Code Masters
W.A.S.P.: Chris Graham, Lyndon Sharp
£2.99 cass

Have you ever watched rallying on the telly and thought to yourself 'I wouldn't have done a triple handbrake turn with side twist there, I could do better than that!'? Probably not. but if you have this is the game for you. I wonder when those masters of code will run out of things to simulate?

In Rally Cross Simulator you take the controls of a high performance rally car and have to skid and slide around tracks, racing against really awkward opponents Life is never simple: you also have to keep an eye on fuel, water and oil levels. The performance of the car can also be improved by added turbos, bumpers, gas cans and special tyres, all of which use up the points you've gained. To qualify for the next level you must finish three laps in the given time.

You view the racing from above and just control the direction the car goes in. I can guarantee your first few goes will hardly get you anywhere: master the way of sliding the car around all corners before you attempt to get onto the next track. The game sports healthy amounts of colour and a tune and effects to get your ears around. The best graphics in the game are the ones on the large car at the bottom of the screen.

The idea of including a pit stop puts this above all the other boring car race games released in the past it is in the shape of an animated lorry that has icons for fuel, oil, etc. You move the pointer around the lorry and change the amounts you have. You have to be quick in choosing though, because the counter still ticks on.

Rally Cross Simulator brings back all those happy days spent with things like Scalextric. Quite an enjoyable game.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

A bit short of the readies? Low on the folding stuff? Totally borassic? Then pop down the Bargain Basement with Marcus Berkmann, and see what goes "Cheep!" (Eh? Ed).

Code Masters
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

Gasp! That's not... no, surely... it's not the dread 'Sim'-word again... is it? Ah, but it is, and our old chum David Darling's pretty damn excited about it. Honest, independent comment from the old fraud? You bet. "An exhilerating (sic), realistic simulation!" he burbles. "Rally Cross is great fun" Coulkd he finally be running out of absurdly over-the-top cirtical comment to slap all over his product? It's a marvellous thought, but while we ponder on that, what of the game? Yes, Rally Cross Simulator is a CodeMasters game of the old school, in that it's almost exactly like Grand Prix Simulator, which of course sold four billion copies. Who can blame everyone at CM for wanting another bite at the cherry? Not me, so I shall simply say that if you liked Grand Prix Simulator - and millions did - and you don't mind playing the same game all over again (with slightly larger circuits), then Rally Cross Simulator's a must-buy. For me, though, it's a must-throw-out-of-the-window. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO DRIVING GAMES

It's strange but true - normally courteous YS readers tend to turn into homicidal maniacs once they get behind the wheel of a Spectrum. We sent JONATHAN DAVIES, who still hasn't managed to get that wretched helmet off, to find out why.

It's an expensive business, driving. Not only do you have to hand out piles of dosh to actually get a car, but there are loads of 'hidden costs' thrown into the bargain' too. For a start, you've got to get it insured (in case you crash), which means serious sponds for your average Spectrum owner Then there's road tax, servicing, MOTs, petrol, all sorts of things. And, if you want to keep up with the latest fashions, you'll want to purchase a few 'extras' as well, ranging from simple '-TURBO-' stickers for the back window to alloys, buckets and twin cams. And they all mean spending lots and lots of money.

So wouldn't it be nice if you could get your Spectrum to sort of 'pretend' was a car, allowing you to zoom about to your heart's content for minimal outlay instead? Well, actually you can! Yes, all you need to do is buy a suitable driving game, load it up and you've got yourself a set of wheels.

It'll be almost exactly the same as driving a real car except that you can crash as much as you like without having to worry about your no-claims bonus. And you'll be able to choose from all the latest posh sports cars like Porsches, Ferraris and Lotuses and drive them as far and as fast as you like without having to splash out on a drop of petrol! (In fact, because driving games are so much cheaper and more practical than real cars, it is predicted that by the year 2012 the motorcar will have become obsolete, replaced by the driving game.) The only trouble with all this is that it's a bit hard to pick up birds with a 48K Spectrum.

JUST WHAT, EXACTLY, IS A DRIVING GAME?

Mmm, knew we'd have to get round to this sometime. Well, I've had a think and come up with the following spec...

- It's got to have either a car, a motorbike or a lorry in it.

- That means no bicycles, boats, jet-skis, tanks or anything like that.

- And no skateboards either. They're crap.

