Lotus Turbo Challenge 2

The Good
The course designs were superb. Challenging to learn, varied, visually distinctive, and all with a great feel for the surface in question. The Snow level was especially stunning to look at, and the Motorway added the unusual feature of cars going in both directions to avoid, and trucks to duck under for extra points.

Detailed analysis of the racing physics showed much more realistic handling than most action games, with the corner steering working nicely.

Having a four-player serial linkup option was fantastic. If you've got 3 friends, a spare Amiga and a linkup cable, you were in for some fun.

By not specifically making the game realistic or fantasy, they've combined great ideas from both. The time bonuses and speed-ups on the last 2 levels were a help, and the fact that minor crashes don't do serious damage makes things more forgiving.

The Bad
The lack of music was a shame, although the sound effects were much improved from the original.

Unlike racing games where you compete directly against other cars, there is little incentive to play through it again once you've finished, a problem exacerbated by the passwords which make it easier to complete. That said, the challenge of doing it all in one sitting will keep you keen.

The Bottom Line
An Outrun-style arcade racer featuring sprite based graphics and a third-person perspective. There were 8 distinct levels to complete, in different setting such as Forest, Desert and Marsh, each made up of between 5 and 8 stages. For each stage you are running against the clock, with more time awarded at each checkpoint. There are passwords for each level, and a four-player linkup option.

The Good
The introduction musics are quite good.
It's challenging if you're into it.
I've liked being able to see the exact map at the end of my attempt with my score going up.
The graphic design is good, I agree with that even if on modern TV it would be hard to bear, but I can't help feeling annoyed that two thirds of the screen are useless. I feel it more in this game than others of the same type.

The Bad
I'm not a big fan of racing games, and I don't have a lot of those on Genesis, but for a more-or-less simulation game it is not so great at it. At first it looks like a one button game (if you play with the automatic gear, which you should), then I thought you had to handle the turns a specific way so you could "drift" a bit but no. You can and you should hard press left or right to simply turn.

The lack of hints makes this game longer than it has to be for the better or the worst. Basically you race against the decreasing timer to reach any checkpoint on your way and for what appears to be a simplistic game, it's rather unforgiving. Make a couple of mistakes and you're good to restart your console and play it all over again. But the biggest problem at the beginning is not to dodge the obstacles on your way... It's to avoid your opponents.

In a game that requires you to be at all-time full-speed, it's very annoying to face (or better to rear) an enemy that tries pretty hard to annoy you.

On a pure hardware side, I've found the EA cartridge's cover to be minimalist and unadorned. For an advertisement game they could have at least called a graphic designer. As I got the game in loose I didn't even know what it would be.

To put it simply: it's an oversimple gameplay in an unforgiving setting with a lack of sound design.

This is the real struggle point of this game that makes it quite forgettable. The game is quiet. Almost silent. And would have deserved some background music, especially when you hear the enjoyable tunes at the level introduction. Maybe it's the Sega console that doesn't handle it? After searching a bit it looks like no, it was produced that way. And don't tell me they couldn't take the time to add some more lines other than "Yee-haw".

The Bottom Line
Overall a decent game that would be better on arcade with some chiptunes.

I don't know if it's better on other versions or if my European console changed the gameplay so much it made it dull (doubt it). The game seems to have been well received but I don't see the appeal over one with so little replayability when you could play Road Rash or the later Street Racer for a funnier time.

But heh, the game didn't lie: it is a challenge and you can only pick a Lotus...