The Duel: Test Drive II

Your Sinclair

Drive 38%

Visibility 40%

Road Holding 52%

FOATLF 48%

Overall 48%

Jonathan Davies 48%

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO DRIVING GAMES It's strange but true - normally courteous YS readers tend to turn into homicidal maniacs once they get behind the wheel of a Spectrum. We sent JONATHAN DAVIES, who still hasn't managed to get that wretched helmet off, to find out why. It's an expensive business, driving. Not only do you have to hand out piles of dosh to actually get a car, but there are loads of 'hidden costs' thrown into the bargain' too. For a start, you've got to get it insured (in case you crash), which means serious sponds for your average Spectrum owner Then there's road tax, servicing, MOTs, petrol, all sorts of things. And, if you want to keep up with the latest fashions, you'll want to purchase a few 'extras' as well, ranging from simple '-TURBO-' stickers for the back window to alloys, buckets and twin cams. And they all mean spending lots and lots of money. So wouldn't it be nice if you could get your Spectrum to sort of 'pretend' was a car, allowing you to zoom about to your heart's content for minimal outlay instead? Well, actually you can! Yes, all you need to do is buy a suitable driving game, load it up and you've got yourself a set of wheels. It'll be almost exactly the same as driving a real car except that you can crash as much as you like without having to worry about your no-claims bonus. And you'll be able to choose from all the latest posh sports cars like Porsches, Ferraris and Lotuses and drive them as far and as fast as you like without having to splash out on a drop of petrol! (In fact, because driving games are so much cheaper and more practical than real cars, it is predicted that by the year 2012 the motorcar will have become obsolete, replaced by the driving game.) The only trouble with all this is that it's a bit hard to pick up birds with a 48K Spectrum. JUST WHAT, EXACTLY, IS A DRIVING GAME? Mmm, knew we'd have to get round to this sometime. Well, I've had a think and come up with the following spec... - It's got to have either a car, a motorbike or a lorry in it. - That means no bicycles, boats, jet-skis, tanks or anything like that. - And no skateboards either. They're crap. Seems simple enough. It means we're including Grand Prix-type games (where you just race against other cars) and shooting ones (where you zap them) but not similar-looking ones that don't have cars, bikes or lorries in (like boat ones). Okay? Phew. I never thought it would be quite so easy. SO HOW ABOUT THINGS LIKE ARMY MOVES? Oh cripes. Look, just shurrup. will you, whoever you are. No, Army Moves is out, I'm afraid. It's rubbish anyway. So let's take a look at a few examples, eh? It's worth noting that, where driving games are concerned, the ratio of crap ones to good ones is a lot higher than with other types of game (apart from football games, of course). So you can't be too careful. RATINGS The YS Ratings System? You don't want that old thing. No sir, over here we have the brand-new top-of-the-range 1990 model. It's turbo-charged, fuel-injected, 16-valve, super-cooled and has a full X-pack (with droop snoot). And spots. You'll be doing yourself a favour. DRIVE It's no good having a driving game that seems to be simulating an FSO or something. You want real power, a feeling of being at one with the road and all that sort of thing. Control responses, speed etc are all taken into account here. VISIBILITY Assuming you remember to clean all the dead leaves and bird turds off the windscreen before you set out, what's the view like? A thinly-veiled graphics category, in other words, but jolly important all the same. ROADHOLDING It may seem to have everything, but once you've set off, and you've been on the road for a while, do you relish every second that you're behind the wheel? Or do you want to keep stopping at the services? Or perhaps you'd rather just take the bus instead, eh? FIRST-OFF-AT-THE-LIGHTS FACTOR A competitive edge is most important where driving's concerned, both in real life and on the Speccy. So do the other cars put up a decent fight, or do they just seem to be part of the scenery (if, indeed, there is any)? DRIVING GAMES FOR THE BUDDING LADA-OWNER As with all tried-and-tested formulae, driving games are big news in the world of the cheapie. Let's have a look at a few, and maybe try ad work in the odd drive-a-hard-bargain gag. THE DUEL - TEST DRIVE II Accolade Inc Accolade seem quite keen on driving games, don't they? Which is a bit of a shame, as they're nearly always crap. At least, on the Spectrum they are. On things like the PC they're a lot better, and that's where Test Drive first cropped up. The Spectrum conversion is a cut-down version and, predictably, it's rubbish. The graphics are hopeless, for a start. They're all sorts of horrible colours, and there are only about two different things to see. And they give no impression of 'speed' at all (but a superb impression of 'slowness'). You're supposed to be driving either a Porsche or a Ferrari, you see, but the graphics make it seem more like a Number 29 bus. The idea is that you're meant to be racing against another chap, who's controlled by the computer, and at the same time being chased by a police car. Er, what else is crap about it? Oh yes, the collision detection, it's useless! if another car so much as appears on the screen you crash into it. In other words, it's chronic. And with so many others to see, let's waste no more time on it.

