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Road racing games have been enjoying a bit of a peak at the moment, what with Wec Le Mans, Road Blasters et al being converted from the arcades and various (often better) clones of same, it's something of a saturated genre. But there is a good reason for this, like most things, and that is if they're moderately well programmed, they are huge mounds of fun.

Enter stage left Super Trux, a sort of Hang-On with a smokestack on top. You are a supertruck racer doing a Trans-European rally for some stupendous prize or other, and in the process of charging across Europe you encounter other trucks heading along on the same race, plus other roadside hazards in the form of trees, rocks, advertising signs, etc. All the standard stuff.

As per usual you have to race to a checkpoint to qualify for the next section, and you are only allowed one or two mistakes along the way. What isn't quite standard are the traffic cones, which funnel you over to the side of the road occasionally. The amazing thing about these plastic cones is that they can stop a full-sized articulated lorry dead in its tracks at full tilt. They do blip up into the air, but at some of the speeds I hit them they ought to be scraped off the road with a fish slice!

The animation is nice, especially the bit where you hit a roadside obstacle and glance off it back into the road, the truck turns sideways into a skid and the SID chip makes an appropriate screech. I spent a lot of time trying to make it do that instead of making the checkpoint in time, I must admit.

Some of the other effects are a bit cheap and tacky, but they don't spoil the playability of the game. The sense of speed is good, and the difficulty sufficient to keep you at it but it doesn't let you get away with much either.

Shame such time has been spent on 'another' game in an already overloaded genre, but not to worry. It's a good gimmick, and worth a look.