Enjoy going round the bend

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At long last the eagerly awaited conversions of Atari classics are beginning to appear in the shops under the name of Atarisoft. Of the BBC Micro conversions, Pole Position must be one of the best known.

Up until now motor racing games of this type have involved racing along a straight road weaving left and right to avoid the traffic. The only attempt at relieving the boredom being a change in the background colour.

Atarisoft's Pole Position scores very strongly over these earlier versions by the inclusion of that missing ingredient, bends.

The game consists of two sections - a qualifying lap and the race itself. As the game begins an airship and banner cross the skyline announcing the start of the qualifying lap. The controls are simple - left, right, spacebar to toggle between high and low gears, and Return to brake. There is no accelerator - speed increases gradually in each gear.

The trick to achieving a high score is therefore to drive as smoothly as possible, no screeching around the bends, and the brake pedal is definitely taboo. If you are to qualify for the main event then you must finish in the first eight on this practice lap.

Having put in a good time in practice you find yourself on the starting grid. Depending on your time the number of cars starting in front of you will vary.

The airship announces the start of the big race, and the starting lights appear. Red ... red . .. red . .. green, and you are away, the air heavy with exhaust fumes and burnt rubber, as you scream down the first straight leaving the opposition trailing behind in your wake (OK. so we all get carried away sometimes).

There is just one thing that puzzles me about the game. If I begin the race in pole position then why am I being hassled by a couple of reckless drivers by the time I reach the first bend?

This minor discrepancy aside. I found Pole Position graphically superior to the original Atari version. The game has been written to such a high standard that it is infuriatingiy addictive.

Jon Revis