In the heat of the city there are a million stories and Ed Hick's is just one of them. Poor old Ed, out of the boonies to see the Big Apple, only to find it rotten to the core. Poor old Ed, his only wish to see the city sights, but the sights he saw were far from friendly. Poor old Ed, his story was just one in a million and this is it...

Just out of Smallsvllle is fresh faced Ed, a country boy with four hundred dollars to his name. In New York for a day trip with the aid of his red atomic Plymouth Continental. It really is a bit of wonder car and was converted to fission power by his Uncle Bob. The main advantage of having a radioactive car, apart from glowing fluorescent Chernobyl green in the dark, is that you can run over other cars and convert them to a mere mishmash of steel, glass and rubber without any damage to yourself. In his atomic car, Ed is to see the twelve sights that New York has to offer within a rather limited amount of time.

There are a number of troubles that delay Ed, most of them due to the poor hick's unfamiliarity with city life. First, there's the traffic; it can't come as a surprise to you that the traffic in Now York is a little more hectic than that of placid Smallsville. There are two different types of vehicle to be encountered on the streets of the Big Apple. First, there are the relatively harmless cars; bump these and they squish. But the tow trucks are mean and nasty machines driven by meaner and nastier mechanics. In a collision, no amount of atomic energy can protect a player from a tow truck. The result is one damaged Plymouth that's now garage bound and a damaged Ed Hick who's just been released from the city hospital.

Now the poor chap is in walk mode and has to leg it to the local garage to pick up his newly rejuvenated car and shell out $100 for repairs. If this little escapade leaves poor old Ed broke then the game is over.

Ed can, however, collect more money from the bank, but it is under constant siege from a band of bank robbers. This sort of thing doesn't put off country boy Ed and the lad has to dodge bullets and felons to withdraw his $500.

To visit a sight you have to be in pedestrian mode and Ed's car must he parked. If the time runs out on Ed's parking meter, his car gets towed away. The whole game must be completed in a day and it's an awkward thing to do since only two of the sights are open at any time. Each sight contains a mini arcade game that needs to be completed before it can be deemed as 'seen'.

In the heat of the city there are a million stories, why not give Ed's story a happy ending?

This is a pretty silly game which, although slow, is quite fun to play. Visiting each site is made interesting by having to play a screen of action, and some of these screens are damn difficult. Playing the el splatto bit with other cars is very jolly and some of the screens are fun. The graphics and sound leave a lot to be desired, but for three quid the game isn't that much of a bad buy.

I have to disagree. New York City is crud. It looks and sounds abysmal, and plays just as badly. Driving and trudging around the Big Apple didn't appeal to me at all, and I found all of the sub-games uninteresting and tiresome. There are some great games in the Americana range, but this isn't one of them.

Though looking truly awful, sounding really awful and generally playing awful, there's something about New York City that makes it fun to play. It's probably all the cars crashing, since for some strange reason seeing vehicles splat and crumple into each other is my idea of fun. The gameplay is incredibly slow, though, and unless watching mass carnage on New York's highways isn't your idea of fun then there isn't anything else to keep your interest. Never mind, I think it's worth the money.

Presentation 70%
Average title screen, good instructions and in-game presentation.

Graphics 32%
Simple, poorly drawn characters and buildings.

Sound 39%
Reasonable title screen tune and spot FX.

Hookability 50%
Smashing up cars is the main attraction initially.

Lastability 37%
Not much to hold interest, but at least there's something.

Value For Money 44%
You could do worse than spend three quid on this.

Overall 40%
Beats getting mugged on the subway.