Super Hang-on

Title		Super Hang-on
Game Type	Driving
Company		Electric Dreams/Sega
Players		1
Compatibility 	All (I think)
Submission	angus@angusm.demon.co.uk

Review
Super Hang-on is, with Buggy Boy, one of my fondest memories of Amiga
racing games. It's an International Motorcycle racing game, viewed from a
third person perspective, just behind the figure that represents you.
The game was released around 1988, so you're not going to see any
ground breaking graphical effects, or marvel at the sophistication of the
sound. Instead you've got a straightforward, accessible, and above all,
extremely playable racing game.
I was never very successful beyond the Beginner's Course which is set over
6 stages in Africa, but I still thought, and think, that the game is
terrific. The impression of speed caused by a striped road scrolling past
you was not a new concept in 1988, but this routine is quite clever in
that the stripes are very nearly the same colour, so you don't see a tacky
striped road flashing past, but you get an almost subliminal impression of
speed which to my mind is much more effective. You can control the bike
with either mouse, keyboard or joystick, but for my money, you're probably
best off using the mouse. The mouse option has a highly effective
sensitivity adjustment feature, by the way. Which ever method you choose,
the game really scores in the handling department. You see the other
competitors ahead of you, leaning into the curves and generally drifting
from side to side, and when you get things right, you can just slide
through them without any trouble, in an extremely satisfying manner. If
you do collide with them you'll lose most of your speed, and may therefore
fail to make one of the several checkpoints where you receive extra time,
enabling you, hopefully, to make it to the following checkpoint. Another
nice feature is that when you hit 280 kph, your speed indicator turns red,
and you can then hit the nitro button, which dramatically increases your
speed. It also intorduces a "whining" sound effect, that increases in
pitch the longer you hold the nitro on, as well bringing about a general
surge in your exhilaration. You'll be laughing at the opposition at this
point, but try not to forget that as nice as it is to keep that nitro
shrieking away, you'd be well advised to keep an eye out for that
approaching corner. That reminds me, if you come off the road, it's not
necessarily a problem, it just slows you down a bit, but often there will
be trees, rocks and other unfriendly objects that will cause you to be
thrown off your bike, causing serious loss of time. Often you'll be
roaring round a corner, with very little time left, knowing that if you
keep the throttle open, you'll drift closer and closer to the edge of the
road, but if you release it, you maybe too slow to make the checkpoint.
It's exciting, and as I said it's very satisfying when you get it right.
There are several courses in the race of varying difficulty, and you have
the choice of four tunes, two of which are pretty good.
This game was a darned good effort in it's day, and even now is a highly
enjoyable racing game with the emphasis on fun.

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