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Anyone who's ever been stuck in a traffic jam has dreamed about doing what you get to do in Turbocharge - blast everything else off the road. Now this classic slice of 'car'-nage is out on budget. Dave gives it an MOT.

Have you ever been to Alton Towers? Or Bush Park in Florida? Or any of the various Disneyworlds? If you have, then you'll have some idea what it's like playing the cassette version of Turbocharge.

Y'see, these theme parks offer some of the best, fastest, most exhilarating rides on the planet. Thunder Railroad, the Tidal Wave, The Black Hole - experiences not to be missed (unless you've got back problems or you're pregnant). But there is a price to pay... er, apart from what it costs you to get in to the theme parks, that is. The price I'm on about is all that waiting around you have to endure. If you do during the school holidays then you can be stuck in a queue for anything up to two hours! Even on a good day, you're lucky if you have to wait less than half an hour.

Turbocharge suffers from a similar problem. The game itself is superb. It's breathtakingly fast, instantly addictive, lush to look at, great to listen to and, basically, darned good fun. But on tape it has one mighty drawback - it's a multiload nightmare.

I reckon that you spend more time watching wiggly lines prancing about the screen than you do actually playing the game. And no, you can't go away and do something less boring instead (like descaling the kettle or watching the static on the TV when you switch over to the video channel without the video actually being turned on), because you have to stick around and babysit the darned thing!

Each of the levels is a separate load, and each level has a qualifying section which is also loaded separately. The trouble is that when they've loaded, the action starts automatically so you need to be close by, ready, with joystick in hand. Then there are the pictures that pop up after each level and qualifying round, plus a multitude of intro screens - all very impressive, but a bit of a waste, and they slow down what is already a tedious loading experience.

So, the question is, does Turbocharge have the necessary thrills to compensate for the loading niggles? Too darned right, it has - it's well worth all the hassle.

It's not so much a driving sim - the controls are kept to a minimum - as a shoot-'em-up that just happens to take place on the road. And the action is... well... think of both Die Hard films strung together but with all the boring dialogue taken out and you've got a rough idea.

The basic plot is... pretty meaningless actually. All you need to know is that you're in a car equipped with some pretty impressive weaponry and you have to blast everything else on the road off the road, including police cars - you're a federal agent, you see, with a licence to do that sort of thing.

On each level, you ultimate aim is to apprehend a member of a terrorist gang. What can stop you achieving this goal are a) running out of fuel, b) running out of time, or c) wrecking your car. To get around these problems you can a) pick up the fuel which periodically appears in the middle of the road, b) not bump into things, stick to the road, take the correct turning at forks, and use your turbocharge facility by pressing the Space bar or c) not bump into things and not get shot at by the terrorists.

Not getting shot at is difficult, because the terrorists have a lot of firepower. They shoot at you from the back of cars and vans, from helicopters and even jet planes. Well, I told you it was action-packed!

Graphically the game is a stunner (but not a S.T.U.N. Runner, thankfully!). The internationally-flavoured backgrounds are brilliantly detailed and immensely impressive. Some of the sprites are a bit blocky, it has to be admitted, but they whizz by you so fast that there wouldn't really be much point in making them any more complex anyway.

The first few levels are a tad easy, but things soon hot up. There are always surprises waiting around the next corner and the fun never flags. The multiload is a pain, and the game really should've been altered so that the levels didn't start without you doing something, but it's still one of the mightiest driving games ever, and at £3.99 it's not to be missed.

Use your missiles sparingly. Save them up for your encounter with the leading terrorist on each level, because by that point you'll probably be running out of time and the missiles will let you apprehend him speedily.

Graphics 74%
Extremely detailed and colourful graphics for a driving game.

Sound 87%
Great driving soundtrack and intelligently used sound effects.

Playability 85%
You'll be smitten by the driving bug from the first rev of the engine.

Lastability 78%
Despite the awkward multiload, it's one you'll keep going back to.

Overall 92%