Drivin' along in my automobile (dum dee dum), sat right in front of my steering wheel.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDY 'STREETHAWK' OUNSTED Few people would have guessed that YS had its own resident driving expert. We certainly didn't until our Design Asst told us so. "So, you've got a motorbike, have you, Andy?" "Yeah, I've got a bike. And call me 'Streethawk'. All my friends do." "Right. So, Andy..." "Streethawk." "Er, Streethawk, what sort is it exactly?" "It's a Yamaha or something, I think. It's well hard. It shifts." "Does it really?" "Yeah. It'll burn off anything." "Terrific. Could we have a look at it, do you think?" "Er, no. I didn't bring it in today." "Oh? Why not?" "It, um, wouldn't start. I had to get the bus instead."

LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-BEHIND ONES These are the most common by 'miles' (yuk yuk), being those games where you see your car on the screen in front of you from a position behind and slightly above it, and with the road coming towards you in 3D. They all started in the arcades with stuff like Pole Position and moved onto the Speccy via Chequered Flag and later things like OutRun. And, of course, there was the classic Road Racer on the front of the May '87 YS. They're generally good fun, but can be a bit samey and tend to be just a case of pressing Left and Right at suitable moments. And an element of violence tends to creep in - you often get a gun or something mounted on your car to bag other vehicles with. (Roadblasters - um, looking at it from behind. And slightly above. (Simple really))

LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-ON-TOP ONES Kicking off, these are the ones where you get a bird's-eye view of the course and see your car as a little blob hammering round the track (which may scroll if it doesn't all fit onto the screen at once). The basic idea takes its cue from a vintage coin-op called Super Sprint, and you can sometimes get anything up to 29 players on the screen at one time (giving them the edge where competitiveness is concerned). They do tend to lose out graphically though, as there isn't much scope for scrolling 3D roads etc. (Championship Sprint - yes, but is it ass much fun as a Scalextric set?)

LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-THE-SIDE ONES We're heading into dicey territory here, as we could start wobbling on about scrolling shoot-'em-ups if we're not careful. They do generally scroll however, but they're a bit weird as you don't actually have to worry about steering. All you really have to do is get the speed right when going over ramps and maybe launch the odd missile now and again. Motorbikes, rather than cars, tend to feature prominently in this sort of game, which seems reasonable enough as they look a bit thin when viewed from the rear. One thing we've got to be careful of here is bicycles - they seem to crop up in these rather a lot and, as we already know, they don't count.

OH NO, IT'S EVERY SINGLE DRIVING GAME EVER 3D Stock Car Championship - Silverbird 4x4 Off-Road Racing - Epyx American Turbo King - Mastertronic APB - Tengen (Domark) Battlecars - Summit Beach Buggy Simulator - Silverbird Buggy Blast - Firebird Buggy Boy - Elite Championship Sprint - Activision Chase HQ - Ocean Continental Circus - Virgin Crazy Cars - Titus Crazy Cars II - Titus Cycles, The - Accolade Deathchase - Micromega Duel - Test Drive II, The - Accolade Dukes Of Hazard - Elite Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge - Martech Enduro - Activision Enduro Racer - Activision Fire And Forget - Titus Formula One Simulator - Mastertronic Full Throttle - Micromega Future Bike Simulator - Hi-Tec Juggernaut - CRL Grand Prix Circuit - Accolade Grand Prix Master - Dinamic Grand Prix Simulator - CodeMasters Hard Drivin' - Tengen (Domark) Hot Rod - Activision International Speedway - Silverbird Italian Super Car- CodeMasters Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart - Virgin Knight Driver - Hewson Knight Rider - Ocean Last Duel - US Gold LED Storm - US Gold Maze Death - PSS Motorbike Madness - Mastertronic Motor Massacre - Gremlin Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix - Martech OutRun - US Gold Overlander - Elite Pass Your Driving Test - Audiogenic Pole Position - Atarisoft Power Drift - Activision Rally Cross Simulator - CodeMasters Rally Driver - Alternative Rally Simulator - Zeppelin Road Blasters - US Gold Road Racer - Ocean/YS Scalextric - Virgin Speed King II - Mastertronic Spy Hunter - US Gold Street Hawk - Ocean Stunt Bike Simulator - Silverbird Stunt Car Racer - Microstyle Super Cycle - US Gold Super Hang-On - Electric Dreams Super Scramble Simulator - Gremlin Super Stock Car - Mastertronic Taxi! - Digital Integration Techno Cop - Gremlin Tranz Am - Ultimate TT Racer - Digital Integration Turbo Bike - Alternative Turbo OutRun - US Gold Twin Turbo V8 - CodeMasters WEC Le Mans - Ocean Wheelie - Microsphere

