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Since Enduro Racer made its debut in the arcades, almost every single racing game has had a hill or two added to try and make your stomach churn. To be honest, none of them really have succeeded, until now. Here we have a product that will not only have you on the edge of your seat, but will also keep your stomach churning, as your guts tell you that you shouldn't be doing what your eyes are telling you you're doing. Stunt Car Racer is that good.

If your attitude to race games is "seen one, seen 'em all", then look again. Stunt Car Racer is the race of the future. The tracks you race on have been specially designed for high speed runs. The bends have been banked, which means you don't have to slow down. The interesting thing about the courses is that at no point do they come any lower than twenty feet from the ground. In fact, some of the "hills" reach between eighty and one-hundred-and-twenty feet, so racing is pretty hair-raising stuff.

Comparable to Domark's Hard Drivin' SC is made up of filled vectors, and very nice they look too. The track is a huge grey strip raised high above a lush green lawn, and as you speed along over the bumps and hills, the ride can only be described as exhilarating. If you were lucky eough to see the game in action on MicroProse's miniature stand at the PC show this year, you'll remember the gasps as people found themselves glued to the oversized monitors. And excitement is what gives this game its winning edge.

Geoff Crammond (remember him, the author of Revs?) has done an amazing job on the maths involved in getting both the handling of the buggy and the response to gravity just right. Inertia works perfectly, and you realise after the first time you try it that racing up a hill at full pelt with your finger on the thrust button isn't a good idea. You suddenly run out of road to race on and plummet downward rejoining the track with a nasty smash up.

Crashing isn't advised, it has to be said. Every time you do anything to damage the car a crack appears on the left hand side of the windscreen. It gradually works its way across with every knock, until it reaches the far right of the screen, at which point your car falls apart and is considered a wreck.

I've said it before but the graphics are incredible, and that doesn't only apply to the movement of the track in relation to you. The other buggies are amazing to watch too. It's almost worth losing the race so that you can follow the other car along the track, watching it bounce around realistically. Sound too, provides some of the most realistic revving and acceleration noises yet heard.

But that's not all. There's plenty of other additions - like the facility to link up your Amiga with a friend, either Amiga or ST owner, and have a head-to-head race via a modem link. Or the league option. You start the game bottom of division four, with other drivers (computer controlled) in your division. You have to race the computer cars over the two tracks assigned to your division, and gain enough points to be promoted to the next division.

An amazing game, almost perfect in fact. A 'must buy' for all Amiga owners.