Super Cars (C64 review)

Developer: Magnetic Fields
Publisher: Gremlin Graphics
Released: 1991

I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of top-down racers but Super Cars is a lot of fun!

There are nine tracks and four difficulty levels to work through and you must place in the top 3 in each race to advance. Doing so will earn you money which you can spend at the shop - here you'll find new cars to purchase, as well as upgrades such as missiles, armour and power steering. The graphics are functional but they're not as good as you'd expect from a 1991 game (in fact, it only looks slightly better than the C64's Rally Speedway that was released in 1984!). It's all about the gameplay in Super Cars though and it certainly delivers. For the most part controlling your car is smooth and you'll be whizzing around corners at high speed before you know it. The AI is aggressive, but not unfair and they'll battle with each other as much as you. The game is quite easy in the lower difficulty setting but things start to ramp up once you reach the second class. To be honest though, once you've reached this class you've seen pretty much everything there is to see, and the final ending really isn't worth the time you need to invest!

While it can get a bit repetitive, Super Cars is definitely worth a go if you're a fan of games like Micro Machines and Super Sprint.

Random trivia: If you enter the code FONDLE instead of your name you can...err...fondle the shop girl for a small fee. Not your average cheat code!