Tendo City

Racing games have been one of my favorite genres ever since the mid '90s. I didn't play racing games all that often before that point, but since then, I've loved the genre, and have played a good number of racing games. I prefer more arcadey, futuristic, or less realistic racers, and not sims, so don't expect good reviews of the top PC racing sims here -- you won't find any. Fortunately, however, there are plenty of great futuristic, top-down, and arcade-style racing games on the PC too, they're not just on consoles. Here I will review all of the PC racing games I own, plus I will also cover all freeware, shareware, and demo PC racing games currently on my PC. The majority of titles on this list are from the second half of the '90s. There is only one or two from before 1994. Maybe I should look up more pre-'94 PC racing games, but I've never done it. As for newer titles, there are some, but after the release of the Xbox the PC started fading, so the numbers of interesting titles dropped off significantly. Things did seem to get better around 2010, but in between, I only have a game or two each year, even including demos, because I didn't see much of interest, and maybe also because I'm less likely to keep large, newer demos installed than I am small, older ones. Anyway though, this is what I have. I think it's a pretty good collection of mostly non-sim PC racing games. On to the list!

First though, some notes. Unless noted, these games all work fine on my 32-bit Vista install (through DOSBox for DOS titles). Obviously in 64-bit I imagine that many won't work thanks to 16-bit installers, etc, but I have 32-bit so I can't test any of that. Also, I only have 4:3 monitors, so I won't be mentioning if games have 16:9 support; instead, I complain about the fortunately few recent ones that are 16:9 only. I know that some, but not all, older PC racing games have 16:9 support.

This list is mostly in alphabetical order, but I rearranged it so that series are in order. Also, games are PC exclusive unless noted. Asterisks are for older titles that I only got in the last couple of years, mostly as jewelcase-only titles (there's only one, noted, exception); other games I've had for much longer (and do have complete in box), or are recent. For digital download courses of course the box/disc stuff doesn't apply, but I put asterisks by the older ones, to note that I did not buy those back when they came out. 56 retail games total. If games do not work in Vista 32-bit (my OS), I say so. All titles were tested (yes, that took a while), so if I don't say anything, it almost certainly works in 32-bit Vista. Also, unless I say it doesn't, presume that games do have gamepad support (for regular directinput, not the 360 controller's xinput of course; that'd only be in a few recent titles. I don't have a 360 controller, so I DO mention games that only have xinput, because it's annoying, and I have to us a xinput-to-directinput wrapper to get those games working correctly.).

Table of Contents
This list is broken up into five parts.
1. Games that I own the full version of on physical media.
2. Full games that I own through digital download services.
3. Freeware titles.
4. Demos and shareware.
5. Demos of games I also own the full versions of, but still have the demo of on my computer too. I played a lot of PC demos back in the '90s, so I think that they absolutely have a place on this list. I write less about them than I do about the full-version games though, of course.

Full Titles List
Full games, have on disc
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*18 Wheels of Steel: America's Long Haul, *3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers, *3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers Deluxe: Traxxas Edition, *4X4 Evo, *Boarder Zone, *Carmageddon Max Pack, Demolition Racer, *DethKarz, Drome Racers, Driver, Extreme-G 2: XG2, *Hard Truck II, *Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Driver, *Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge, *IndyCar Racing, Klik & Play (Included Games), *MegaRace 2, Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament, Monster Truck Madness, Moto Racer, Moto Racer 2, Motocross Madness 2, *Motorhead, *Need for Speed II, *Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: High Stakes, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010), Network-Q RAC Rally Championship, PCG CGC1: Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed, POD: Planet of Death, *Powerslide, Racing Fever: Screamer 2, Racing Fever: Test Drive Off-Road, Racing Fever: Death Rally (1996), *Re/Volt, *Road Rash, *Rollcage, Death Track Racing (aka Rollcage Stage II), *Screamer, Sega Rally Revo, *Simpsons: Hit & Run, The, *Speedway Challenges: Network-Q RAC Rally, *Speedway Challenges: Lamborghini American Challenge, *Front Page Sports: Ski Racing, *Snowmobile Championship 2000, *Star Wars: Episode I: Racer, *SODA Off Road-Racing, *Streets of SimCity, *Test Drive 5, Ultim@te Race Pro, *VR Sports Powerboat Racing: Pure Power, Interplay 15th Anniversary Collection: Whiplash, *Twin 2 Pack: Sonic 3D Blast/Sonic R

Digital Download
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Blur, Death Track: Resurrection, Driver: San Francisco, Ignite, *MegaRace 3, Skydrift, *OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, *WRF: World Rally Fever

Freeware
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Astro Rally, *Kosmonaut, Nitronic Rush, Race the Monkey, Rolling Ball 3D, Skyroads, Skyroads: Xmas Edition, Tube, Turbo

Demos and Shareware
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Ballistics, Bang Bang Racing, BeamBreakers, Big Red Racing, Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now, CART Precision Racing, Daytona USA, *Destruction Derby, Destruction Derby 2, *FlatOut, Grand Theft Auto, H-Craft, Insane (1NSANE), International Rally Championship, Jeff Gordon's XS Racing, Johnny Herbert's Grand Prix World Champions, Little Racers: STREET, Moto Racer 3, NASCAR Racing 4, Need for Speed 2 SE, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Official Formula 1 Racing, Plane Crazy, Pyroblazer, RalliSport Challenge, Redline Racer, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Sega Rally Championship, Sega Rally 2, Skunny Kart, Snow Wave: Avalanche, Space Haste 2, Speed Busters: American Highways, Split/Second, Sports Car GT, Superbike 2000, Super Laser Racer, ThunderWheels, TrackMania/TrackMania Nations Forever/TrackMania Sunshine Forever, TrickStyle, Vangers: One for the Road, Viper Racing, Wacky Wheels

Demos I still have installed of games I now own for PC
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Carmageddon, DethKarz, MegaRace 3, Moto Racer, Motorhead, Need for Speed III, Re/Volt, Road Rash, Rollcage, Test Drive 5, Ultim@te Race Pro, VR Powerboat Racing

