Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge

The Good
This game is easily one of the best racing games ever seen on the Amstrad CPC.

Graphics are detailed and move well, circuits have small details to tell them apart, and the fact that sometimes you have to refuel in order to finish adds some extra tension and a drop of strategy into the mix. Hey, it even has a great two player mode.

The Bad
I used to play on a green monitor, therefore I was kinda shocked when I saw how monochromatic display is. It's understandable, of course, as the Amstrad needed to sacrifice colours in order to access to higher resolutions.

Still, the two main problems with the game are the "enemy" AI and the display.

Starting with the display, you are restricted to half of the screen, and although it works well enough the detection of obstacles is a bit awkward. Gremlin would solve the issue in Lotus 2, but this is the only entry in the series for the Amstrad.

About the AI, it's good enough, but too aggressive. Other cars like to block your advance, and this, together with the restricted field of vision, can make things very frustrating in certain spots.

The Bottom Line
The concept can look dated these days, but on its time this was one of the finest racing games ever produced. It's still very playable today, if you can ignore the dated looks.