Seems simple enough. It means we're including Grand Prix-type games (where you just race against other cars) and shooting ones (where you zap them) but not similar-looking ones that don't have cars, bikes or lorries in (like boat ones). Okay? Phew. I never thought it would be quite so easy.

SO HOW ABOUT THINGS LIKE ARMY MOVES?

Oh cripes. Look, just shurrup. will you, whoever you are. No, Army Moves is out, I'm afraid. It's rubbish anyway.

So let's take a look at a few examples, eh? It's worth noting that, where driving games are concerned, the ratio of crap ones to good ones is a lot higher than with other types of game (apart from football games, of course). So you can't be too careful.

RATINGS

The YS Ratings System? You don't want that old thing. No sir, over here we have the brand-new top-of-the-range 1990 model. It's turbo-charged, fuel-injected, 16-valve, super-cooled and has a full X-pack (with droop snoot). And spots. You'll be doing yourself a favour.

DRIVE
It's no good having a driving game that seems to be simulating an FSO or something. You want real power, a feeling of being at one with the road and all that sort of thing. Control responses, speed etc are all taken into account here.

VISIBILITY
Assuming you remember to clean all the dead leaves and bird turds off the windscreen before you set out, what's the view like? A thinly-veiled graphics category, in other words, but jolly important all the same.

ROADHOLDING
It may seem to have everything, but once you've set off, and you've been on the road for a while, do you relish every second that you're behind the wheel? Or do you want to keep stopping at the services? Or perhaps you'd rather just take the bus instead, eh?

FIRST-OFF-AT-THE-LIGHTS FACTOR
A competitive edge is most important where driving's concerned, both in real life and on the Speccy. So do the other cars put up a decent fight, or do they just seem to be part of the scenery (if, indeed, there is any)?

DRIVING GAMES FOR THE BUDDING LADA-OWNER

As with all tried-and-tested formulae, driving games are big news in the world of the cheapie. Let's have a look at a few, and maybe try ad work in the odd drive-a-hard-bargain gag.

RALLYCROSS SIMULATOR
CodeMasters

It's a scrolling looking-at-it-from-the-top game, this, and that's about all there is to say about it. It's neatly put together, but very flimsy and not terribly playable. The main problem is that it uses Up, Down, Left and Right keys rather than the rotation system we've got used to with this sort of thing, making it fiddly to get to grips with. Grand Prix Simulator, and older Codies game, is a lot better.

Label: Codemasters
Author: WASP
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Jack Daniel

Just Like The Real Thing! Well, the real thing must be crap if Codemasters' dire Rallycross Simulator is anything to go by.

I've always fancied myself (too true - The Team) as a bit of a driver. Straightening the curves, flattening the hills. Someday the mountain might get me but the law never will.

And so it was with not a little excitement I put Rallycross into my own reviewing "pile".

What a mistake. Ahead lay a foggy, twisty and decidedly skiddy affair.

Rallycross isn't as much fun as rallying, for one thing. Instead of hairing through Welsh forests scaring the sheep and tearing up the fields, everything takes place on a selection of circuits. It's like a cross between rallying and motor racing, and so far as I can tell, you get the bad bits of each. There's no variety to speak of. Each race is simply a blast around a circuit. And the nature of the circuits means that you can never get up enough speed to make the ride exciting.

Still, these points are inherent in rallycross and by no means the fault of Codemasters.

It certainly is their fault, however, that the game is unreasonably difficult and rubbish.

Oh, yes. It's fair to say that driving a high-powered car around a circuit in competition is a tricky affair and shouldn't be the sort of thing you can master first time.

Quite right. Rallycross, on the other hand is a Nemesis of impossibility.

On the starting grid, you're hopelessly underequipped and so you have no option but to let your computer controlled opponent power away while you plod towards the pits to trade some points for machinery. A turbo charger will set you back 600 points and a decent set of grippy tyres a further 500. You can trade fuel, water and oil in order to buy more expensive tune-ups, but will you last the distance with depleted supplies?

The biggest flaw Rallycross has to overcome is the wonky steering. Instead of a sensible steer right/left, accelerate, decelerate set up, you're crippled by up, down, left and right. Any thoughts of gliding round corners by applying the correct amount of oversteer are sadly unfulfilled.

It seems totally impossible to successfully complete, let alone win a race. There's a timer which counts down from two minutes down to another "simulator" for the Codemasters. Doesn't the standard seem to be slipping from the BMX days? Too bloody true.