==
REVIEWS
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Full games, have on disc
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*18 Wheels of Steel: America's Long Haul - 2007, WinXP or above. By the same developer of the earlier Hard Truck 2 (below), this is a boring 18-wheeler driving game that I got for free. This game has okay but not amazing mid-'00s graphics and numerous American cities to drive betweendelivering loads from one place to the next. There are quite a few trucks to choose from too. Distances are very compressed, thankfully, so trips won't take days. The campaign mode starts you with a truck and $20,000 in the starting city of your choice, and you get loads and bring them to places. There's also a single-trip mode where you choose a start point, a cargo, and a destination; there isn't any multiplayer. This game is a basic trading/transit game with simple, not very realistic handling modeling, no visible damage or onscreen damage indicator, and indeed only partial damage modeling (the truck can break, and crashes can hurt fragile cargos, but most crashes won't do anything except slow you down, unless police are in the area in which you'll be ticketed), and such. If the truck does break, there's a roadside assistance line to call for repairs. Still though, don't expect much depth or realism here in the driving model or map design. The in-truck view is nice, they put some detail into the interior. Of course the game is much harder to play from inside, though the mouse does look around to make looking at the mirrors and such easier. As for the gameplay, though, this really is what it seems like: a low-budget, simplistic truck-driving game that probably will not satisfy either sim racing fans, arcade racing fans, or transit economics sim fans. The latter group's the only hope for this one, but I really dislike that genre, so I can't say exactly how good this is for that market. But with the very simple driving model, average at best graphics for its time (it looks a few years out of date, for a 2007 game), basic road map which doesn't give you much freedom at all in what routes you choose as there are highways, a few city streets in each city, and that's about it, and more, this game's pretty dull. There are only two songs included in the radio, too -- if you want to listen to anything else, you'll have to put files into the game's music folder. Driving itself isn't too hard, so this is not a full sim. The game does use a lot of buttons though, and yes, you will be ticketed if you break traffic rules around police -- and this is very easy to do. Beyond that though, these economic-focused games really are not my thing at all. I don't like delivery-based space games either (X, Elite, etc.), and this is even less interesting than those. I'm sure there is an audience for this, and indeed this game is part of a series, but I'm not it, at all. I get bored quickly. I did try one delivery, but eventually gave up when the truck refused to go backwards after I accidentally ended up against a wall. I guess that broke it somehow. Oh, and the truck wouldn't let me go over 40MPH either. I don't know if that was because of the load I was carrying or what. This is a slow-paced game for those who are really intrested in the subject matter, and not for anyone else. Attaching to your load at the loading dock, and detaching at the end, are also quite tricky. Many runs have time limits too, so you'll need to hurry... or as much as you can in a game as slow-paced and tedious as this, anyway. I'd rather just play something else, myself. Sega's 18-Wheeler: American Pro Trucker may be ridiculously short, but at least it's fun.

*3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers - 1999, Win9x or above. 3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers is a top-down racing game from Sierra. It was released as part of their "3-D Ultra" line of casual-friendly pinball, minigolf, and top-down racing games. Ironically, none of the "3-D Ultra" games actually use polygons (the cars might, actually, but I'm guessing they're probably just sprites); they're all prerendered sprites. This game is a R.C. Pro-Am inspired racing game with an element of Super Off-Road to it too, such as bumps and pits, so the tracks are not just flat. The overall game is somewhat like Death Rally (below) but a bit more casual in focus. Still though, even if this game's not the genre's best, it's a good game that's a lot of fun to play. It's something that top-down racing game fans should definitely check out -- it's one most probably haven't played, and it's a solid entry in the genre. Death Rally is well known, but somehow this one is not... too bad. The game has eight tracks and four cars, and there are three circuits to play through in the single player mode. The first two circuits are four laps each, the last eight. There's also a custom circuit option, but the game is a bit short due to the moderate at best difficulty. On each track you first do a three lap qualifier, then a five lap race, so that does add to it a bit, but this game won't take too long to finish. It is fun while it lasts for sure, though. The tracks have walls along the sides, so this is more R.C. Pro-Am than Micro Machines. There are weapon pickups scattered around too. I like the track designs; each one is set in a real-world location like a swamp or a theme park, and you get a good sense that these are little cars in a larger world. The camera is in a fixed overhead isometric angle. I like this 2d style a lot more than Micro Machines V3 and V4's confusing 3d cameras that keep spinning around and make figuring out the turns so much harder. This game does have some visibility problems on lower resolutions, but if you bump up the resolution it'll zoom out, which should solve those. Alternatively, learn the tracks. That always helps too. Multiplayer is two player splitscreen only. This is a fun game, but it was supersceded by its successor below -- there's little reason to get it, really, considering that the enhanced version also exists. I have both because I found this for quite cheap, and had always wanted to play it. It was certainly worth the cheap pickup, but the Traxxas Edition is the same thing but better.

*3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers Deluxe: Traxxas Edition - 2000, Win9x or above. This release is an enhanced version of the first game, listed above. In the Traxxas Edition, there are 14 tracks now, so they added six more tracks, a nice addition. As a result, in championship mode, each of the first two circuits are now seven races long instead of four, and the last is fourteen races instead of eight. Yes, all of the old tracks do return, so this is less than half new. Still, it was a budget title, and it adds a good number of new tracks, so that's alright. It's nice to have a definitive version. But yes, otherwise it's basically that game again. Multiplayer is still splitscreen only (two players). The game also has two multiplayer baddle modes, a soccer game and battle ball, which is sort of a soccer variant with a central goal everyone tries to score in. It's nice to have some modes other than racing. The graphics and gameplay are pretty much the same as the first version, so it's a nice, solid looking 2d overhead-view RC racing game. This is the version of the game to get -- there are no real advantages to the original version over this one. 3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers Deluxe: Traxxas Edition still isn't particularly long, but any fan of topdown or RC racing games should certainly play it. The controls are great, graphics are good, and it's plenty of fun.

*4X4 Evo (4X4 Evolution) - 2000, Win9x or above. This game is sort of like a newer version of Monster Truck Madness, except with trucks and SUVs instead of monster trucks, and even more boring gameplay. Somehow I just don't find this game very fun at all... it gets tedious in minutes, and I struggle to even finish a single race. The basics are there, though. 4X4 Evo has good graphics for its time, okay track designswhich use that open-level, checkpoint-based style that dirt-track truck racing games usually seem to use, basic but solid arcade-style handling, and more, but I just don't find it fun. The game feels too slow, for one thing. The handling's very average too. You have quite good control here, don't expect to lose much traction in this dirt. So yeah, the controls are quite unrealistic. Also I've never liked trucks, or rock music, at all. Still, truck racing games can be fun; see Super Off-Road, for instance, that's a favorite of mine. I just find this game dull. It is better than some previous things in the genre, and the graphics are nice, but I don't have much fun. Oh, the game does have an online network multiplayer mode, but don't expect a splitscreen mode like the console version has, it isn't here. Also on Dreamcast.

