Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

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EIMIAS
Super Skidmarks 2 has plenty of extra features this time,
including the ability to customise your own vehicles. By
using Imagine 2 you can render your cars and add them
to the game.
Add Software are going to be releasing their
SkidMarks Racer magazine for fans of the game which
will inform players of new tracks and upgrades. It will
also run competitions such as designing trackside details
and a car modelling competition. A GrandPrix registration
section will let readers contact each other to organise
race meetings and through a BM, schedule playoffs.
The game is hard disk installable but Acid feel that
because of Piracy problems they have not yet made the
track disks installable. However, they are hoping that
with the first issue of their magazine they will be
including a Track Disk Install utility.
The multi-player aspect of the game is brilliant and the
game supports four joystick adapters which connect two
extra joysticks via the parallel port - the manual even
contains instructions on how to build such a device.
Skidmarks 2 also has improved comms support for
local and remote linking, so if you have a Modem you
can link to other players and race over the phone lines.
Another nice addition is the different screen modes
available. There's Hi (on an AGA machine) and to-res
(low gives you a large, closer view of the cars) or if two or
three players are taking part then the screen splits either
two or three ways. A Shared screen mode is also available
for four-player team racing.
AGA owners can also race up to eight cars at once and
if your machine has more than 1Mb of memory, you will
be able to race more than one type of car in one race and
listen to the option screen music. Talking of sound, it is
also possible to replace audio samples in the six drawer
with your own.
OPINION
This is one hell of a race-'em-up it has to be said
.0kay, so it just relies on the racing part and has no
(11bnuses or upgrades to strive for, but it's great fun,
especially when you have two or more players. It
works really well in bringing Out the competitive
edge in you and with all the different tracks it pro-
.•,;s a challenge. The many different championships
Wad variety too.
The extra cars you get this time round are a great
aspect. Some are just there for novelty value, such as
the cows, but with -
a lighthearted
g a m
118 M y 1115
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s u c
h
The d if f e re n t screen m odes a re a g re a t ttrea
The game starts with a loud rock tune which
gets you in the mood for some serious racing.
It's not the kind of tune you'd like to sit
and listen to but it does fit in with the feel of
the game.
In the actual game itself you do get some
very good authentic racing noises. You are
given a countdown bleep before each race,
your engine roars into life, there's a clash of
bumpers as the cars fight for pole position
and tyres screech as you spin around the next
comes across really well. The VWs and Minis look good
too - they're cute and fanatics of these vehicles will
love having the opportunity to race around in their
favourite cars.
Caravan towing is more than just a novelty too
because it is very tricky trying to race around the tracks
with these cumbersome vehicles strapped to the back.
Graphics are not particularly advanced but they
look colourful and fun, which definitely fits in with
the feel of the game. The options screens could do
with some work on them though - they didn't look
particularly good and were fiddly to operate. It didn't
look exactly polished and I would like to have seen
something more user-friendly and a bit more
The dinky spectators fi t in with the fun feet of the game
bend. This all conjures up the competitive
racing spirit in you and has you tearing
round the circuits like a thing possessed.
A quirky addition is the horn - you can
activate this by pulling back on thejoystick
or left and right keys together. This is great
when you are right behind someone and you
can let rip with the horn before sneakily
overtaking them on the inside.
Music kicks in again on the options
screens and it's adequate enough and fits in,
but as I say, you won't want to listen to it for
long.
attractive to look at. There
were a few minor
glitches and bugs along s..
the way but I can't say
they happened all that G o L D
often or were particularly
noticeable - they A W A R
certainly don't detract
from what is a thoroughly
enjoyable game.
This is one of the most playable and fun race-'emups
around and with the vast amount of new features
added it's certainly worth a look, even if you
have the original.
I.
Those with more
memory will be
able t o race
different cars
against each
other