Speed Buggy

The Good
Buggy Boy's Atari ST conversion is one of the best racing games on the platform. While it may not be the fastest racer out there, it has gameplay by the bucketload -- and the fact it adopts a notably different formula to most other racers really helps it stand out.

While the heart of Buggy Boy is still beating the clock to various checkpoints, it's the game's focus on high scores that helps elevate it to classic status. Rather than simply driving flat-out and avoiding obstacles, Buggy Boy features a great balance between risk and reward as you attempt to collect flags and pass through gates in order to score points and extend your time limit further. You'll often have to deliberately court danger in order to attain the best scores.

The five different courses all have their own distinct feel, too. The Offroad course is a simple lap-based circuit in which new obstacles are gradually introduced each time around, while the others are point-to-point races with scenery that changes as you progress, giving a real feeling of going on a journey.

The Bad
Sound is a bit limited, but that's the nature of the original game to a certain extent. The home ports also don't move as fast as the original arcade game, and also lack the opponent drivers, making the game more of a time trial.

These are minor nitpicks though, particularly if you're unfamiliar with the arcade original; taken on its own merits, Buggy Boy is still a magnificent game.

The Bottom Line
Buggy Boy is a fantastic arcade racer, and should be an essential part of any Atari ST collection. Plus for my money, the Atari ST version, for once, actually beats the Amiga version -- the PSG sounds are somehow just that little bit more satisfying than the muffled sound effects on the Amiga port.

The C64 version is very good, also, though it has a markedly different feel from the 16-bit ports; less true to the arcade original in some ways, but still an excellent game in its own right.

If you've never played any version of this classic, now's a great time to fix that!