*Boarder Zone - 1999, Win9x or above. Boarder Zone is a very difficult, but okay, snowboard racing game from Housemarque. The game has three tracks, each with three variants of differening difficulties, so there's a fair amount of content, but newer snowboarding games have more. There are six boarders and a good number of boards, each with different stats. There are also three courses each for halfpipe and big-air. Boarder Zone has very nice graphics for 1999, and still looks quite solid visually. The game does have draw-in in the distance, but the visuals are good. Boarder Zone has four main modes of play with its Arcade, Championship, and Versus modes. The game types are Race, Time Attack, Big Air, and Half-Pipe. Boarder Zone has simple controls, with a two-button control system. Button one charges a jump, and button two, combined with directions on the stick, does stunts in the air. And that's it. As I said earlier, this is a game focused on the racing, not on the stunt aspect. Most snowboarding games have a lot more focus on stunts, but I much prefer the racing myself, anyway. However, as a racing game this game is, again, very difficult. There are no difficulty level choices in Boarder Zone, so you'll essentially need to be perfect to have any chance of winning a race. Your opponents will almost never mess up, and the game punishes you harshly for crashes as recovery takes a couple of seconds, so in order to win, you'll need to memorize the courses and not crash. This is frustrating, because there are a lot of things you can run into, and it's not always obvious whether you'll crash when you hit something or not. Boarder Zone is a simple game -- don't expect any rail-grinding or such here. You just board down mountains, do the occasional trick if you can, and try desperately to stay upright and not crash so you have a slight chance of maybe winning. Avoiding all of the objects isn't easy, and staying straight on the jumps is even harder. Some things that can cause you to crash can be hard to see, too, unhelpfully. I don't find this game very fun, myself. I can see the quality in some aspects of the game, but I just don't like it very much. The jump-charging system does deserve mention, though -- indicators on the bottom of the screen show the current twist and spin amounts you'll do when you let go of the jump button and take off, which is great. Very nice touch, and helpful once you start learning the tracks, for sure. And the graphics really are nice. There are four times of day you can race on, too, which is cool; there are torches along the track in the night races. Late '90s 3d games sure did love to show off their particle effects. Overall, Boarder Zone is a challenging, but somewhat content-light, snowboard racing game. Its main strength is that there just aren't all that many snowboard games on the PC. Still, though, I'm sure that there are newer ones than this that are as good or better, and have much more substantial feature sets, and multiple difficulty levels too. Oh, and there's no musical variety here either -- it's all somewhat annoying (in my opinion) rock. You also can't remap the gamepad controls; button 1 is jump, button 2 is trick. Multiplayer is LAN or modem only, no direct-IP. The game also crashed on me a couple of times, and does not have patches.

*Carmageddon Max Pack - 1997, DOS. Carmageddon was a big hit, and very controversial title, when it released. The game is a futuristic 3d driving game where you can run over people gorily, as either Max Damage or Die Anna. The game's blood and violence ("you get points for running people over!" And it's true, you do.) made it extremely controversial, but the game is actually quite good too, this didn't sell just on controversy. There are three ways to win each level in Carmageddon. First, if you finish the race, you win. This game doesn't have places; if you finish without running out of time, you win. Second, if you kill every single person on the map, you win. This is quite challenging, there are lots of people on each map and you have a strict time limit. You do get more time each time you kill someone, but not very much. The third way to win is to destroy all of the other racers. This is generally the easiest way to complete each stage, and quite possibly the most fun too. The levels themselves are huge cityscapes. Carmageddon does not take place on railed courses; instead, it's a checkpoint racing game where you go through large environments, finding powerups, running people over, and trying to not get lost. It's easy to get off the path in a game like this. The physics reminds me of the San Francisco Rush games -- gravity is a bit low, but on the ground the driving model is challenging and somewhat realistic. The Rush games are my favorite racing games ever, so that's a great game to copy. :) This collection includes both the original game and its expansion pack. There are lots of levels to play through, that's for sure. Unfortunately in this collection the high res mode (or 3DFX and such too) don't seem to work, which is quite disappointing -- these games are ugly in low res. Still, the game's more than fun enough to be well worth playing. Oh, on one final note, the European version was censored, and has zombies instead of humans. Get the uncensored release. Unfortunately none of the Carmageddon console games are uncensored, all of them (the N64 one, PS1 one, GBC one) have zombies. And before someone says "well the N64 one was terrible anyway"... go see my N64 thread, I actually like it. It isn't as good as this one, though, certainly.

*Demolition Racer - 1999, Win9x or above (sort of). This is an enhanced port of the PS1 title of the same name, released in between the PS1 and Dreamcast releases. This game is in between the other two in quality -- it's improved over the PS1 original, but definitely is best on the DC. It also has some signficant issues when running on modern OSes. Demolition Racer is of course a game inspired by the Psygnosis classic Demolition Derby. This game is Pitbull Syndicate's attempt at a game of that type. They did a good job here and this game is fun, but I really would highly recommend the DC version over this one for several reasons. First, that later release has more tracks and cars than this one. On the PC the game has 8 cars, 10 normal tracks, and 3 arenas. On DC, there are 18 tracks and 24 cars -- lots more content! There are more cups on DC too, so it'll take longer to play through. Also this PC version has no multiplayer at all. Yes, it's a single player game. Both console releases have two player splitscreen modes, which are of course great fun (on DC especially). The game is fast and fun, with decent graphics (when running on an older computer; more later), good course designs, and lots of crash-focused racing. As with, for instance, Rollcage Stage II, in this game your finishing position is based on both points scored from hitting the other cars, and from your place in the race. You will need to do well at both to succeed. This PC version adds some more ways to score points than there were on the PS1 (which only had side or rear impacts and nothing else), so the top-impact instant kill, for instance, is in, but the DC version did add even more than this one has. As a result the PC version has enough ways to get points to be fun, but isn't the best version of the game. At least it is very fast and smooth, as it is on DC (but is not on PS1). Unfortunately, this game runs very poorly on Vista or other modern OSes. First, the lighting is all wrong -- everything is very, very dark, and it's nearly impossible to see much of anything. I don't know if this can be fixed, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Needless to say the game's not very playable this way. Second, the game won't start because it's missing a couple of dll files. You'll need to download wmaudsdk.dll and drmclien.dll, and put both of them in c:\windows\system32 in order to get the game to start; links will be at the end of this review. The game also only starts in WinXP SP2 compatibility mode, so set it to that. Third, the CD audio didn't work for whatever reason. And last, my gamepad didn't work either. The game menu recognized it, but it doesn't actually function ingame. Yeah, not good. Overall, Demolition Racer is a good racing game, and is one of the better Destruction Derby style games, but don't play this version, it has far too many serious flaws. Play it on the Dreamcast. The PC version is more playable on an older, Win9x PC, but still, the DC version is better by a significant margin. Also on PS1 and DC. dlls needed for vista: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-fi...l?wmaudsdk http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-fi...l?drmclien

*DethKarz - 1998, Win9x or above. DethKarz was a fairly popular game at the time of its release, but I've never liked it much. I've also always had technical problems with the game. Unfortunately, in both the demo and the full version, I've always had horrible crashing problems with DethKarz, on both my older or newer computer, so I can't give this a fully fair review -- it's hard to like a game which is incredibly unstable. But even beyond that, while I've always wanted to like DethKarz - I love futuristic racing games, after all - I just never have. The graphics are nice, but the controls are somewhat frustrating, and I don't really like how most tracks are on wallless floating courses -- this makes the game quite tough, as any mistakes are harshly punished. I've never gotten too far into DethKarz; either it crashes on me, or I give up because of the frustrating handling and track designs.

