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Super Cars offers you more revs than the Church of England, and has a much greater fun factor for racing aficionados. It's like a cross between Super Sprint and the PC Engine game Moto Roader: customise your car (you actually get a choice of three), wait for the green light and you're off!

The action begins with eight races in Class One: finish all of those and it's onto Class Two. Each race places you last on the starting grid with an increasing number of cars ahead of you (at first, just four). The object is to overtake them within a set number of laps and cross the finish line first. Simple, eh?

Things are complicated by the fact that the screen scrolls with you - so that you're never quite sure what's coming next - and by the way you drive. Skid too often and your tyres wear down: similarly, you can run out of fuel, burn up the engine or ruin the bodywork in collisions.

Win a race and you gain cash to buy customised parts; ruin your car and it's toodlepip to dreams of glory... for this season, anyway.

There are too few "Super Sprint-style" games on 16-bit: Super Cars offers an alternative. The graphics are a mite disappointing - the background scenery is imaginative but the cars lack detail and the scrolling is a little jerky; the sound, however, is better: apart from the standard revs and squeals, there's a punchy soundtrack during races.

Special mention should be made of the presentation: the graphic sequences and repair/custom options in the garage add plenty of much-needed spice. The action is too easy in the first Class, but luckily there's a password system to help you skip stages you've conquered.

In later Classes, you encounter some very tough opponents who cut corners, drive mean cars and punish poor driving; but this difficulty is all the game relies on for long-term playability, and the gameplay isn't varied enough to be addictive for a solitary player. Worth a look, but don't expect fireworks.