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Coin-ops strike again. Supersprint has finally arrived on the Amstrad with eight gruelling tracks for you to compete on. Two people can play at the same time against two computer car drones or one player can race against three drones.

You first select the number of players and then choose which of the eight tracks you want to race on. To continue to the next track one of the players must beat all the drones; second place counts for nothing.

Some tracks are more difficult than others because of tighter bends, jumps and underpasses where your car goes out of sight. Oil slicks appear too and these make the car spin out of control, as does a tornado. Water slicks slow down your car allowing the computer cars a chance to catch you up. Bonuses appear at random and these can be collected for points.

The most useful thing to appear is a spanner and if you collect three of these you can customise the car to give it: super traction, higher top speed, turbo acceleration or increased scoring. No explanation of the features is necessary because they all live up to their names.

Sound is limited to the revving of your engine and even that doesn't sound too good. The graphics are small but colourful and the cars are easy to identify in the four different colours. There are a couple of irritating things, like the poor collision detection - which bumps you into walls when you aren't near them! - and driving over the spanners often results in you not picking them up!

Supersprint is an addictive game in the arcades and its addictiveness does come across in the conversion, but it is let down by the collision detection. It is better than Grand Prix Emulator, but that was a budget game.

I enjoyed the arcade game, but it wasn't earth-shatteringly exciting. I'm afraid this conversion loses some of the playability and therefore some of the enjoyment. The choice of keys is bad and you can't redefine them - one of those niggly but important details. It's still a lot of fun to play, particularly with two people, but I sense an opportunity missed to provide something good.

Slightly harder spotting which car is yours, but playable.

Complete five tracks.

Graphics 68%
P. Clear, colourful graphics
N. Poor collision detection.

Sonics 23% P. Brim, brrm

Grab Factor 79%
P. Addictive gameplay.
P. Two people can play at once.

Staying Power 67%
P. Eight tracks to complete.
N. Ultimately lacks variety and challenge.

Overall 73%
P. A fun game...
N. ...which could have been excellent.