Cycling is a sport with a very high SB - or Sore Bot - rating, although not quite as high as bronko busting or tobogganing in your boxer shorts. The Kellogg's Tour of Britain cycle race has less SB than the Tour de France because it's only about half the distance. It also has much less charisma since not many pro cyclists actually dream of ever winning it.
Anyway, CRL's version of the Kellogg's Tour has a high SW - or Sore Wrist - rating, owing to the fact that it's one of those joystick waggling games that we hoped would never reappear.
The game, described as 'official' is a faithful rendering of the race which, as we all know, finished several weeks ago and nobody remembers the winner. It has six stages beginning in Newcastle, passing through York, Manchester, Liverpool, Stoke, Birmingham and Bristol, and finishing on London's Westminster Bridge. Throughout the stages, there are various sprint sections on which you can win time points which are automatically deducted from your final time.
You start the race in 67th position, the object being to work your way up through the 'peloton' as you progress through the six stages. Just like the real thing various vests are up for grabs. Reach the top of a climb first and you're awarded the King of the Mountains jersey. Winning a TV sprints gets you the white one. Win a stage and you get the coveted yellow jersey.
Now for the cycling bit. As you've already gasped, waggling the joystick from side to side makes you go quicker. You also have a choice of two (only two) gears high gear for the slopes and low for the straights - not too taxing for the brain, that. Apart from that, you must take food at regular intervals to retain your stamina.
All that lot is cleverly displayed as a row of icons at the bottom of the screen. Food is depicted as a bottle which gradually empties, whilst the slopes are upward or downward gradients. It's a good idea to keep an eye on this so that you can change to the appropriate gear in good time. The only other hazards are the other cyclists who lose you speed if they bump into you, or you into them.
Graphically, the scenery is rather impoverished and repeats itself for each of the stages. You start on a street scene, move out into open country, and then finish the stage on yet another street scene. You don't even get an idea of uphill or downhill sections - it all looks perfectly flat!
Fortunately, the cyclists are better defined. They're large and their legs pedal realistically, quickly in high gear and less quick in low. They've all got that nice crouching action too.
A nice touch is that you get a map of Britain at the end of each stage showing the course completed as a solid line and the next section as a flashing line.
Another nice touch is the 'position in race' indicator at the left of the screen. You can actually watch it go down as you overtake a cyclist.
Kellogg's Tour is a generally well designed and well presented game but it loses out drastically on gameplay. It's all too simple and there's nothing really to do except waggle away at the joystick. But that sums up cycling. It's not much fun unless you're actually doing it. Over to you, Pedro.
Generally well designed and well presented, but it loses out drastically on gameplay. It's all too simple and there's nothing really to do except waggle away at the joystick. But that sums up cycling. It's not much fun unless you're actually doing it.
Screenshots
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