It has been a while since the Amiga has seen a decent
racing game. Ever since Xtreme Racing was released the fans of this genre have
been patiently waiting for something to come along, a few have come and
gone without much success, Flyin' High being a good example. However, we
now have a game that looks to address this unbalance, however, unlike most
of the games of today it isn't in 3D, instead, it goes back to the tried and
tested (and very successful in the past) top down view. I'm sure many of you
are asking is its any good though, well, hopefully I can answer this for you.
|
Upon receiving the game you may be disappointed to see that it comes on only
2 disks, and doesn't come on CD as is the trend these days. However, i'm sure
you'll all agree that a lot of todays CD releases are nothing more then floppy
games with a few animations and a hugh intro animation bolted on. MAX Rally
doesn't suffer at all for not having these, allthough because of this it does
remind me of the type of games that were released on the Amiga in the early-mid
90's. Unfortunalty, this is carried on throughout the whole game to an
extent.
As you would expect, the game has a HD installation option, something you should
make use of straight away. Anyone still playing Amiga games from floppy really
should sort themselves out a HD. The HD installer is simple to use and you'll
have the game installed in no time, once this is done it is a simple case of
clicking on the MAX Rally icon. One nice feature the installer does offer is
the option to automatically leave the MAX Rally icon out on the Workbench
desktop, something you can do manually but much easier to have to done
automatically.
Once loaded and through the title screens you are presented with the main menu
of the game, it is from here that you choose, among other things, the type of
game that you wish to play. There are three to choose from, Championship,
Multi Player Battle/Race and Time Trails. First of all, I'm going to briefly go
through eack of these games modes.
The first mode is championship, here you choose one of the 6 different
charactors that the game features and simply partake a out and out race against
3 computer cars over each of the tracks in the game. At the start of the
championship you have 5 continues, each time you loose a race, you loose one of
these continues. If you loose all 5 before completing all the tracks in the
game, you loose, simple as that. The tracks can be raced in any order you like.
For you to complete the track you must finish in first postion after 12 laps,
any other position just won't do. All in all there are 20 different tracks
spread over 4 different terrains (cosmic, dunes, alpine and woodland) with each
one being given a star rated from 1 to 5 (1 being easy, 5 being very tough).
On top of this in the championship there is also the added level of MAX
Challange. This is used to collect extra continues to help you with the MAX
Championship. In this, the game format changes quite drastically, you are the
only car on the track and your aim is to complete 3 laps without either falling
off the edge of the track or disappearing off the edge of the screen. Each
track in this section runs from left to right ot top to bottom. Completing a
lap consists of reaching the other end of the track and returning to the start,
on the way you may have to pass other special pads to light them up or pass over
open spaces using moving platforms, it all requires some very smart driving.
However, that isn't it, to make things even harder the screen is constantly
moving in the directon you are going, even if your not, and if you don't stay
ahead of it, its curtains.
The second of the race modes is the multi-player game. Multi-player races can
be played in one of two modes, batlle & race. The first of these is battle,
this uses the format where you have to get far enough ahead of the other person
that they disappear off the edge of the screen, if you do so, you get one point
the first player to get 5 points wins. This format allows upto 4 players to play
the game at the same time which can make for some very tempered encounters.
The second mode is a simple race to the finish line. Upto two players can play
on the same computer using the split screen option, this can be increased to 4
if you have another Amiga running the game when linked up via a null-modem
cable.
Time Trails is the last of the game modes. In this your aim is simple, complete
the track in the fastest time possible and beat the currently set record. These
records can then be stored on the HD or saved out so you can share them with
other MAX Rally players (While on this subject, I will be opening a MAX Rally
Hall of Fame soon in which MAX Rally players will be able to send there best
time to me for inclusion on the page, look out for more details soon).
Now, while the game may have its fair share of options, these are no good if the
game is rubbish. Well, I'm happy to inform you that this isn't the case with
MAX Rally. While the game may lack somewhat in the graphics and sound
departments it is still good fun to play. Control of the car, while being
difficult to begin with soon becomes second nature and you'll soon be zooming
around those corners with no trouble at all. Then game features 3 skill levels
going from easy (a piece of cake after a few games) to difficult (impossible ;)
which should keep you playing for that bit longer trying to beat the higher
levels. Each of the tracks are nicely designed with obstacales being placed
in just the right position so you bump straight into them when going around
corners, there are also some nicely positioned ramps around the track, these
can be both a help and a hinderance depending how you use them. One nice
feature is that you can turn in mid air allowing to get ready for the next
corner in the middle of a jump, however, this can often result in you going
straight into a wall.
I touched on the graphics of the game earlier and as I said there not brilliant,
but then again, there is only so much you can do with a top down racer graphics
wise, however, there is one aspect which I think could have been improved and
thats the actual cars themselves. Maybe its just that they are too small, or
the design of them, for some reason they just don't look right. This is
something you don't really notice when there speeding around the tracks they so
you'll soon forget it though. There are a few AGA enhancments in the game
including smoke trails and a few other bits and bobs.
My second gripe is the sound, again, this is somewhat lacking. The engine
sounds themselves are not brilliant and the crashing sound is kinda pathetic,
however, the menu music is kinda catchy :).
In summary, this most certainly isn't a bad game, however, it does seem to lack
somewhat when compared alongside some of todays recent releases (Maybe to do
with the fact that it has been in development so long) and even, to an extent,
would have been more in place in the mid 90's. However, this isn't nesarcerily
a bad thing and the game does boast a lot of good points. The one player game is
quite smart with the MAX Challange and the Time Trails, and then there is always
the 2-player game which should keep people interested for ages. This isn't the
best Amiga racer however, it is one of the better top down racers. Well done to
Fortress.
| |
| Machine: | ECS |
| Workbench: | 1.3+ |
| RAM: | 2 Mb |
| Hard-disk
Install | Yes |
| Disks: | 2 Disks |
|
| Graphics:- | Not brilliant, car
design lacking. difficult to improve for this type of
game though | 75% |
| Sound:- | Some decent
music although the in-game effects are dissappointing. | 73% |
| Playability:- | Great fun to play.
. | 86% |
| Lastability:- |
The various moides should keep you playing for quite a
while. | 85% |
|
| OVERALL:- | Not the best Amiga racer ever, however,
good enough in its own right | 82% |
Where to get the Demo?
There isn't currently a demo available, however, I have been informed that
there will be one released very soon. I'll keep you updated.
Where to get MAX Rally From?
MAX Rally is only available direct from Fortess Software. The game costs
£19.99 (Overseas add £2 postage), to order send a cheque or postal order to:-
Fortress Software
63 Thorneycroft Lane
Fallings Park
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV10 0NF
ENGLAND
Please include your name, address, and if possible, your telephone number and
e-mail address. You should recieve MAX RALLY within 14 days of ordering.
For any questions or queries you can get in contact with Fortress via email at:-
fortress@allcomm.co.uk
You can also visit their website at:- http://www.allcomm.co.uk/~fortress
Back to
news page...
Back to
Reviews page...
