact, turn it into a much, much, better game. Super Skidmarks (I think
they should have called it "Superior Skidmarks" personally, but what the
hey) has 72 tracks for a start - well 36 x 2 because you can race all the
tracks backwards also - even to the point of going _up_ ramps instead of
leaping off them! The majority, in fact virtually all of them, are extremely
well designed, from huge tracks that allow for overtaking with ease to the
really thin ones, to the one with loads of crossovers that ensure the maximum
amount of crashes!
You can choose from eight preset cars, although you`ll need +8 meg of Fast
ram to use them all in a race. Standard 2 meg A1200s can only have 2
different cars at a time. Viewed in isometric 3D, they`ve been rendered in
Imagine, and are quite well designed. There are also several to get off
Aminet, although unfortunately it is impossible to create stats for the
vehicles, i.e. all the user-created models all drive exactly the same, which
is a pity. Controlling the cars may take some time to get used to, but
within an hour or so it`s second nature. Just like real life driving =)
SS2 is basically an excuse to start a fight. You see, it`s not that much fun
in one player mode, all the cars trundle along behind one another unless you
have extra ram to choose different models, but even then it`s not much fun.
In two player mode it`s not bad, three players = good, four or above is
asking for trouble. You can link up two amigas to show three on one screen
and one on another, 2 and 2, or whatever. You can even link A1200s to A500s.
Finally, in a display of utter brilliance, you can use the cinemarama (tm)
mode, which requires two A1200s, locally linked (i.e. not via modem, but by
serial link). One monitor displays the left side of the track, the other
displays the right side. Thus, no scrolling is required, it just looks like
a widescreen monitor! Excellent! My only gripe is that the serial link can
be a bit unreliable in this mode.
Aside from the obvious failings in one player mode and the unreliable link
ups, there`s only one thing to stop you from buying this game, and that`s
buying XTR instead, which, obviously, IMHO is better. But SS2 is still good,
and worth the 20 quid I paid for the pack of the game + data disks. Good,
solid, multiplayer fun.

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