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Oh, the joys of the open road, the wind rushing through your hair, the sun beating down. Ahhh! The nightmares of a twisty-turny race track with insane suckers cutting you up! If the latter is your idea of fun then Indy Heat could be just you cup of char...!

This is a race game that looks a bit weird. Well, to be more precise, you look at it a bit weird - like from a light aircraft circling 2,000 feet above the track! The cars are the smallest of sprites, nudging and barging each other around twelve tortuous tracks in the deserts of the USA. Yet despite these visual handicaps, it works rather well.

The distant view may give little feeling of being there down amongst the muck and bullets (!?!) but when you hit the last lap, it's tense stuff! The hands tighten on the joystick, the eyes sharpen to pinpoint precisely every pixel and it really, really matters that you beat the three computer drivers to the chequered flag and take the race honours.

Coming from a coin-op, Indy Heat is delivered in small race size chunks. You take one race at a time and victory is the only way to guarantee qualification for the next Indy Heat on an even tougher track. Winning also earns you a whole pile of cash that can be spent on your car to make it a whizzier, more efficient, and an all-round better lean, mean, racing machine.

The game kicks off with you choosing a character to represent you down in the dust and spending $100,000 on your spanky new car. You'll only be able to afford one or two extras, but even at this stage of the game you can start to build up a mechanical advantage.

The scene shifts to the track and the cars are ready for the green light. It's race time and time to prove your metal. The cars pull away and you have to weave through the field, avoiding damaging collisions with the barriers and other cars. This ain't easy but it's vital if you want to win - and the second that one of the computer cars cuts you off in a corner, you desperately want to win.

Damage weakens the car and slows you down, so careless drivers end up in smoking wrecks that putter pathetically around the track. So when (it is sadly inevitable) the damage takes its toll or the fuel starts to run out, it's time to hit the pits. Even in the shortest races you have to divert to the pit lane at least once to take on extra gas. This is where the race will be won or lost in most cases, so it helps to invest in a speedy crew. Luckily, pitting is easy; you just pull off of the track and stop near the pad that flashes in your car's colour. Near is good enough as your enthusiastic team leap out, pull your jalopy into the bay and repair your racer.

Racing itself is a matter of fast, deft touches of the 'stick to change the direction your car's headed in. It can get confusing at first, as the cars rotate while the controls don't, but there are two 'stick methods to choose from and as soon as you find the one that suits your style, you'll begin to leap up the field. Good driving is not a matter of just going fast though, but consistent cornering, avoiding crashed cars, clean pit-stops and fuel economy.

Winning looks simple to start off with, as the tracks are mere triangles and squares with no niggly bits to negotiate. These elements soon rear their vengeful heads though with chicanes, sharp sequential bends and a general nastiness of design that would have Nigel Mansell blubbing into his moustache. This is where the coin-op pedigree cuts in; you only have two credits to buy your way out of losing, so if you want to stay in the title hunt, you must win. In the arcade, shovelling pound coins in may have bought you success, here skill is all that counts.

Indy Heat works because of its mix of precise action and the inclusion of some strategy - which go-faster extras enhance the way you drive? Once you've put your money where your gear shift is, then it's time to back that strategy up on the track. The tension comes from the threat of sudden death exclusion from future heats because of one slight slip - Indy Heat's demand for round after round of perfect driving is annoying but ups the game's tension to excellent levels. And, on top of all this, there's the two player option.

Racing against a human is the biz. When it's you against a mate, mano et mano style, dirty tricks driving really comes alive. There are short-cuts through the run-off safety zones and of course the playful nudges that encourage competitors' cars into the crash barriers. This is Indy Heat at its best, with vicious blocking moves and spoiling tactics of the if "I can't win, you can't win either" variety in full effect.

Where Indy falls down in terms of display, new tricks and staying power it makes up for, in terms of straightforward playability. Its easy to pick up and exerts a powerfully addictive little tug - just one more race syndrome at its best.

As a conversion Indy Heat works well. It combines all the best points of the arcade - intense bursts of play - with a longer term aim finding the right power ups for the car so you can win the championship title. It's straight up fun with a few frills, just like a real arcade should be.

1. Go faster extras add an element of strategy to racing.
2. Good range of player options, including multi-load.
3. Real vicious, two-player fun.
4. Twelve increasingly tough tracks to try out.
5. Tougher than the coin-op!
6. Instantly playable, but hard-to-beat.
7. Uses the classic look down race perspective.
8. Two player option encourages dirty tricks.
9. Has a strong "one more race" hook.
10. Simple arcade fun.

1. Small sprites don't look stunning.
2. Played in short chunks, so there's little time at the joystick.

A vital part of Indy Heat are the go-faster extras. But what do they do?

1. TURBOS: An absolute must for every speed king. Press fire for that extra burst to take you over the line - or into the wall.
2. BRAKES: These slow you down real quick - but brakes are for cissys (and survivors)!
3. TYRES: This special set helps to stop you spinning out - unless you really try hard!
4. CREW: This speeds up it tops to racing edge. It's a sort of productivity bonus, albeit a very, expensive one!
5. MPG: The kind of thing that seems to matter to your dad and Skoda drivers
6. ENGINE: Gives you extra poke on the acceleration front. Only useful when you've mastered the art of straight lines!
7. SIMON'S PICK: The computer picks the option for you and wastes all your cash for no discernable benefit whatsoever!
8. RACE: When you're bored or broke, select this to hit the track and start the race.