Drome Racers - 2002, Win9x or above. Drome Racers is a Lego Drome Racers-licensed racing games from ATD, the same developer as Rollcage Stage II. This game is not as great as Rollcage Stage II, but it is a good, solid, and fun futuristic racing game. In the game you race as Drome Racers cars through realistic environments. Unlike the Lego Racers games, you can't customize these cars -- they're just preset models, full scale versions of Lego cars. Of course, the Drome Racers line itself worked similarly, so that's understandable even if a little disappointing; part of the fun of Legos is building your own things. Drome Racers is a good game, but its biggest issue is that there's nothing really special about it. Don't expect any originality here. What the game does have, however, is nice graphics, a good selection of well-designed, varied tracks, some fun weapons to shoot the other cars with, and a surprisingly good physics model too. Remembering that this same team did Rollcage Stage II, that makes sense. This game has several different kinds of vehicles, and each type handles completely differently, as they should. The racecars have much skiddier handling than the off-road vehicles, for instance. Some cars are easy to control, and others require precision to keep going straight. The tracks are well designed and fun, too. This game uses a branching system, so each course has several different variants which go through different sections of the track, as in the Ridge Racer games or XG2. The gameplay, though, is focused on the driving and the shooting. I like the weapons, the game has some fun ones. Drome Racers is a somewhat underrated game, and it's one that futuristic or combat racing game fans should not miss -- it's good. The game has two player splitscreen and network play. Also on Gamecube and PS2. I've played it on GC, it's pretty much the same as on computer except at lower resolutions of course.

Driver - 1999, Win98 or above. Driver was a very ambitious open-world racing game for the Playstation and PC from Reflections. While this game was also on consoles, though, this PC release clearly got a lot of attention visually, because the game looks great for the time. All turns are 90 degrees in this game, which is kind of silly, but apart from that it looks great. As good as the graphics are though, the gameplay's even better. There is one important catch, but it's a great game. Driver is an open-world driving game set in the 1970s where you, playing as Tanner the undercover cop, have to do point-to-point driving missions through a sequence of four cities. You start in Miami, then go though San Francisco, LA, and New York. The story is a somewhat average crime story, but is solidly told with FMV video sequences at plot events. Unfortunately the cutscenes are VERY low resolution, so it's quite hard to make out much of any detail. It doesn't matter much, though, as the gameplay's the real star here. But first, that one catch: Driver is a rock-hard game. This game is infuriatingly difficult for several reasons. Despite the insane difficulty, though, it's very, very good and keeps pulling you back again and again until you finally either give up, or beat it. The difficulty does start right from the very beginning, though: Driver has perhaps the hardest tutorial sequences of any game I've ever played. I imagine some people gave up there, and never saw the actual game... it's just crazy difficult for a tutorial. Stick with it and master the driving controls, though, and you'll eventually get out of that garage. At first things seem to ease up, but after not too long, that difficulty comes back, and never goes away. The first reason for this is that this game does not allow you to save after every mission. Instead, you'll have to do three or four missions in a row before the game allows you to save. You can continue, sure, but can't save. This is horribly annoying game design and probably ruins the game for some; it really is a problem, when you combine that with the strict timer, constant police presence, and car damage systems that will cause you to fail missions again and again. Yes, this is a very, very challenging game, and that's true even on Easy police difficulty. In each mission, your goal is to get from one point in the city to another. There are two main variants of this. First, missions on a timer. These timers are strict, so you'd better hurry. Second, missions with no timer. For these you can slow down and perhaps even obey the traffic laws -- this will keep the police off you. Some missions have special rules, like having to chase someone or break things at the locations you go to, but those are just variants on the two basic types. The police system in this game really is very well done -- the police don't just chase you mindlessly, they only do so if you break the rules. If you speed, hit cars, go through red lights, and such while police can see you, the police will start chasing you; occasionally, because of story events you'll start being chased, and have to get away. You can see police locations on the onscreen minimap, so you can tell when they're nearby. Even so, once you're being chased escaping the police can take some time, so be careful in missions with strict timers where you have to be free of police at the target location. Yeah, when the game combines that with long distances and tight timers, it can get frustrating. I got this game shortly after its release, and loved it, but it was simply too hard for me at the time, and I never managed to get past the first mission in San Francisco, the second city. And the first SF save point is AFTER that mission, not before it, so I didn't get to the first SF savepoint until when I was playing the game again for this review. Yeah, I had that much trouble with it.Still, I loved the game as far as I did get, and it's still a very good, addictive game -- I will surely be playing this game more. Driver is one of, or maybe the, best open-world racing game I've played. I liked the gameplay and cities to explore a lot. This game is nonviolent (apart from some cutscenes, of course; you are undercover in the criminal world, after all) too, which is great. No other Driver game has been entirely gun-free as this one is, and that's really too bad -- somehow Reflections has completely forgotten what made the first game so great, and keeps making Driver games full of shooting and violence instead. That wasn't any good in Driver 2, and it still isn't. Driver isn't GTA, and doesn't need to be ike it; it's its own thing, and is just as good (or better). Fortunately the most recent Driver game, Driver San Francisco, finally gets back to the nonviolent style of the original. Great game! I like how you can't run over pedestrians in this game, either; when you try, the flatten themselves against the nearest wall and cannot be hit. It's kind of silly, but hey, this is Driver, not Carmageddon (or GTA). Driver San Francisco does this as well. I remember sometimes wanting to be able to run the people over, but it's fine this way. Overall, Driver is a great game. It's just too bad that almost every title since in the franchise haven't been. Also on PS1, though the graphics are better here. It's impressive that they pulled it off at all on PS1, but the visuals sure don't look nearly as good.

