Reviews

Grand Theft Auto in your spectrum. Well, not really, but at the time this game was released the people of Rockstar probably didn't know what a beer was.

One of those games that went ahead its time several years, sowing the seed of the "sandbox" games.

And the game itself is very funny, and still playable nowadays.

1986 - Durell
by Mike Richardson

You are a special agent riding your Lotus Turbo Esprit, and your goal is to catch an international drugs network.
Catch the criminals before they leave the city.
The origin of Grand Theft Auto? For me it surely is and without the unnecessary violence.
The way the car moved along with the city and the beauty of the 3D perspective was just brilliant back then.
You could love this game just by riding the car thru out the city without actualy playing the game. Great!

Hunt down criminals and watch out for retaliation from the mafia 'hit cars', in your turbo esprit. You drive around your city of choice, complete with '3d' buildings, pedestrians and traffic. Wait for a call to come in from hq, giving the location on your map of a crime in progress, then catch and arrest the bad guys.
This game was ahead of its time, with elements of chase hq and arguably even grand theft auto, years before they were conceived. It gave the feeling of free roaming in a large city, yet still included great little details, like traffic lights, roadworks and even indicators on the car.
Turbo Esprit was a minor landmark game at the time it was released, and is still fun to play today.

Way before Grand theft auto 3 was a twinkle in rock stars eyes , Turbo Esprit on the zx spectrum gave us all a taste of what its like to drive through a full 3d city , shooting cars , ramming robbers and drug dealers into submission and generally having a whale of a time.

The attention to detail made this game stand out above most other games , working indicators , speedometers , fully operational (and useful ) maps , it was the game miami vice (a dreadful game) would have liked to have been.

Graphically it was superb, as most of Durrells games were . And like a genuine sandbox game , if you didn't want to follow the main plot of the game , you could just go have a mess !

Great fun and playing it again today i realise the golden age of gaming and innovation was the 80's !

I can see why it is popular with players but I always had a hard time with this one and alternating from the map to the game screen and steering the car was always a nuisance for me. It's very well programmed but you're required to pretty much do more than one thing at a time and I never got on with that at all.

A very original game by Mike A. Richardson for Durell that set a precedent of a true videogame genre in future years.

You are an elite policeman that drives a cool Lotus Esprit and must find and chase a band of drug smugglers, choosing from a list of cities.

It mixes the concept of driving simulation (the screen shows the driver's point of view) with arcade and adventure. You are helped by a map to find the band.

The joy of exploring through the streets and avenues searching for the baddies avoiding pedestrians and other cars is a very nice experience.

Definitely an innovative game from 1986.