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I'm always happy to see anything on the Spectrum these days that isn't a platform game built on La Churrea. Road Trippin' 2022 is built with AGDx instead, and it's not the type of game that I usually go for. That's mainly because it's one of those games where you view the action side-on, and have a vehicle that starts top left and needs to end bottom right. You must speed it up and slow it down, whilst jumping the obstacles on each 'level' of the sheet (there are four in total) and avoiding any nasties that obstruct your path.

I've never really had much time for these games, finding them little more than a memory test. Road Trippin' 2022 is also more difficult to play than others of this style that I've encountered, likely because everything seems so tightly packed, and it takes you a while to realise that the graphics are all obstructions, not just pretty backgrounds to illustrate the scene. Whenever a game like this crosses my proverbial path, I always feel like an internal countdown starts in my brain to the effect of "Right, I'll give this one ten minutes to present some variety and after that, I'm off".

In the case of Road Trippin' 2022 I never got off the first sheet in that time, and that's with quite a few on-screen prompts that try to tell you what gear you should be in (High or Low). The problem is not that the idea is flawed; it's more that trying to tap the necessary game controls at the very split-second necessary for successful completion of the screen is more frustrating than it should be. I'll accept that some of this frustration is due to my own impatience, but the sprites are so small, and the visual indication of what gear you are in is so inconspicuous, that I am sure I'm not going to be the only would-be player who feels this way.

What's even worse is that there's no ability to start the game on any screen. So most players aren't going to see any more than Skegness before they drown themselves in their afternoon coffee. In an effort to demonstrate each screen can be completed, the first few sheets do have a visual indication of exactly when you should change gear. But even with that I struggled, so I dread to think how tough subsequent sheets will be.

I haven't played Road Trippin's prequel (yet) but I don't think this game is going to win any awards. Nevertheless there aren't very many of these type of side-on-speed-up-slow-down games on the Spectrum, so it may be worth a look if you've enjoyed others in this particular genre. I suppose...