3D Stunt Racer
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"Experience the thrills and spills of professional stunt riding in the safety of your armchair" goes the advertising patter. I put on the old racing leathers, sat astride my 750 cc stool, kick started the Amstrad (something I have been tempted to do) and roared away. In fact, fizzled would perhaps be a better description as this game is not going to set the software charts alight. 

Jumping buses is the name of the game and at the start you are presented with a 3D view of the roadway leading up to the ramp. Accelerating away (via keyboard or joystick) you attempt to reach an optimum speed by the time you reach the bottom of the ramp. The screen then changes to a side-on view of the jump as you hopefully fly over the buses and onto the ramp on the other side. 

The game has a number of levels, one successful jump on one level takes you on to the next. The levels simply correspond to the number of buses that you have to jump and thus the number of points awarded - on my first attempt, five buses. I pushed the speed before take off up to 90 mph, thinking that this is the sort of speed needed for clearing a few double deckers and sailed over the buses, the ramp and much of the following ramp. Careful experimentation and a number of attempts later, I found that my ideal take off speed is around 20 mph! 

Every level equals an additional five buses and around an extra 15-20 mph of speed to clear them. 1 managed to reach level 9 and cannot imagine there being many levels after this as 1 was travelling flat out on approach and only just reached the ramp. A nice game with good graphics (1 liked the animated hand reving the throttle) but lacking the options and challenge to make it playable for more than a couple of hours and cenainly not justifying the high price tag.