Extreme-G 2: XG2 - 1999, Win98 or above. Extreme-G 2 for the PC is a somewhat rare PC port of the N64 original. For anyone who doesn't know the game, read my review of the N64 version in that thread. I played this version first, though, and absolutely loved it. XG2 is a fantastic game, and is one of my favorite futuristic racing games. I actually do like XGRA (GC) even more, so this is my second favorite Extreme-G game, but XG2 isn't too far behind that exceptional classic. First though, for those who know the N64 game or read the other review, I'll mention the differences between the two versions again. First, there is a great CD audio soundtrack on the PC. XG2's CD audio remix is really good, and is worth listening to on its own -- this is one of my favorite futuristic racing game soundtracks around. The music is really changed from the N64, and every change is much for the better; just listen to the new Eschaton and Lumania music, it's great! It really blows away the N64 version's music. Second, there's no multiplayer at all, sadly. They gave some excuses for that, but ultimately, what matters is that it was cut, and the whole battle mode went with it. It's really too bad, that was pretty well done on the N64, and network modes would have been great here (as well as splitscreen of course). Most PC racing games have one or the other. Third, the game supports much higher resolutions than you'll get on the N64. You can adjust the resolution through command-line switches, and the game looks fantastic at high resolutions. The text starts breaking up at or above 1024x768, but the actual game looks just fine, and that's what matters. Of course the game is a product of its time, so don't expect the polygon counts or detail levels of 6th gen console games; this is an N64 game at heart, and you can tell. Still, the visuals are pretty good. XG2 has twelve tracks, each with three different variants, and there are at least six or seven championships to play through, too, so there's a lot here to do. The later championships get very challenging, so this game will not be easy. Making that harder is the save system; yes, just like on N64, you can only save progress every four races (or three, for 6-race championships), and you have limited lives. That makes the later races of each set of four quite challenging, when one failure means you go back several races. The track designs themselves are fantastic though, some of the best in the genre, so I don't mind that nearly as much as I would in a worse game. I love how complex and detailed the tracks are. These aren't just Wipeout cooridors, they're real environments, or as real as they could do at the time XG2 was made. Oh, and the box is really cool, too. It looks like a huge version of the N64 XG2 box, and I love the resulting look. This version of the game is not common, and complete it won't be easy to find, but fortunately loose copies don't cost too much; this game isn't too highly in demand. Still though, I would put this up as one of the two or three best ever futuristic racing games on the PC, right up there with Pod. The only disappointment is the missing multiplayer. Also on N64.

*Hard Truck II - 2000, Win98 or above. This is another tedious 18-wheeler sim that I believe I got for free. It's an earlier title in the series that also includes 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul, so a lot of the basics of the game are the same as in that title. As expected, the game is an open-world driving game with a business sim element -- you buy and sell cargoes at the different towns, and will make or lose money depending on how in demand those places are in the various towns. There are also some races, though they occur at preset times, so you'll have to be at the right location at the right time to compete. So the game does have some interesting ideas, it's just not the kind of game I'm going to enjoy... I like business games significantly less than driving sims. The main differences between this and the later one is that this one has weaker graphics, of course, and isn't on a nationwide map -- instead of traveling to dozens of cities around the country, in this game you drive around one, smaller area with a network of towns and businesses. In each town you can get jobs at the depot, dealing with the economics side as described above. The driving and gameplay is very much like 18 Wheels of Steel, just not as nice looking. So yes, it's tedious, slow, and boring, and is only for trucking sim fans.

*Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Driver - 2001, Win95 or above. This game is a Hot Wheels racing game by Semi Logic Studios where you race on Hot Wheels cars, on those plastic tracks you could buy, in rooms in a house setting. Yeah, it's a mini car racing game, with full-size animals, furniture, and such in the background. The game runs with polygonal cars and maybe tracks running on what clearly has to be an FMV backdrop. The game has six tracks to race through, all one way courses and not lap tracks. There's also a track builder mode where you can put down tracks to form your own track. In the six predesigned ones you'll see stuff in the background such as a cat or dog, fishbowl, couch, etc, but of course the ones you make yourself are done with a bland, empty-garage background -- of course with FMV backdrops, it'd be impossible to allow you to place tracks in environments like the other ones, but it's nice that they put in the option. This game didn't make a good first impression, as you're driving down extremely narrow paths with FMV backdrops so it is an incredibly railed game, but it's actually not easy, and was a little fun, I think, overall. The game gives you a very strict time limit for each track, and you pretty much need to be perfect to finish. So, the challenge is getting or turning and braking right, to pull off each jump and turn without a crash. This isn't a good game, but it's moderately amusing. Fans of mini-car racing games should check this one out, too -- many Hot Wheels games don't actually use mini-car settings, oddly enough, but this one does.

*Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge - 2004, Win98 or above. This second Hot Wheels Stunt Track game is from Climax Studios. No, not the Japanese one, a British company of the same name. This game has you playing as a competitor in a futuristic, Hot Wheels-themed TV racing gameshow. This game is a simple, but fun, arcade-style futuristic racing game. It's entirely different from the game above -- this one has you driving what appear to be full-scale versions of Hot Wheels cars through full-size (usually), outdoor environments. You're not on those plastic orange one-car-width tracks that you're driving on in the above title, and you're not a tiny car in a large world either. That doesn't mean it's worse at all, though; it's better, really, it's just a bit less obviously Hot Wheels. The vehicles you drive are all of course Hot Wheels vehicles, though. The game's clearly inspired by other futuristic racing games like Extreme-G or Rush 2049, but this game's not as complex as those -- it was clearly made for kids, so this game is easier and more forgiving than most such titles. There are no alternate difficulty levels, either. The game is a fairly standard "extreme" style racing game, with tracks full of jumps and obstacles you'll have to avoid. The main unique feature here is that it's not just about races against other cars. Stunts are done Rush 2049 style -- it's all about spinning and flipping in the air with the analog stick. It's not as varied or deep at that game's stunt system; indeed, it's quite simple, just spin or flip -- but still, it's entertaining. Instead, each of the six championships is made up of ten events. Three are races, but the rest include two top-down sections (with small cars) where you have to collect five items and then find the exit, and a variety of other games including races where you have to go along a narrow track, sometimes without walls, going through hoops or checkpoints as you head towards a goal, a stage where you play pool (by knocking giant balls into holes in the corners), stunt-jumping challenges where you go through a short course and then over a jump, and more. Excepting the topdown bonus stages, which just exist to allow you to unlock more decals, the other events are all scored in a bunch of categories, including stunts, time, position (for races), etc. The person, of the six competitors, with the most points at the end of each championship is the winner. You'll be rewarded for finishing second with a new car, or two if you win the championship. The game doesn't have weapons, but does have turbo. You can build turbo either by doing stunts or collecting turbo powerups. The graphics are solid early-'00s stuff. Stunt Track Challenge looks quite average for the time, but it's a good average, not a bad average -- this is a reasonably nice looking game. Each championship's environment is different from the last, and the themes, from a pirate ship to a hive of spiders, are varied and fun. to attack your rivals with. Overall, Stunt Track Challenge is a fun game, but the easy difficulty holds it back a bit -- this game is just too forgiving. For instance, when you fail to finish spins before landing, no problem; you won't get the points, but it won't punish you in the race itself at all. Actually winning every challenge actually would be difficult, but you don't need to -- a mixture of top-3 finishes should easily win every championship. Still, the varied challenges, from racing to jumping through hoops to going over jumps to the topdown bonus stages, keep the game fun. Stunt Track Challenge is a good game, I just wish it lasted longer and had some more depth. But for what it is, it's good. Also on PS2.

