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Well, maaaan. Y'know there's no substitute for cruisin' down the highway in your Ferrari, is there, y'know? I mean your girl by your side and all, y'know?

And this is the kind of person that drives very fast in an expensive car like a Ferrari. Makes you sick doesn't it? Well you, too, can realise this sort of dream (the driving a Ferrari part) in US Gold's Amiga conversion of Sega's classic driving game Out Run.

Your vehicle is a brand spanking new, bright red Ferrari Testerossa convertible, complete with personalised number plate. Of course, this isn't the kind of car that you just tootle around town in, it's the sort that has to be driven really fast, the kind that has to have a blonde beauty on the passenger seat to enhance the image. Images have to be kept up, so you enter a road race to prove yourself a cool dude.

Revving up, the light turns green and you're waved off. The race takes place over five stages, each of which must be completed within the time limit to allow you to progress.

Racing would be easy if you were on your own, but as it's all being held on the highways, you must avoid crashing into other cars or obstacles on the track edges and losing precious seconds.

If you manage to complete all five sections, then your girlfriend will think you are the coolest, froodiest dude on the roads and will give you your just reward (har, har knowotimean?).

I reckon that if a company converts a game such as Out Run to the home market, then they should try and make up for the loss of the control system and hydraulic movement by making the 3D movement effective and atmospheric.

Instead of doing this, US Gold have merely created a pretty unthrilling racing game which captures little of the feel of the original. The graphics are jerky and ineffective, with some of the most horrendous mistakes imaginable. For example, when turning from side to side, the driver and passenger swap sides!

The only notable presentation piece is the loading sequence - and even that is very self indulgent. Considering the power of the machine, Out Run should have been a lot better.

I'm sick of this. Everyone knows that the Amiga is a more powerful computer than the Atari ST, so why do software houses release Amiga games that are just the ST versions virtually ported across to the Commodore machine?!

Out Run is almost exactly the same as the ST version apart from a few sound changes and the addition of an intro sequence (which, incidentally, is extremely cringeworthy). The graphics are fairly well-defined, but they move like cardboard cutouts, wibbling about all over the place.

Another thing is that, on the arcade version, when the time ran out you sort of coasted to a stop, but this version just stops dead, even when you're inches from the checkpoint. Oh, and its multi-load is slow, causing frequent delays. A disappointing conversion.

Presentation 48%
The very long loader and annoying in-game quirks make for frustrating going.

Graphics 56%
Fairly detailed but horribly animated sprites drive along cardboard roads.

Sound 53%
Arcade-like music but terrible screechy sound effects.

Hookability 47%
Dodgy steering and dull playability are hardly the stuff that addictive games are made of.

Lastability 35%
Even getting a friend to rock the chair about won't make it keep its appeal for very long.

Overall 41%
A dull conversion that achieves little of its potential.