Previous Next

Erm, well, it's a nice idea isn't it? There's a lot of colour, isn't there? There's plenty... no, sorry I can't keep this up. How am I supposed to review a game positively when it plays as badly as this one? Not only that, but Turbo V8 is in the same vein as Out Run but not nearly as good.

You are driving a Twin Turbo V8, the latest in a long line of supercars. You have to drive a mad 500 mile dash across varying types of US landscape including desert (yellow), winterland (blue) day and night.

Along the way, you get to career through tunnels and industrial piping that hangs between pylons. The road snakes along and loads of cars all travel along in the same direction with the aim of driving just a little bit slower than you so as to cause maximum obstruction.

This is all routine. There are five stages, you have to complete each stage within a chosen time limit, your car has two gears and the road is very hilly. So what new features does the game have to offer? Level three has a low cloud layer.

As you can see, TTV8 isn't too much of an advancement. That's OK, that's cool. A SEU doesn't have to lead the way forward to be fun. Does it make you come back for more? Do you sweat on the hairpin bends? Do you struggle to see down the hills that quickly disappear from view? Do you duck as you drive under low bridges? Well, not really I'm afraid.

The main problem is the speed of the game. Considering how little there is to update on open road, the game moves appallingly slowly. Even dated products like Deathchase 2000, with more on screen than this even at the heaviest of times, move way faster. Going under bridges slows the game further, to a completely unplayable pace. It's a shame, because with a little more speed, the game could be great, much better all side objects and even the road itself are made up of vectors, and not the most complicated ones at that.

The sound is far from brilliant, but the idea behind it works far better than the final product. A click-track gets faster or slower depending on the car's speed, and as opposing than WEC Le Mans. The only sprites used are the other cars, cars race past a droning noise gets louder and softer, depending on the distance between you and them.

It seems that, for now, WEC Le Mans still holds the standard by which all are to be judged. Come on industry, aren't you going to put up some sort of fight?

Label: Code Masters Author: Ian Dunlop Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Disappointing race game.