Cruisin'

The Good
While the NES had a lot of arcade conversions, US gamers don't realize how many they missed out on compared to the Japanese market. It's actually kind of strange that City Connection slipped into the US release list. It's a great game, to be sure, but a lot of other great games got passed over.

The premise is simple: drive every inch of the road while avoiding cops, cats, and oilslicks.

In one sense, it's a unique twist on the Pac Man maze genre. As you move along the road, the individual blocks turn white. If you're in the air, it doesn't register, so you have to go back if you jump over a piece. And yes, there will be a lot of jumping. If you're not jumping over cats and cops, you'll be jumping from one level of highway to the next.

To even the odds, you can toss oil cans at police cars, which sends them into a spin. When they're spinning, you can ram them to send them flying offscreen. If you've got more than one spinning, ram the first in line and they all go for big points.

You say that it all sounds simple? Bite your tongue. It's fast and you need reflexes, and not just against the moving targets. You'll end up yelling at that cat more than you yell at the cops, believe me. The good thing is that the controls are responsive.

The Bad
There's not much to complain about, really, aside from the repetitive soundtrack. The music is always the same. Given the type and age of the game, it's to be expected.

The Bottom Line
If you like old-school games with simple gameplay that relies on reflexes, check this one out. It's not expensive and it's fun, whether you plan to put in five minutes or fifty. It does the arcade original justice.