Whiplash

The Good
As a single player game this is a great game. As a networked game it is simply magnificent.

The graphics are not a patch on modern driving games, but that doesn't matter. It's brutally fast, and you have no time to look at the scenary. The same can be said for the sound - it lets you know what's going on without intruding.

There are 8 cars to choose from - some slow with great hadnling, some fast with no grip - take your pick. There are 3 championships of 8 races each, with some devastating tracks, including corkscrews and loop-the-loops. The Bonus Cup (the third championship) even has a track with no corners!!

The cars can get damaged, but you can make pit-stops to repair. Too much damage and your car gets destroyed. Destroy soemone else and you earn championship points.

When networked, this game can make or break friendships. At Impossible level (the ONLY level to play at) the races can last up to 12 minutes. That's 12 minutes of sweat-inducing, back-breaking tension, praying that your mates don't take you out on the final bend as your wounded car struggles to cross the line.

The game's best feature is the fact that you actually get to race in a proper championship against 15 opponents (we usually have 6 players and 10 computers in each race) in 8 races, earning points for race position, fastest laps and kills.

Very few games, even today, offer this kind of in depth multi-playing gaming, and the fact that this game does offer this is why it is so damn good.

The Bad
I actually got into a fight with my brother-in-law over this game. It does get that intense if you take it seriously. We've actually stopped playing it for a while because we wanted to stay friends.

Netwroked under Windows tends to make it unstable, and it usually crashes, so we play in DOS. A bit of a pain (especially to those with PCI soundcards), but well worth it.

The Bottom Line
This is the greatest ever networked racing game. Don't bother to argue - you will lose.