Track Attack

Okay. You've Checked The Score (don't pretend you haven't), yet you're reading this Track Attack review anyway. So I ask myself why you're doing it. And (da-da) I know the answer, because I regularly do it myself when reading other games mags - be they pc ones. PlayStation ones, or whatever.

You know how it goes: the screenshots look good, you I consider yourself an expert of the genre under scrutiny, and you're wondering if the reviewer has missed the point somewhere along the line. So you want, basically, to (a) read between the lines, (b) assume the reviewer is lacking in game playing skills, (c) disagree with him/her to the tune of too per cent wherever possible, (d) form your own conclusion, based on the screenshots, (e) award your own score, and (f) go to the shops and buy the game regardless.

And hey! I've done it myself! I'm with you all the way! Blimey - we could have come from the same womb, for Christ's sake! You're talking to the person who deliberately ignored all the magazine reviews of Daytona on the Sega Saturn, dashed to the shop, was even told by the bloke behind the counter that "it's shit", but still willingly handed over thirty notes for a second-hand copy. What a tit! Such a fool!

Which would be roughly how I'd feel after forking out thirty notes for Track Attack. Okay, so it's 'cheap' compared to your average pc game, but it's hardly what you'd call budget, is it? Ten quid is budget. And anyway, if a game is almost unplayable, even three quid is OTT. But I'm running away with myself here, so maybe it's time to get to the point.

Righto then. To get positive for just a moment. Track Attack looks absolutely brilliant on paper. The idea is that it's an arcade racer (with track-based power-ups and an 'inter-race shop' where you increase your chosen car's abilities -the better you do. the more money you make, the more 'ninja' your car becomes, and so on). It's not exactly original. I know, but there's more to come. The manual calls this flash of originality DTS (Dynamic Track System), and what DTS does is as follows: hit certain icons with your car during a race and you'll alter the track layout - either in front of you or behind, depending on the icon. You can make sliding blocks appear for example, increase the angle of ramps, add height to cambers, produce car destroying spikes, open and close short cuts, and on and on and on. And as I said before, it all sounds great on paper. However, at the end of the day it's not on paper, it's on your monitor - and it's here that the two major problems of Track Attack hit home with the force of a Tyson uppercut.

Problem One

Toggling the detail options to minimum and selecting the smallest viewing window available (ie the size of a postage stamp), the proceedings were just about passable in 'practice' mode. However, if you select 'race' mode, there tends to be more than just the one car on-screen. Uh-oh! Cue slideshow.

Problem Ttoo

Control! Or, if you prefer, 'lack of control'. Wanna go left? Yup, you'll go left by cracky! Track Attack suffers from big-time Rotation Syndrome. It's as if your car revolves on a spindle rather than being 'guided' by its front wheels. Oh, and when Problem One is also in evidence... well, forget it.