*IndyCar Racing - 1993, DOS (though I have the 1996 CD re-release). IndyCar Racing is an early Papyrus racing sim. As expected from Papyrus, the game is realistic, detailed, and a very good game for its time and genre. As the title suggests, this one is an IndyCar game, so it's open-wheel racing. Papyrus later became famous for their NASCAR games, but this is one of their earlier titles; it's only their second racing game. As with all Papyrus games, it is a high quality, accurate sim. I find such games somewhat boring, of course, but for 1993 this is a very good open-wheel game. The game has very good graphics for a 1993 racing game -- indeed, I was impressed with the visuals here. The polygonal visuals are nice looking, and the game runs fast and smooth on any modern PC. This game isn't as technical of a sim as later Papyrus games would be by default, so it's quite playable by anyone. The game has assists such as automatic gears and the option to turn off damage modeling that help make the game simpler for people who don't want the full experience, and you can set race lengths too so you don't need to do 150 laps. The game has fifteen tracks from the 1993 IndyCar season, so it's got all the courses too. Unfortunately as was common in sim racers the game has no ingame music, only sound effects. As with most F1 and IndyCar games I find this game somewhat boring, but that says nothing about its quality. This is clearly a good early '90s racing sim.

Klik & Play (Included Games) - 1995, Win9x (does not work in Vista, not sure about XP). Klik & Play was the first of a series of innovative and brilliant game creation programs from Clickteam. This first one was published by Maxis, and I loved this in the mid '90s. Sadly because I was really stupid I lost just about all of the games I made back then by the early '00s, but still, KNP was great. It has limitations -- scrolling is nearly impossible to do for instance, so almost all games are single-screen, and you can't really do any kind of 3d or first-person stuff -- but it was really fun to play with. Anyway though, this isn't here for the game creation side. It's here for the included games. KNP includes 15 small games built in; the later Clickteam programs don't have anywhere remotely as many, maybe just a couple each. KNP, though, comes with a full suite of little games. Relevant to this topic are the two racing games. Both are top-down, because I don't think there's any way KNP could do first-person (2d or 3d) or faked-scaling titles. The first is Racing Line, a Super Sprint-esque game with F1 cars. It's got one or two player support. In one player mode, you play against a really hard to beat computer which drives along one specific line, probably faster than you can. You bounce off the computer car if you hit it, too. Yeah, it's kind of lame in 1p. Two player is a lot more fun, though; I liked this one a lot. Setting lap times was fun too, though it doesn't save them (KNP only supports password saving, pretty much; later Clickteam titles would add in save-file support). The game has five tracks, each a bit harder than the last. Fun little game. This is the only true racing game of the included titles, but there are two two player only car combat games included. First is Quads, an ATV game where the goal is to bump the other player into holes that are scattered around the playfield. It's okay, but not one of the better packin titles. Maniac Racers is the second one. In this one you shoot the other car, and each player has a health bar. It's better than Quads. These two are not anything I'd call a racing game, though; just combat. Overall though, some decent options. I liked KNP's built-in games. They're very simple, but can be fun.

*MegaRace 2 - 1996, DOS. The first MegaRace was and early attempt to do a futuristic racing game, sort of, on the CD medium. The game was FMV-heavy, and indeed was more of an on-rails FMV shooting game than a real racer. The live-action video segments and fancy CG-rendered backgrounds drew people in, but in retrospect the game's pretty awful. Well, MegaRace 2 is a bit better than the first one, but not by enough. Like with the first, MegaRace 2 has you racing on prerendered CG tracks that play like movies in the background. They improved the illusion somewhat here, and the graphics look fantastic in screenshots, but actually play it and you'll see just how limited it actually is. Because the background is video you don't have full control over your motions or what you can see, unlike most games, which is very frustrating at times. I just don't like the style much as something I have to play. The combat is similarly limited by the technology. The host from the original game does return, and he's moderately amusing, sure, but he can't make up for the badly lacking gameplay. Oddly enough while the first and third MegaRace titles had console ports, this one is PC only. It's two discs, too -- lots of track video there for the game to stream. Great. Futuristic racing games are one of my favorite genres, and are my favorite kind of racing game, but MegaRace 1 and 2 are two of the worst futuristic racing "games" I've played. I know that MegaRace 1 and 2 have some fans; people who are interested in FMV racing games might want to try this. I'm not one of them.

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament - 1996, DOS. Micro Machines 2 is the second, and maybe the best, game in a great racing game franchise. As with the first one, in MM2 you drive tiny little Micro Machines cars in real-world environments. You aren't railed to the road, so one of the major challenges is learning the tracks so that you turn correctly so as to stay in the path, and not fall off the table or run into something or what have you. It's a great system, and works extremely well. The first Micro Machines was a fantastic top-down racing game, but the sequel's bigger and better. There are lots more tracks, more modes, more multiplayer, and more in this title. Micro Machines 2 has a surfeit of modes, including single race, championship, Super League, a track editor, and a large collection of user-created tracks as well. Those last two options, the track editor and user track collection, aren't in the console versions of the game. Super League mode has you in a series of four leagues. Each league plays a set of races, and at the end the bottom player is dropped, while the top player moves up a level. Your goal is to make it to the top. This is much easier said than done, though. Super League is a great mode, and was my favorite one here. Championship mode works just like the original game -- play through all the main tracks one at a time, with limited continues. It's tough, but of course is great once you learn the tracks. The large collection of user tracks is a great inclusion as well. Micro Machines 2 has a really cool reflective silver box, too -- it really stands out. MM2 is a tough game, though. Your little cars go faster than in the first game, so you have less time to react to the upcoming turns. I think I like the first game's speed a bit better, personally -- this one can be hard to deal with sometimes. You get used to it, but it's a fast, tough game. This means that the game is harder than the first one, and memorization is even more important. The PC version is probably the best version of this game out there (it's also on Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and, in Europe only, Genesis and Game Gear), but the handheld versions are extremely difficult due to the short draw distance. The Genesis version is good, but it's probably even better on PC. The game saves your times and such too, of course, something not all of the console versions do (the handheld versions do not, for instance). I have mixed feelings about the 3d cameras in Micro Machines V3 and Micro Machines V4, but MM2 is an outstanding game and stands next to the first Micro Machines near the peak of top-down racing greatness. Oh, and yes, it's a fantastic four player multiplayer game too. The first MM was two player only, but this is the one that introduced four player to the series. It stuck, in a big way. Oh, for anyone with an older machine, this game is extremely incompatible with Windows -- it really needs to run in pure DOS mode, without Windows running in the background, to function. This doesn't apply in DOSBox of course. Also on Game Boy and Game Boy Color (in the Micro Machines 1 & 2: Twin Turbo package, on the latter), and in Europe only also on Genesis and Game Gear. The handheld versions don't have saving, while the PC and Genesis (Megadrive) versions do.

