Stunt Car Racer (Second Review)

Title		Stunt Car Racer (Second Review)
Game Type	Driving
Players		1 or 2 via Serial
Submission	Isaac Abraham

Review
The predecessor to Geoff Crammond`s F1GP, Stunt Car Racer was a game quite
ahead of it`s time. On the C=64 it was woefully slow, much to much for the
64`s 1 mhz CPU, but even on a 68000 it is quite playable, jam in an 020+ and
the game goes very smoothly.
Stunt Car Racer is a racing game with a difference. Much like PowerDrift,
that ancient game, instead of taking place on flat, boring circuits, you
basically race on rollercoaster-like levels, complete with huge chasms,
dips, turns, etc. You begin in the 4th division, racing the other two
drivers in your league over two tracks. Your first race takes place on the
Little Ramp, a simple track with a gentle gap to leap over. After being
shown a 3D preview of it, you appear in the drivers seat, complete with
dashboard showing your speed. You also have a limited amount of "boost",
which can greatly increase your acceleration and speed. It is also necessary
for some of the later levels, where you need to make a certain speed to
clear jumps and pit. Once you`ve started, you`ll soon see your opponent, and
discover that he`s not actually a car, but a block of cheese! You see, at
the time, the A500 was the most high powered Amiga out, and therefore could
only handle so many polygons in full 3D, thus it looks like the
aforementioned cheese block. If at any time, your cheese block should career
off the track, you`ll first and foremost fall way behind your opponent, and
only if you`re good, will you be able to catch him up before the end of the
race. Secondly, you`ll also receive damage to your car. Recieve too much
damage, and you car will be written off, losing you the race.
At the end of the race, you receive points for coming first and/or making
the fastest lap. Once the season is finished, if you finished top of the
table, you`re promoted to the next division, complete with harder tracks.
Unfortunately, whilst they are undoubtedly more challenging, I found that
the first few were more fun to play, because they`re less finicky and you
can go faster on them, unlike the last few where your timing can be crucial
on tracks like "The DrawBridge".
But still, it`s not a bad game at all, and there`s a two player link up
mode, although you`re resticted to the first two tracks. You can also save
your high scores to disk, as a hall of fame, and of course you can save your
current position to disk, thankfully.
Stunt Car Racer certainly won`t win any beauty contests, but as a fun game,
it is quite good, and is excellent fun in two player mode also.

Alphabetical list.