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Mountain bike racing is the sort of dangerous and exhausting sport best left to simulations. Step forward Alternative with this Kikstart-inspired racing game.

The race begins with your dad giving you a push start across the start line; push right to get pedalling. The screen is divided in two, with player one controlling the top biker, and either the computer or another player responsible for the bottom athlete. To change gear up or down, you press fire with right or left on the joystick. There are six gears, but quite often you'll have to get of the bike to walk over logs, holes and rocks. Alternatively you might be able to dodge around them, as your bike can be moved into the screen - adding an extra, if narrow, dimension to the usual format. Other obstacles include mountains, ramps and swamps.

After a couple of goes it becomes clear this is no advance over Kikstart, there's much less variety of obstacles and only a single track (although you can design, and save more via a user-friendly built-in designer). The computer opponent is also far too easy to beat. But on the plus side it's very fast, moving in and out of the screen does add something to the game, and I had great fun beating Phil six races to one [He cheated! - Phil]. Well worth purchasing if you can't get Kikstart 1 or 2, or fancy more of the same.