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So, you fancy the idea of high-speed racing, but shy away from the prospect of explosive crashes and horrific bodily damage? Well, why not take part in the RC Pro-Am - a race that involves no risk whatsoever because the cars are actually radio-controlled (and on a TV screen as well)?

Championship Pro-Am is a Megadrive conversion of the ancient (but still 'kin ace) Nintendo game, featuring all the radio-controlled high speed tom-foolery you could ever hope for.

The basic idea of the game is remarkably simple. Just take control of your tiny speedster and battle it out with five computer players on the Pro-Am circuits of Doom! Collect power-ups and bonus letters to improve your vehicle and race to reach the chequered flag before any of your computer-controlled racing enemies!

Reach the finish line in the first three and you're able to race on the next level of the Championship Pro-Am. Fail and it's game over and you'll have to do it all over again. So there.

This is an almost perfect conversion of an old Nintendo NES game called RC Pro-Am!

Race around the isometric scrolling play area, collecting power-ups, weapons and bonuses. Finish the race in the first three to continue.

During each race, a bonus letter awaits collection. When you've collected the set, you're awarded a massive bonus along with a jazzed-up motor! There are three different vehicles in the game - a speedy 4x4, a souped-up station wagon and a hyper-fast sports model!

There are plenty of hazards on the Pro-Am circuit destined to make your life more than a little difficult. Here's the lowdown.

1. Oil Patches: These are perhaps worse than the pop-up walls! They skid you off the road, turning your vehicle into a horrible fireball (unless you've collected a roll cage!).
2. Pop-Up Walls: Deadly. Steam into one of these at speed and your vehicle explodes! Ouch.
3. Storm Cloud: This has the same effect as the puddle, but moves around a bit to confuse you.
4. Puddle: The most common hazard, this puddle of water just slows you down a tad.

The power-ups that scatter the track boost particular aspects of your vehicle's performance once collected. Tyres improve the grip of your speed machine whilst turbo accelerators soup-up your motor's acceleration. New engines can also be collected to improve the top speed of your vehicle.

There are two different weapons you can strap onto your motor, which come in handy for blowing up any computer-controlled vehicle that dares overtake you.

1. Missiles:
   So... an enemy vehicle has just sped ahead of you, eh? Well, just let loose with one of these babies and they're history - if you can aim properly, that is.
2. Bombs:
   When you get to the front of the race, your top priority should be staying there. This is where the bombs come in handy. Just drop one behind you in the path of an enemy vehicle and snigger to yourself as they explode in a ball of flames. Ha!

Championship Pro-Am is the first Megadrive game from Rare - a company responsible for some of the best games available for the Nintendo NES. This company used to be known in this country as Ultimate Play The Game, who came up with amazing games like Knight Lore, Underwurlde, Sabre Wulf and Lunar Jetman! Let's hope that Championship Pro-Am isn't their last Megadrive title.

I'm glad to see a brilliant bunch of programmers like Rare producing fine wares for the Megadrive - and I'm equally glad to see a conversion of RC Pro-Am for the 16-bit machine. The gameplay here is super-addictive, even though the graphics and sound seem a bit simplistic.

I was glued to the Megadrive for hours trying to get my hands on the sports car - and when I did it there were still twelve more levels to conquer!

However, the problem with this game is that the fun is quite short-lived. The levels aren't really much different and after a week or so, you do get bored with the game. Also, take away the isometric perspective and you have a simplistic version of Codemasters' amazing Micro Machines.

Although Championship Pro-Am is a good laugh, I'd recommend waiting for the release of Micro Machines, which also has a two-player mode - something sorely missing from this game.

Although this is a novel twist to the racing format, Championship Pro-Am doesn't provide enough thrills and spills to cut the mustard. The responsive controls feel good and allow swift manoeuvring and the nicely detailed graphics give this a really solid 3D look, but where Pro-Am falls down is in its lasting appeal.

It's quite challenging, but there aren't enough courses and the basic racing format changes little from level to level, resulting in boredom fairly swiftly.

Another downer is the lack of two-player mode - a split screen head-to-head option would have made it a runaway winner, especially with the weaponry, but unfortunately blatting a computer car simply hasn't the appeal of knocking a human opponent off the road.

Micro Machines is a similar type of game and offers far more entertainment and satisfaction, and there are plenty of traditional racers like Road Rash II, Super Monaco and Lotus, which are far worthier purchases than this.

Presentation 49%
P. The game itself is polished extremely well, but the problem is...
N. There are no options to tweak at all. D'oh!

Graphics 63%
P. Well, the scrolling's smooth and the graphics do their job, but...
N. Unfortunately, the whole game has a very 8-bit look to it.

Sound 63%
P. Some of the sound effects that accompany the action really capture the atmosphere.
N. It's a shame that the music is dull. Surely some more racey tunes would be more appropriate here?

Playability 88%
P. Championship Pro-Am is extremely easy to get into, with the inertia on the vehicles making for a super-playable game!

Lastability 73%
P. There are loads of levels to conquer, but they all look the same, with only the hazards being any different.

Overall 72%
A brilliant conversion of Nintendo RC Pro-Am, but we're sure there could have been a lot more variety in both the graphics and the gameplay. Micro Machines is the better racing game - go for that instead.