OTHERS With a theme as wide ranging as 'driving' we're bound to come across one or two miscreants that don't really fit into any of the previous categories (the scamps). Well, I have anyway. First of all there are ones like Hard Drivin' and Stunt Car Racer where you get a 3D view out of the window. Then there are the vertically-scrolling ones such as LED Storm which are really a cross between looking-at-it-from-behind ones and looking-at-it-from-the-top ones. And there are boring 'management' ones like Grand Prix. Best forgotten, those. (Erm... an 'other'.)

TEN SIGNS THAT HE'S A CRAP DRIVER 1. He drives round with his foglamps on all the time. 2. He wheelspins every time he pulls away. 3. He drives 3mm from the car in front, and as far to the right as possible ready to overtake. 4. He's always first off at the lights. 5. He's got an Escort 1600 Sport with all the usual accessories. 6. He always parks on double-yellow lines. 7. His car's heavily battle-damaged. 8. He makes frequent use of his three-tone horn. 9. He keeps revving up the engine at traffic lights for no apparent reason. 10. One of his brake lights doesn't work.

TEN SIGNS THAT SHE'S A CRAP DRIVER 1. She's driving a Mini. 2. She's got a Garfield stuck to her back window. 3. Simon Bates is blaring out and the Our Tune 'theme music' has just started up. 4. There's another girl with exactly the same style haircut sitting next to her in the passenger seat. 5. She's driving a Porsche.

THE FIRST EVER DRIVING GAME Despite a sore knee and a terrible fear of the dark, I crouched down in the murkiest corner of the YS shed to browse through our collection of cardboard-boxed archives. And did I come up with anything? Well, not really. I did find out that the Van Houten Chocolate in the YS drinks machine is actually the remains of a consignment of rations from during the war (no-one wanted to drink it then either) and I also came across some rather compromising photos of Andy when he was four years old, but nothing really very interesting in the driving games department. I was hoping to turn up some really ropey-looking Basic game from about 1982, but the best I could come up with was Chequered Flag, a Sinclair game that came out a year later. It's quite good actually - a bit like Polo Position without any other cars to race against. We'll give it a thorough going-over later, but in the meantime perhaps you'd like to think back and see if you can come up with anything better if you find anything older than Chequered Flag, do write in and tell us as we'd be jolly interested to know.

TOP FIVE GEARS 1. Third 2. First 3. Fourth 4. Second 5. Fifth (where available)

Crash

Presentation 71%

Graphics 79%

Sound 60%

Playability 75%

Addictivity 71%

Overall 76%

Mark Caswell 71%

Nick Roberts 79%

Accolade/Random Access £9.99 cass, £16.99 disk It's cars, cars and more cars this winter - and some makes seem especially popular. A lot has been heard recently about the two cars in The Duel, as they also star in US Gold's Turbo Outrun, and here's some more: The Ferrari F-40 and Porsche 959 are the two fastest production cars in the world, though the 140 has a slightly higher top speed and a taster 040 mph, so there. One or two players can participate in this race of a lifetime, though if a friend isn't readily available the computer takes over. Once you've chosen a car it's time to make up your mind on the difficulty level: this ranges from easy (automatic gearbox) to hard (which only Nicko 'boy racer' Roberts would try). If in one player mode you can try to outrun the computes controlled car, or beat the clock. But whatever you do, drive like a loony, but watch it: some of the twists and bends in the road look as it they were designed by one. The other thing apart from the sheer drops you must beware are the cops. Some give chase and try to overtake (a ticket is the result of this), while others just seem to sit at the side of the road and expect you to stop. Highly likely! Complete a given stretch of road and you must pull up at the gas station whilst the computer informs you of the race statistics (your average speed, time, who won the lap etc). Then it's time to burn more rubber until the race is won - or lost! I quite enjoyed playing the original, so The Duel-Test Drive II on the Speccy was eagerly awaited. Was the wait worth it? Well, yes and no. Yes because graphically The Duel is rather good. No because the computer controlled driver is well nigh impossible to get past. It may be my lack of driving skills, but I continually crashed into him. Maybe I'm being miserable, but The Duel - Test Drive II can be summed up in the immortal words of a TV ad: it's good, but not that good. MARK 71%

