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Anco's Karting Grand Prix affords the player the opportunity to negotiate a series of tracks of varying difficulty against up to two other opponents.

Budding drivers are initially confronted with an options screen, from which game parameters are altered. At least one driver is controlled by the computer, and one or two human players can take the wheel of either remaining kart. The weather conditions are changed to icy, wet or dry, and tyres and sprocket rating are altered to suit. The players' status may also be modified from novice to amateur, and any of the eight tracks can be practised before launching into the game itself.

The overhead display shows the track and surrounding landscape features, while an information panel in the top quarter of the screen shows the number of laps required, the number of laps currently completed, a tyre strength meter and an elapsed time counter.

No qualification is necessary, since any of the tracks are tackled at any point. Total and best lap times plus bonuses are recorded on a high score table displayed at the end of each race.

I'm quite a Super Sprint fan, but can't honestly admit to liking this bad example of the genre. The general presentation is poor, with a dire title screen and an endlessly repeating ten second sampled 'tune', which soon becomes tiresome.

Although there's a comprehensive series of options, none seem to make any difference to the action, and the control method is simply awful. Karts often career off the track, with a complete disregard of joystick instruction, and it takes very little time for frustration to set in.

At £10, Karting Grand Prix might be classed as 'budget', but personally I'd prefer to save a few more pounds and buy something which gives far more entertainment.

Although it obviously tries to emulate the Super Sprint style of racing game, Karting Grand Prix fails because of the awful presentation.

True, there are plenty of options to tinker with, but most of them seem to have little or no effect on the gameplay. They only serve to present a superfluous facade of polish on an otherwise rough-hewn game. It plays very badly - a fault probably attributable to the control method which had my kart leaping off the track at every opportunity.

Aesthetically the game is no better: the graphics are unrealistic and fail to create the desired atmospher, and use of the sound chip seems to lend itself to the term 'half-baked'.

Vivid samples of screeching tyres and dustbins being kicked over lend a rather humorous air to the proceedings, but once the laughts have died down there isn't much here to allow recommendation.

Just the opposite, in fact.

Presentation 51%
Clear screen display, average high score table and an array of options which don't significantly alter the gameplay.

Graphics 37%
Fairly detailed, but too simplistic considering the machine's capabilities. A little colourless.

Sound 27%
A continuously repeated snatch of sampled soundtrack, and laughabout, over-the-top effects.

Hookability 37%
Frustrating and clumsy gameplay aggravated by unattractive graphics and sound.

Lastability 17%
Unrewarding for the amount of effort required, and there are only eight fairly similar tracks.

Overall 28%
Even at this price, it's one of the poorest Super Sprint clones available on any machine.