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Re-release time again, Budget Fans! Programmed by driving maestro Shaun Southern (Lotus 1, 2 and now 3), this is the follow-up to Super Cars, a well-received variation on the overhead "Super Sprint-ish" racing game style. The objective is to race through three groups of seven courses arranged in increasing difficulty, eventually emerging as the Super Cars II champion.

Easier said than done, really, as the tracks aren't standard by any stretch of the imagination, most being blessed with jumps, tunnels, oil hazards and level crossings which all make the qualification place (you've got to be in the top five) hard to achieve in some of the later levels. If that wasn't enough the opponents will think nothing of throwing a few missiles your way or dropping a couple of mines here and there (a tactic being looked at by the Maclaren Team to improve their chances of catching Nige in next year's Formula 1).

Of course, you can use these devices as well, as long as you possess the readies to buy them. Money is earned by finishing well or by conversing with the lowest form of life - journos from the tabloids. They'll offer hard cash for any sort of dirt or revelation as long as it will sell their papers. These conversations happen at random after each race and are presented as a multiple-choice affair. Reporters aren't the only people you can chat to and it's possible to gain or lose championship pooints depending how well you fair against (can you believe it?) Driving Examiners.

If you have any friends, they can join you in the quest for glory by racing simultaneously in a split-screen duel, which, unfortunately, means you lose half your field of vision.

At the end of the day, Super Cars II is a smooth, playable overhead racing game, and if that's what you're after then there is probably none better than this. At least until Team 17's Overdrive appears anyway.