Your Sinclair

Life Expectancy 55%

Instant Appeal 50%

Graphics 55%

Addictiveness 48%

Overall 52%

Matt Bielby 52%

Accolade £9.99 cass/£16.99 disk Reviewer: Matt Bielby Racing games, eh? (As our Jack would start a review.) What'd we do without em? Well, we'd buy a lot fewer games this Christmas, that's for sure. Yup, from Chase HQ to Power Drift to Continental Circus, everyone's gone car bloomin' crazy! There are some more serious driving simulations bouncing about too. The jury's still out on Hard Drivin', but here comes The Duel, Accolade's follow up to the mega-successful PC/16 bit driverama Test Drive. In fact, it's quite heart warming to see a respectable, simulation-based outfit like Accolade dipping its toes into the Speccy market this late in the day. So it's a real shame I can't bring myself to write anything very nice about the results. Because, to be honest, Test Drive II smacks a bit of old tosh. Oh sure, the blurb promises something a bit special. Race head to head in the fastest production cars ever built! Wow! A choice between a Ferrari F40 and a Porsche 959! Road hazards like 'oncoming traffic, rocks, loose gravel, pot holes and oil slicks.' Hot diggerty-dog! Can't wait, right? But oh dear, oh dear. Well, let's kick off with the graphics. They're just so lifeless! Take the courses. (No. please, take them!) in general they're some of the most flat and featureless routes I've ever seen, be they desert, cliff paths or grasslands, with the very minimum of roadside features (outside of the odd cactus). And the cars are no better. The dark blue dashboards are modelled on the cars in question but, in fact, both look far more like the plasticy job from a Nissan Sunny or something. And what are the roads populated with? Not trucks or Beetles or Corvettes or anything else vaguely interesting, but more blooming three box saloons! Even when you're racing the other supercar the graphic used is just that of another Nissan. In short, you'll have to use your imagination a bit here! Thankfully, the control system is considerably better. You're given a wide range of skill options from easy to really hard, the first four of which use an automatic gearbox, with the more difficult ones on manual. Actually, there's not much point in playing it on auto at all (too little to do) but on manual things warm up a bit. In fact, they warm up a trifle too much - fail to change up in time and your engine explodes! Yikes! But - and it's a very big 'but' - even at the simplest level your motor is damn near uncontrollable. To even stay on the road (staying in lane is pretty impossible) takes a million tiny corrections. So it's totally unlike 'real life'. These are, however, but petty crimes compared to the two main holes in the thing. For a start there is no real impression of speed - not even a little bit! Unless you've got your eyes pinned to the speedometer, it's near impossible to tell how fast you're meant to be going. The clock will climb from about 15 to 105 mph in seconds and suddenly you'll be going too fast to take a corner - though it sure doesn't 'feel' like it. Again, totally unlike the experience of driving a real car, where you only need to check out the speedo occasionally. And then there's the collision detection. It's hopeless. You'll crash into a cactus when it looks like it's, ooh, a good 20 feet away. Apparently the computer judges whether you'd hit it or not within the next frame of animation or something and freezes you there, which leaves the offending object sitting there smugly, miles from your bonnet. How frustrating. And that's it really. I keep going back to the game, thinking it can't be that bad. Maybe I've just been unfair. Maybe, once you get into it after you've got used to all the frustrating peculiarities and learned just how far from the other cars you need to be, it all comes to life and becomes playable. After all, the 16 bit Test Drive took a bit of getting used to. But I doubt it. If you're buying a racing game this Christmas there must be at least seven better ways to spend your cash.

Even when you manage to do something right you get little reward for it. Here comes a petrol station. I've got to park between two lines painted across the road. Oops! I've gone too fast and overshot - the car immediately runs out of petrol and the game ends. If I stop correctly, wallop, the screen goes blank and I appear on the second course.

I've crashed but there's nothing near me! I nearly came over all indignant for a second, but then realised Test Drive II has an additional feature - the invisible car! Silly me. And I thought it must be because the collision detection is crap.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years