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This is a game with an impeccable pedigree. Its predecessor, Super Cars (pretty obvious really) was one of the most popular overhead-view racing games ever on the Amiga, and also one of the best (as its placing in our own All-Time Top 100 shows). The programming team, Magnetic Fields, have been responsible for some other major successes of late too, notably Lotus Esprit TurboChallenge. Add to that, Gremlin generally developing something of a knack for driving games, and expectations for this one were understandably high.

Sad to report, then, that it doesn't really live up to them. Not that it's a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but it hasn't really got what it takes to make the major leagues. Why? Well firstly, there's been very little advance made on the original Super Cars. The game is the same Super Sprint-with-add-on-weaponry mix as before, with only the two-player option adding any new gameplay features to speak of. Graphically, there's been an improvement, with some variation in the background types, but again there isn't really anything remarkable happening.

The conversation sequences of the original have been kept, but this time you have to contend with The Dept of Transport, an Environmental Health Officer, the police, journalists, sponsors and solicitors. The formula however is the same. Choose (or in some instances, guess) from three replies to given questions - get it right and you win cash or championship points, get it wrong and you lose them. More significant are the changes to the add-ons you can buy.

Turbo boost and mines have replaced power steering and retro-thrust, which might not seem that important, but wait! In both games your car's road-holding isn't up to much, coupling poor cornering with over-sensitive steering to the extent that it's very hard to keep in a straight line, so the power steering and other handling improvements available in the first game were actually rather crucial. They've taken them out for the sequel and I can't for the life of me see why.

Add to this the narrow, twisting courses and the large number of opposing cars, and what you have is a game that never really gets going to the degree it should.

This is accentuated in the two-player game, where the split screen (impressive though it may be) cuts down visibility and gives very little time to react to the unpredictable bends in the course. It gets really ridiculous when long tunnels crop up, forcing you to drive blind, hitting walls and cars with monotonous regularity. It all makes for a very high level of frustration indeed.

Although it's all very efficiently done and nicely presented, the changes they've made have actually emphasised the weak points of the game without adding very much. Oh dear.

This really is the closest thing you'll find to Scalextric on a computer. That does result in high frustration levels, but it's still pretty damn compulsive, and is an ideal game to play when friends are round. The difficulty curve could have been a bit more gentle though.

Simply too frustrating to be addictive. Nice to look at perhaps, but sadly inferior to the original game.