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Jump into your squarish speed machine and get ready to race! Double Clutch allows one or two players to participate in a fun-filled, highly dangerous racing calendar. Basically, the idea is extremely simple. Just race around the scrolling backdrops, dodging the opposition and speeding your way to the head of the field. Once you've completed three laps of this sort of excitement, the round ends. If you're one of the first three cars to finish the course, you're able to take part in the next race. If not, it's game over. Booo.

However, don't you think that Double Clutch is going to be a piece of cake. The problem is that adverse weather conditions hamper your performance. Be on guard for slippery roads and rain. Worse still, there's ice and snow on some levels making for some super skiddy driving!

Double Clutch is a derivative of games like Super Sprint and Micro Machines - the overhead scrolly racing genre.

Speed around the scrolling tracks and win races. Use the prize money to upgrade your motor!

At the beginning of the race, you choose which driver you want to use during your Double Clutch season. There are three basic driving types: Lance Quick is your main man if you're after mega acceleration. Joe Thunder has the greatest tyre grip out of the three while Todd Wheeler is the man with the most powerful engine!

If you're a cautious type, go for Pam Wilder, whose braking powers are second to none!

There are three basic weather conditions in Double Clutch. Dry is the most favourable condition, where you car has the most grip. Extra care is needed if it's rotating. Your car tends to slip off the road if you're not careful. The worst form of weather is undoubtedly snow and ice. It's highly slippery and the sheer amount of snow raining down on the course makes visibility very poor indeed.

Double Clutch is a pretty good racer; very fast, very smooth and quite playable. The graphics are well-defined, let down only by a lack of variety in the sprites. The sound though is a tad on the cack side, with awful tunes that don't really suit the action.

There's some nice speech in there though to kick each race off. The real problem with Double Clutch is that the game is quite easy, meaning you can see most of the game in one sitting. Although the two-player option is quite a laugh, it doesn't really sustain interest.

My recommendation would be to save your cash and wait for the amazing Micro Machines to come out.

At first glance, Double Clutch just looks like a poor man's Micro Machines. And in fact, that's exactly what it is. The control method and game mechanics are pretty much identical; there are a fair few differences too.

For a start, Double Clutch has the ubiquitous power-up shop, a feature missing from the Codemasters title, plus a variety of weather conditions to hinder you. However, the changes don't stop there. Double Clutch is a low slower than Micro Machines.

This is a fairly good, if overly easy, game. As it stands, it's not bad, but not quite of the stature of Codemasters' classic cart.

Presentation 77%
P. Some really decent player portraits and loads of options make this game quite presentable.

Graphics 68%
P. Some nice definition on the backdrops...
N. But the sprites lack variety and hardly look like speed machines - looking more like VW beetles!

Sound 67%
P. Some decent speech kicks off each race.
N. But the in-game music and effects are rather lacking, not suiting the high-speed action at all.

Playability 72%
P. Double Clutch is instantly appealing. The urge to see the next level is quite strong. The two-player mode adds to the fun.
N. Once you get used to the action, it loses its appeal.

Lastability 65%
P. A two-player mode helps lastability...
N. However, the game itself lacks any real excitement and you do grow tired of it rather quickly.

Overall 67%
Double Clutch is fast and smooth and quite playable. However, in terms of content and excitement it's lacking compared to the forthcoming, and utterly fab, Micro Machines.