A Solid, Original Multiplayer Racing Game
And So It Starts...
Choose a car color and a track. Having the choice of more than one track was BLISS at the time this came out! If I remember correctly, all of the tracks were drawn in the instruction booklet, so you had an idea what you were getting into. There are no extraneous characters, no ''cute'' animals to avoid on the road, no onlookers to impress. Leave all such worries behind and get to racing!
Control
You can play single player (yawn) or two player. The latter is much more enjoyable, as you can laugh at your friends who have yet to master the disc on the controller! (Later Intellivision consoles came with joysticks, but even they were not as easy to master as the movement of those of say, Atari.)
The use of the disc controller really is enhanced by this game. You can push it (almost ''turning'' it) in the direction you want the wheels to turn. This is tricky if you need to turn the wheels in one direction to move the front of the car in another...another way to beat your friends!
Graphics and Sound
For its time, this game is amazing. It has colorful graphics and the cars are actually more than just square boxes!
The sounds are great. I can still hear the engines revving...
The sound of running into water and trees is also classic. One of my favorite parts of this game is how smooth the graphics and sounds are. It really has a lot of depth, considering how new consoles were at the time this came out.
Will This Gather Dust?
I have to admit that I don't play this game on a regular basis. It is more of a collector's item than a replayable game.
Do I respect it enough to dust it? Yes. This game is light years ahead of its time, and provided simultaneous play with 2 players. I will never forget beating my friends (and them beating me) over and over and over. We always seemed to choose the easiest tracks back then...
Overall Recommendation:
Buy this if:
* You like Mattel's original series of Intellivision games.
* You want to see one of the best original console racing games.
* You played it when you were young. It's still as good.