Hard Drivin'

If you were worried about the speed of the Spectrum version, forget it! This is just the sort of action-packed game you could do with on Christmas Day. So the sprites are monochromatic, who cares, this version is so playable. Binary Design and Domark have achieved the impossible. They have managed to fit a Ferrari into a Fiesta..

Originally designed as a professional driving simulator, Hard Drivin' is now fast and furious arcade action all the way. The conversion on all formats is top notch. All speed freaks should have a copy of Hard Drivin' in their garage.

Jest to gra typu symulacyjnego, o klasę lepsza od np. "Lombard rally" czy "Toyota Celica GT Rally", z prostego powodu - jest bardziej "naturalna" (jest to niestety bardzo nieodpowiednie słowo). Dzieje się tak dzięki doskonałej, trójwymiarowej grafice, oraz dokładnemu odwzorowaniu reakcji samochodu nie tylko na drodze lecz także w powietrzu.

In der Spielhalle ist man mit zwei Mark dabei: Man dreht den Zündschlüssel, tritt die Kupplung, hackt den ersten Gang rein und braust los - ganz wie beim eigenen Auto. Die Simulation, die so ein tolles Fahrgefühl vermittelt, heißt "Hard Drivin'" und wurde von Atari Games in Amerika entwickelt. Für die Amiga-Umsetzung wurde extra ein deutscher Computerkenner bemüht: "Star Wars"-Programmierer Jürgen Friedrichs setzte sich an die Tastatur.

Die Umsetzung auf das Mega Drive ist halbwegs gelungen. Alle Feinheiten auf der Strecke sind vorhanden und der Computergegner Phamtom Photon fährt immer noch so fies. Die Grafik ist allerdings recht langsam, der Sound kommt dem Automaten nahe. Leider gibt es nur zwei Strecken und die Steuerung reagiert über das Joypad sehr nervös.

Nach dem guten "Checkered Flag" gibt das Lynx erneut Gas. Diesmal hakt's allerdings im Getriebe: Spielerisch wurde das Computervorbild zwar kompromißlos adaptiert, doch bei der Geschwindigkeit (Strecke und Autos werden in ausgefüllter 3-D-Vektorgrafik dargestellt) muß man Abstriche machen.

Hard Drivin' worked well as a coin-op - the positive feedback steering wheel, realistic clutch controls and enclosed cabinet made for an enjoyable driving experience. However, on the Megadrive much of the coin-op's tactile appeal has been stripped away, exposing what is really a rather basic racing game. The 3D graphics are smooth, fast and impressive, and the game is certainly enjoyable for a while. But once you've mastered the tracks and beaten the Phantom Photon (which doesn't take a vast amount of practice) it all gets rather dull and pointless. Players who loved the coin-op will doubtless enjoy the action, but it won't take long before the novelty wears off.

Simply put, this is a game that shouldn't have been attempted on the Genesis -- if you want a real polygon driving game, pick up Virtua Racing, which has a special chip on its cartridge to help push the geometry around. Shame on you, Atari...

You have to play for a while to grow to like it, while at the same time the fun only lasts a few minutes. I guess most of the problems could've been solved by a bigger cartridge size – but as it is, this game uses only two MEGs, making it one of the smallest games in the Genesis library! Tengen tried to address that problem in a later game. This, however, is sadly just so much wasted potential, still likable in way, but not really entertaining in the long run.

Whatever Hard Drivin' is, it certainly isn't a realistic driving simulator. In real life, you don't collide with cars when you're a full car length away, and you don't bounce back a hundred feet or so when you crash into a car. Most of all, you never pass straight through another car. This game really isn't worth your time unless you're a diehard racing fan looking for a complete collection.

This archaic racer is barely playable today, but it was pretty amazing for its time. Hard Drivin' was the first arcade game with first-person, 3D polygon graphics, and it was released long before Virtua Racing took the arcades by storm. The game includes a standard race track and an elaborate "stunt" track, complete with a ramp, loop-to-loop, and banked turns. Just surviving the stunt course is a major challenge. But unlike Virtua Racing, Hard Drivin' has NOT aged well. Its framerate is agonizingly slow, and the cars look like ugly boxes. Sparse scenery includes streets signs, small buildings, and other traffic. An unnecessary instrument panel takes up a large chunk of the screen. At least the instant-replays are somewhat amusing. Hard Drivin' isn't very enjoyable, but it is interesting to see how racing games have evolved over the years.

Hard Drivin' is an understatement. Impossible Drivin' is more like it. This game is so bad that I can't bring myself to say anything more about it! In fact, this may very well be the worst Racing Game EVER. This is the complete opposite of Gran Turismo 3.