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{subhead}Classic Games- SkidMarks2{def}{p}
Review by Hugo Wilkinson
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In our CLASSIC GAMES series (which constantly brings tears to my
eyes) I have decided to pull up an old Acid classic.
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Acid (as some of you more veteran Amigan's will known) were responsible
for the Blitz Basic programming langauge which has been used to develope
some of the best games in history (including the original WORMS!) -
which co-incidently is a great reminder of just how great the Amiga
community is. We come up with a great idea, make it superbly, then get
ripped off by the 'big boys'. Well, with the production of the
developers kit being released on April the 4th (with any luck) we'll
soon see some great productions again!
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For now, I'm going to subject you to a rather rudely named game which
once caught the amazement of tens of thousands of Amiga gamers in the UK
alone, SkidMarks 2!
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I've decided to leave Skidmarks 1 alone, because SkidMarks 2 is so much
better and all the tracks on number 1, can be used on and by number 2! 8)
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Skidmarks 2 saw the dawn of what I think is one of the most amazing
gaming habits to date, the ability to change the graphics and thus the
game itself. In this particular game, you can draw your own tracks, and
and you can build and render your own car/vechicle for use. The game
comes equipped with many fantastic vehicles and tracks already, but that
wasn't enough for many!! The most interesting of which is a cow. You can
actually race a cow round his speeding track with seven other
cows/cars/4x4's etc etc. Alternatively, you can even bang a caravan on
the back of your cow/car/etc etc - make driving (and reversing in
particular) a complete game in itself!!!
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The game can be played by up to 8 people on ONE machine, and if you link
two over a modem connection, then up to 16!! There are even instructions
in the manual telling you how to make your own 4-player joystick adapter
(which makes use of the parallel port!). Another great innovation of
this game is the fact that you have a small game of tennis to play at
ANY point in the menu's and while the game is loading up cars/tracks
etc. You have two bars at either side of the screen, and a ball which
changes shades through various degree's of colours. You can then battle
it out with a friend on this small game while the race is being
prepared. Alternatively, battle it out with yourself using the MOUSE
which controls both sticks, and for added complexity, it makes one go UP
whlie the other goes DOWN - and when the ball gets fast, it becomes VERY
tricky indeed!
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Anyway, I had better get on with reviewing the game it self. There are
24 tracks supplied with the game to race around, and 8 vehicles. You can
have has many vehicles as you want by designing and rendering your own.
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You can either have 4 cars with caravans racing, or 8 cars with no
caravans. Its up to U. You can also select from 5 different speed modes,
with additional 'Custom' and 'Slippery' modes. Slippery is great fun as
there's not really such a thing as steering and you make it round every
corner using full lock turning and bashing into other cars and the side
of the track.
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Once you start playing the game, you get instantly hooked. You hurtle
into the first corner, get bashed a bit silly and your off - before you
know it, your family are getting out of bed and its time for breakfast!
A little nifty fact about the game is that the more you race a course,
the more and more 'worn' it gets. As you skid round corders, you leave
'SkidMarks', which don't ever dissapear (just as in real life - sadly!),
and its fun after racing on the same track for hours on end to see just
how battered and bu**ered the track looks! The computer intelligence
isn't up to todays standards, but it gets the job done more than well
enough, they all get round the track, they can get out of tight
situations and they don't mind bashing you off course!
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The music in the menu's is thumpy and professional sounding and gets you
right in the mood for a good race. Sadly, the engine noise cannot be
said to sound too great, but it sounds good enough and soon enough the
engine noise will be a background noise and you screech round the
corners (as the skidding noise is very gruesome indeed!).
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Even if you hate the graphics (which is actually quite good) and you
want to batter the cows head silly to stop the engine noise, the
gameplay will hook you for many an hour. Its a great game to get a few
friends round, open your drinks, get some crisps and kebabs, and have a
jolly good night in waggling your joysticks too!
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And if you have a modem, two groups of friends from anywhere in the
world can race the Championships in hope of proving their vastly
superior driving skills! :)
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Go buy it now and contact me- hugo@aio.co.uk- about HD installation software.
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{bold}Available from{nobold}:  Epic Marketing 01793 514 188 @ £9.99 / www.epicmarketing.ltd.net{p}
Title: Super Skidmarks
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{bold}Graphics{nobold}      : 93%{p}
{bold}Sound{nobold}         : 81%{p}
{bold}Playability{nobold}   : 97%{p}
{bold}Lastability{nobold}   : 99%{p}
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{bold}Overall{nobold}       : 93%  Buy it!.. Epic Marketing, top of the review!
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