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The tiny town of Sturgis, tucked away in the Black Hills of South Dakota, may seem an odd destination for a loud, greasy Hell's Angel like yourself, but in August Sturgis becomes a Mecca for about 80,000 bikers from all over the world.

Of course there's only one way to travel there: on your sturdy Harley-Davidson (affectionately known as a 'Hog'!). Though this can easily reach 100mph, high speed isn't always advisable. Speed cops patrol the highway, issuing on-the-spot fines to offenders. The road is also littered with hazards like rocks, puddles and other traffic - too many crashes and you die. You'll also probably want to slow down to pick up a beautiful blonde hitchiker!

Starting out as a 'Wannabe' you'll have plenty of time to upgrade your biker rank in the many towns along the way. As well as an essential gas pump, every town has a bike shop where you can buy lots of stuff to repair and customize your bike (better engines, tyres, transmission systems, etc) and upgrade your image (a variety of jackets, helmets, boots, animal pelts, sunglasses and even tattoos).

All of these cost money, earned by entering one of five types of biker event:

1. Slow-Ride Content
   Ride around the road cones in the slowest time possible.
2. Drag Race
   A straight speed race against another biker.
3. Hill Climb
   Ride up a steep hill in the fastest time possible. Go too fast and you'll tip backwards; too slow and you'll fall off.
4. Poker Run
   The strangest card game ever invented. You compete with another biker, collecting playing cards off bikers standing at the roadside. At the finish the best poker hand wins.
5. Weenie Run
   A bit weird, this one. Your pillion passenger (a gorgeous blonde bimbo, of course) must try to bite as many of the frankfurters which hang from strings above the road!

You can also get to mingle with other bikers (and improve your image) at parties. The guys might even invite you to camp out for the night - a great way to reduce rider fatigue. Who knows, by the time you get to Sturgis you may even be an 'Ultimate Biker God'!

Despite the roar of the bikes and the ZZ Top-style intro music, Harley Davidson isn't so heavy. It's really a light-hearted mixture of enjoyable sub-games linked by a road section which gets tedious with the long distances between towns.

There are some nice touches though, like giving a girl a lift on the back of your bike and customising both your bike and your image - a pit then that these changes don't show up on the actual riding screens.

Once you've tried all five events, however, there's little else to see apart from some disappointing single-screen party scenes.

Mindscape have numerous race games heading for release, but they're all different - Harley most especially, with some sleazy adventure elements. The actual road section looks okay, but it gets a bit repetitive dodging obstacles in the road, passing cars and stopping for hitchikers.

Of course, you can speed things up but it's a pity there's no chase, once the cops see you, you automatically pull over for the fine.

When you do hit town you can have fun customising self and bike at the shop, ogling the digitized petrol pump lady and participating in one of the events. These add variety, but suffer from PC-style graphics.

The overall quest ensures the game has more lastability than most, but graphics and sub-games lack oomph for this enjoyable game to be a big hit.

Note: Our copy glitched with a 1 Meg Amiga, but worked fine with the upgrade removed.

Presentation 84%
Digitized screens are impressive, as is a good save/load/format option.

Graphics 77%
The race graphics are effective rather than impressive. Side graphics move well, but horizon graphics poor.

Sound 69%
Good ZZ Top-style intro music, in-game limited to good engine noise and a couple of tunes announcing sub-games.

Hookability 70%
Mouse control soon becomes second-nature, but lack of arcade appeal limits instant addiction.

Lastability 79%
Over the long term getting to Sturgis is a formidable challenge, made more enjoyable by plenty of sub-games. Never really compulsive entertainment, but a game to come back to.

Overall 76%
An off-beat and enjoyable race game.