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What sort of games do you associate with the Game Boy Color? 2D platformers? Shoot-'em-ups? Puzzle games? One genre that you probably don't think of immediately is racing games. After all, the size of the Game Boy Color screen and its fairly limited processing power in this age of high-powered PCs and next-generation consoles doesn't really lend itself to producing exciting car games, does it? Well, no, at least, not until now.

V-Rally first appeared on the PlayStation where it met with resounding success. It has since made an appearance on both the N64 and PC and now it's the turn of the Game Boy Color to get the Infogrames rallycross treatment.

V-Rally Championship Edition is a one-player racing game which lets you race a number of powerful rally cars across ten different tracks in and around Europe. Each track has different scenery and - more importantly - different surface conditions which can affect the performance of your car and thus make it essential that you choose the right vehicle. Basically if you've played V-Rally on any other format then you'll know what to expect.

In look, V-Rally Championship Edition is very reminiscent of racing games on the old 8-bit systems like the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. The fairly simple track basically rolls past the car, changing height to indicate hills and ditches as you barrel round the various different landscapes.

The cars themselves are outstanding. They're big, very well animated and give the game a real racing 'feel'. The varied track conditions make the game more interesting and there's a definite feeling of speed when you're playing.

V-Rally Championship Edition is an extremely good game. Despite the limitations of the technology Infogrames have turned out a very polished product which plays well and is as enjoyable as the PlayStation incarnation and beats the rather disappointing N64 offering hands down. V-Rally Championship Edition is quite simply the best racing game on the Game Boy Color to date.