C&VG


Combo Racer
By Gremlin
Amiga 500

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #104

Combo Racer

If motorbikes and sidecars make you think of Arthur driving the pregnant Olive to hospital in On The Buses, or possibly some George Formby film you once saw on BBC2 years ago, you're obviously not feeling well and should probably get out in the fresh air a bit more.

Well-adjusted individuals who always get off with girls at parties associate motorbikes and sidecars with the rip-roaring sport of Combo Racing. This involves teams of two people, one of whom rides a very fast motorcycle while the other crouches in a bullet-shaped sidecar, clinging on for dear life while leaning left and right to help swing the combination around corners.

Gremlin have computerised the sport and made it into a one or two player game. With two players, one steers the bike as per any other motor racing game, while the other pushes left and right on the joystick to lean the "passenger" into the bends.

Combo Racer

You and your partner can ride in individual races or take part in tournaments, and when you get bored of that, there's always the full-function track editor to mess around with.

Amiga

There are so many 3D road racers around at the moment that I wasn't expecting anything new from Combo Racer. But when I loaded up the game and stasrted playing I was surprised to find that it's a very playable, even compulsive variation on the standard race game.

The graphics are good but not super-realistic, but you hardly notice that because the action is so fast. The two player option is really good and demands a lot of interaction between the driver and the passenger, but playing with the computer in the sidecar is good fun too.

The sound effects and music are excellent, and the sound of the engine even changes as you drive through a tunnel. As if that wasn't recommendation enough, Combo Racer also features the most comprehensive track editor I've ever seen which lets you build up a library of new courses by fiddling with the built-in tracks, put in hills, tunnels and even change the scenery which scrolls along the horizon!

Paul Glancey

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