Crash


Speed King 2
By Mastertronic
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Crash #36

Speed King 2

You are a contestant in a motorbike race. The action is viewed from behind your bike, the track scrolling towards the player gives the impression that the bikes are actually moving. At the start of the race, four lights count downwards and then you're off. The bike is capable of travelling at up to 192 mph, although it isn't such a good idea to do this when you're travelling around particularly tight bends. The speed at which you are travelling, which lap you're on and your position in the race are all shown at the top of the main screen, so that you can keep an accurate check on your progress.

The program includes a choice of track, each based on one of the world's famous racing circuits. The tracks involved are Donnington, Silverstone, San Marino, Anderstorp, Paul Picard, Jarama, Brands Hatch, Monza and Daytona The track you want to race around can be selected from the menu options at the beginning of the game. The player can ride from as little as one track right up to nine, if he/she is feeling particularly fit. There is a two player option so that you and a mate can compete against each other. In the two payer option there are just two competitors, yourself and your opponent. In this case, the screen splits into two halves so that the view from each racer is shown.

If a player mis-judges a comer during the race, their bike comes off the track and slows right down to zero. The player loses valuable time when this happens and has to get back on the road and re-accelerate to top speed. If the player hits another bike, then once again their speed drops off and more time is lost.

Comments

Control keys: Player One: Q lean left, W lean right, A accelerate, D decelerate. Player Two: O lean left, P lean right, L accelerate, . Decelerate
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: minimal
Graphics: dire
Sound: rather like a very excited mosquito
Skill levels: ten different tracks of varying difficulty
Screens: scrolling play area

Comment 1

'This is possibly the worst racing game that has come In this year, It has poor graphics that don't seem to speed up as you do (the white lines in the road go virtually the same speed 1 at 60mph as they do at 190mph) and the sound is no more than spot effects and growling. The game play is about as compulsive as a dead cat, if you don't come within the top ten in any lap on your first go then there is something wrong with you. The two player mode is its only redeeming feature. On the whole this may appeal to you are really into racing games but I'd keep well away from it'

Comment 2

'This seems to be a very bad copy of Full Throttle, but with a two player game added. The two player game is a stupid affair, as there aren't any impartial bikers on the track and the first person to make a mistake usually looses.: felt that the game didn't really inform you enough of the things happening to your bike; for instance when in the two player game you don't know whose skidding as the noise for each person is the same, and when you hit something you don't feel like you're slowing down, but the speed counter decreases. I 'm afraid Speed King II doesn't have the feel of a good bike game, and with Full Throttle at 2.99 it's got some good competition'

Comment 3

'The graphics are incredibly bad, and the game is an awful attempt of a Full Throttle copy. The only thing that it has over Full Throttle is the fact that the characters don't flicker, and if that's two years of improvement, I'd rather keep the original. The impression of movement that was quite well put onto Full Throttle is totally non existent on this one, apart from the little stripes down the middle of the road. I think aura can rest assured that there is no competition from this whatsoever, because it's dire.'

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