Monster Truck Madness - 1995, Win95 or above. Monster Truck Madness was Microsoft's first major entry in the racing genre, as the company got into PC gaming in a big way in the second half of the '90s. Of course they would later ditch this for the Xbox, but for a while they were focused on the PC. MTM is a fairly simple game, with okay graphics for its time (1996-1997) and decent gameplay. The monster truck theme is silly, but the gameplay, which is a checkpoint-based racer in large open levels, works well. This game is simple, but fun. There are two level styles, lap-based races with circuit tracks, and longer point-to-point races. This is far from a great game, but it's decent for the time, and is kind of amusing to play even now. I've never cared about monster trucks at all, but this game's not too bad. It's certainly not great, and gets old after a little while, but it can be fun. The game has a sequel, but I haven't played that one. I have played the N64 game, which is based on the second one, but don't like it as much as this one.

Moto Racer - 1997, Win95 or above. Moto Racer was released in late 1997, and was one of the best, and best looking, arcade-style PC racing games released up to that point. It is on GOG. The game as quite popular, and for good reason: this is a very good arcade-style racing game. Moto Racer has 3DFX and Direct3D support for nice 3d graphics, and it is indeedimpressive both visually and in the gameplay. The game has some issues on modern computers I will address at the end, but regardless it's a great game and is playable. Moto Racer is both a superbike and dirt bike racing game, so you have both the dirt racing full of jumps and tricks of dirtbike racing, and the high speed road racing of superbike racing. Moto Racer's gameplay is arcade through and through, and I wouldn't have it another way. The goal here is to get through each race without hitting the walls, because hitting the sides will cause a significant loss of speed or, worse, a crash. You can wheelie for additional speed, but it greatly reduces turning, and makes you much more likely to crash if you hit anything. These simple controls work very well and results in a fast and thrilling game. The game does have turn indicators before turns, but they're not really necessary. This game has unrealistic courses that are fun in the best ways, and each one has a different setting, too. One's on the Great Wall of China, for example. The tracks are railed paths, so the scenery is just that, but it works. I like the track designs in this game, they're designed well. There is a timer, but you will only run out of time if you're doing badly. All you have to do to move on is finish in the top 3. There's no points championship or anything, so the only reason to finish first would be personal satisfaction. The game is short, with only eight tracks and a short campaign mode that is easy to finish in a short time, but if you get into it there there is some replay value. Once you beat all 8 races you unlock Reverse mode, for a second run. You can also try to improve your lap times. Still, the one flaw here is the somewhat limited amount of content. Apart from that, it's fantastic. The music is good, but somewhat unmemorable. MR1 has great graphics (640x480 max resolution, but it looks great for '97), great gameplay, fantastic arcade-style handling and controls, nice visual variety, and more. Moto Racer 2 has even better graphics, but the first one does look nice. Also, while there are only eight races in the game, there are three difficulty settings, reverse mode, and you can play with 12 or 24 bikes. More bikes adds to the excitement, but also to the challenge. Still, it IS short; this is where the sequel comes in. Moto Racer's multiplayer is LAN or Direct-IP only. Overall though, Moto Racer is a classic! As for the performance issues, in order to get the game to run, make sure to install the patch 3.22. That will get the game working. Moto Racer does require Windows to be set to 16-bit color to run, but once done it'll work. In addition, the "mototrac" patch adds in the two demo levels. Unfortunately it just has them replace two of the races in the circuit (as an option, you can still use the originals if you wish), but still it's nice to have. GOG's release comes with the patches pre-installed. This game has performance issues on modern computers, but they are mostly fixable. First, it doesn't work with USB gamepads, only gameport. I don't know if the GOG release fixes this. Second, I already mentioned the 16-bit-color-only issue. And last, the game is tricky to get working in Direct3D mode -- the game will dump you into the not as nice looking software mode at the start of each race, by default. The fix is to use command line parameters. The full set of command line parameters I use is " -D3D -ZBuffer -FrameRateMax60 -TextureVideoMem268435456" (after the address in the Target box, in the Start Menu shortcut's properties). There are some other options you can enable through these parameters too, such as different framerates (the default is 30; I chose 60; setting it to 0 will unhook the framerate, for no limit, but I'd recommend using a limit. You can set it up to 99.). -CorrectRatioTextures and -nodither might help too. -h displays the list of parameters you can use, though that -TextureVideoMem one that fixes D3D is hidden one found by a guy in the GOG thread linked below (thanks! It's awesome!). If you want to use software mode for whatever reason (no command line parameters), there are graphical issues, so turn graphical detail down to 3 (of 5) before dirtbike (motocross) tracks; otherwise you'll see lots of game-killing slowdown when making sharp turns. Superbike tracks work fine at detail 5 in software mode though, but of course there's no reason to be using it. Just use hardware, with the command line parameters above. See this link for more info on the parameters and how to use them in the GOG release (it's slightly more complex than with the disc release, you have to make your own shortcut to the game (moto.exe) and then put the parameters on that shortcut), see this page: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/moto_racer_s...blem/page2 Finally, to install the game in 64-bit Windows, follow the instructions in this link: http://gamebender.wordpress.com/2010/01/...acer-1997/ GOG's release includes the patches and of course replaces that 16-bit installer. Oh, there's also a PS1 version, but its graphics are pretty bad compared to the PC original. Finally, I didn't put an asterisk on this game, but I didn't buy it when it came out; I just have this as a disc only title, and got it in the mid '00s. I've had it much longer than any of the titles with asterisks, though, and also I played this games two demos a lot when it released, so it's one I did play some of back then. The game is just as great now as it was back then, impressively.

Moto Racer 2 - 1998, Win95 or above. Moto Racer 2 is essentially just like the first game, but more and better. While the series changed dramatically after this title and became a generic, not particularly interesting sim racer series, these first two are fantastically fun arcadey motorcycle racing games with nary a realistic racecourse or bike customization option in sight. The controls and handling are nearly identical to the first game, which means that they're great. Turn indicators have been removed from the game versus MR1, but I don't miss them; they were never needed anyway. Track designs are very similar to MR1 as well, except now there are a huge number of courses, instead of very few, and multiple championships. The controls, just turning and wheelie/stunt, are simple but deep,and there's a lot more to Moto Racer 2 than you might think at first glance. In order to get good at Moto Racer, you'll have to learn the numerous courses, learn the types of turns, and figure out how to take them at the best speed possible. I, at least, think that this is a much better game style than the later ones. I got Moto Racer 2 when it first released, and it's been one of my favorite PC racing games ever since. This game really is that good. I even don't mind the rock music soundtrack, which is saying something. Moto Racer 2 takes the core of the first game and makes it better. The graphics looks very similar, but better. The game supports higher resolutions, too, up to 1024x768 (and does have a 16:9 option). MR2 is a very good looking game for 1998. The game has four player splitscreen multiplayer now, as well as the LAN and direct IP modes the first had, so multiplayer is easier and better. The game doesn't have as many environments as the first game -- there are only six this time, instead of eight -- but it makes up for it with an essentially infinite number of tracks. The game has a good 40+ built-in tracks, and four different championships to try to win. If you beat all of the included championships, you can make your own too, using tracks you make yourself in the track editor. The track editor is simple, easy to use, and works great. You simply place the connection points, and then curve the track in between those points. Moto Racer courses are entirely railed paths, so it works well. You can't customize the scenery, but can regenerate it until you get a look you like, and you can choose the setting, from the five available for each bike type (one environment is exclusive to each type, and four are shared). I was slightly disappointed that there are fewer environments than the first game, despite having so many more tracks, but otherwise this game is a huge improvement over the first title. Highly, highly recommended! Moto Racer 2 does have some of the first game's problems, but fewer of them, and they are fixable. This game is on GOG.com too, but GOG removed the original annoying and yet perfectly fitting punk rock music and replaced it with some bland and generic rock. I assume some rights issues were involved, but it's very disappointing -- a disc copy is best. First, to fix Direct3D (this is required in either version of the game, disc or GOG, the only difference is how you input command line parameters), use the command line parameter "-KeepAvailableVram668435456" (use what's inside the quotes) in order to get the game working in the far better looking D3D mode. As with MR1, there are more command line parameter options, if you wish. Use the command line parameter -h to see the full list. Similar to MR1 the -KeepAvailableVram one that fixes D3D is hidden, thanks GOG thread below! It's great that D3D can be fixed, because software mode doesn't look nearly as good. If that command line parameter does not work for you, see this thread and try some others. -KeepAvailableVram268435456 works for some people. http://www.gog.com/en/forum/moto_racer_s..._mr2/page1 Also, for the disc release, two patches will be required to get the game working (GOG of course comes prepatched). First install the official 1.34 patch, then download and install the unofficial 1.36.3 xp patch which will get the game working. See here: http://gamebender.wordpress.com/2010/01/...o-racer-2/ Fortunately, this time...

Whew... almost done! This list actually has been a lot of work, but only one game, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, remains.

Changelog

9/13/12

Equals signs on this list of additions here mark games not previously listed (that I'd missed).

Full game reviews added: Network-Q RAC Rally, The Simpsons: Hit and Run; reviews improved significantly: Lamborghini American Challenge, Moto Racer, Moto Racer 2, Motocross Madness 2

Freeware reviews added: =Race the Monkey, =Rolling Ball 3D, Tube, Turbo; improved: Skyroads, Skyroads Xmas Edition

Demo/shareware (games I don't own) reviews added: Carmageddon 2, CART Precision Racing, Flatout, H-Craft, Grand Theft Auto, International Rally Championship, =NASCAR Racing 4, =Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, =Official Formula 1 Racing, =Redline Racer, =RalliSport Challenge, Space Haste 2, Super Laser Racer, =Vangers: One for the Road, =Viper Racing; reviews improved: Jeff Gordon's XS Racing, Plane Crazy, Need for Speed II SE

Demo (games I do have full versions of) reviews added: =MegaRace 3, =Rollcage, =Ultim@te Race Pro, =VR Powerboat Racing

Old changelog, from before the list was posted:

Initial list completed 8/29/12

9/2/12

Review added (full, disc): Boarder Zone

9/3/12

Review added (full, digital download): Driver San Francisco

9/4/12

Reviews added (full games, discs): Demolition Racer, 18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul, Hard Truck II.

9/7/12

Reviews added: Astro Tripper (moved to freeware, because it is freeware and not shareware), and two full version digital download titles: MegaRace 3, and Death Track: Resurrection

Whew... all games are covered now! This list in total took quite a while to do, but it was a lot of fun to put together... well, most of the time. Some of these I'd never have played again (or in the first place) if not for this list.

As for future work on the list, the main thing I'd like to put in is mention of the specific multiplayer modes all games support. I tried to list this in most titles, but didn't for all of them. I will eventually go back, check the ones I didn't list it for, and fill that info in.

9/14/12

Full game reviews added: The Simpsons: Hit & Run

Freeware reviews added: =Nitronic Rush

Demo/shareware (games I don't own) review added: =Little Racers: STREET; expanded and improved: 1NSANE, Superbike 2000

I've been working on this update for much of the last 8 hours, but it's finally done...

Changelog

9/15/12

Major change: Added screenshots to all full-version and freeware titles and a few selected demos or shareware games.

Text fixes: Changed these entries:

Full games on disc: Improved and edited these entries: Klik & Play, Micro Machines 2, Motorhead, Sega Rally Revo,

Lamborghini American Challenge, Snowmobile Championship 2000; fixed release dates on these entries: Death Rally, Road

Rash, Front Page Sports: Ski Racing, Snowmobile Championship 2000

Full ver. Digital Download: improved and edited these entries: Ignite, Skydrift

Freeware: Improved and edited these entries: Kosmonaut, Skyroads: Xmas Edition, Race the Monkey, Rolling Ball 3D

Demos and shareware: H-Craft (changed name to its full title, H-Craft Championship)

A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon