Producer: CRL
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: G Munday and B Wheelhouse

Endurance allows you to participate in Formula One motorbike racing without risk to life, limb or wallet. Avoiding any kind of arcade action, Endurance puts you in the position of team manager - rather like Football Manager of the racetracks really.

The racing team in your charge consists of two bikes and four riders, and you have to juggle with a variety of variables while your try to make your team successful. Pitstop skills are well worth practising, as keeping the bikes in good order is as important as your riders' racing skills. In the pits you can swap riders or service a bike... Several things can go wrong with a bike: brake pads can wear, tyres can burst, fuel can run out and engines go out of tune.

You can choose to compete in individual races, or take them together as a world competition. When a rider wins, points are given to both the team and the rider as an individual. Four of the six races are fairly short, while two tracks are twenty four hour races, and take around an hour to complete in real time.

Up to six players are allowed to take part in one game, and five skill levels are available. Selections are made with the joystick controlling a pointer, using fire to select options. There's a choice of riders and bikes, and once chosen they can be renamed to make things a bit more personal. Then chassis and bike specification of each vehicle needs to be set in the pits by a mechanic. The first thing to do is tune the engine. Below the bike are three bar graphs, one for safety, one for power and another for miles per gallon. Using the arrow selector each rating can be boosted to fit your requirements. Strategy comes into play here, as an increase in one factor causes a decrease in the other two.

The handling of the bike then has to be set in a similar manner, but this time the different factors are speed, safety and wear. Tyre selection allows soft, medium or hard compound tyres to be fitted to the back and front wheels. Lastly, the team member to ride first is chosen.

Before a race the riders line up on the opposite side of the track to their bikes, then the starter drops the flag and the riders leap onto their machines. Each lap is computer controlled and you see a view from the grandstand, watching the bikes whizz past. After every lap the positions of the bikes in the race is updated. The main scoreboard displays the first six places, showing the leader and the distance each of the next five riders is behind him. Along a smaller board above the main track the numbers of the first sixteen racers are shown. If any of the bikes on the course are having problems, then their numbers are highlighted in red.

Instructions can be issued to your riders on the completion of every lap by pressing the I key. In all, there are three options: Go Go Go, Ride normally, and Take it easy. If the fuel on one of your bikes runs out or a fault gets too bad to cope with, then an automatic pit stop is called by the computer.

When in the pits, you control a mechanic. By moving him along the body of the bike various options appear for the maintenance of the bike. The engine can be tuned, the wheels can be changed and the brakes can be repaired. These sections are operated in the same way as the start up screens, using histograms and pointers. Fuel can also be replenished and the riders can be changed - a rider's energy rating goes down, the longer he races.

When the bike has been returned to spick and span condition it returns to the track. The time for your pitcall is displayed and if you spent too long in the pits, then you can opt to quit the race.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: no problems
Use of colour: poor
Graphics: simplistic to the point of crudity
Sound: quite a lot, but all very similar
Skill levels: 5
Screens: menus, the pits and grandstand view

Though initially seeming very tedious, badly programmed and on the whole, totally inept, I found that this game has a spark of addictivity once I gave it a go. It really brings out an urge to win in me. I don't know why, but even with the peeping and parping sounds and absolutely prehistoric graphics, I actually enjoyed Endurance. Real bike fans will probably enjoy the game even more. I wouldn't recommend anyone to run out and buy a copy now, now, now - but it's definitely worth taking a look at.

A game that allows me to strip a bike down without getting oil all over me mum's kitchen floor - great! The sound would be awful, if there was enough to be noticed and the graphics are poor and annoyingly slow, especially when in the pits. All the same, I found it difficult to stop playing this strategy game. As an arcade game it's a non starter but treated as a strategy game with the graphics and sound added to use up the spare memory, it's very addictive. I like it, and I'm going to play it until I win! So there.

Very much one for the sports management simulation fans-one of the best since Football Manager, and in many ways it's really quite similar. The tension it creates is quite fabulous. During one game, a championship, I was just 6 minutes from the end of the Le Mans 24 hour race when guess what? The power went off! I went nutty. The only thing against this game is the graphics - they're terrible. I really enjoyed this one, all the same. The five skill levels, the wide range of tracks and the choice of championship or single races mean this game will last a long time. If you liked Football Manager for the strategic elements, you'll love Endurance.

CRL
£7.95

On yer bikes, you leather lovers - CRL's new motorcycling simulation is a beaut for bikers with brains. It's not, as you might think, a high adrenalin arcade but a solid strategy puzzle - more akin to Football Manager than Pole Position.

Quite simply (ah! if only it was!) you have to prepare your two superbikes to compete and win a motorcycling endurance race that varies between six and twenty-four hours in length. A complete season comprises seven races, all requiring different skills, each with five different levels ranging from trainee to expert. So this is one cunning cassette you won't have sussed in a week.

The real skills are off, not on the track, then. No frantic joystick juggling here. Indeed, so swiftly do the Supers zoom by, you'd be hard pressed to see what's going on. But don't worry, race order is shown in front of the grandstand. Then you'll know if you managed the right engine tune, handling and tyres.

Variations exist once the race is running. Weather conditions change, accidents happen and pit stops occur through choice or fate.

Although these stops aren't as frenetic as the real thing, the sight of little men whipping off your wheels or cowling whiles away the winter nights.

With no obvious loopholes (though no imaginative leaps either) the game, like the graphics, is functional not thrilling but a solid buy all the same.

Run it again and again and again - there's nothing like a good race game. You can always beat that world record just once more, as DOMINIC HANDY and MIKE DUNN discover when they go into...

Endurance
CRL

69% Issue 24

MIKE: This management game puts you in charge of two bikes and four riders in a Formula One motorcycle race. You set variables which affect your performance in the race: your chassis, bike specification, and engine tuning. Bike handling is then altered to set the speed, safety and wear; going short on any of these has its consequences! Endurance is an enjoyable game, remarkably addictive despite terrible graphics and annoying sound.
57%

DOMINIC: Mediocrity and simplicity at its lowest limits. Football Manager on the track? No thanks! There's too much strategy and not enough presentation.
30%

Publisher: CRL
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston

If leather, speed and the constant danger of fiery death appeal to you then this motorbike racing simulation will have you itching to don your helmet.

There is a choice of seven races on the circuit, most of which are run through day and night. You may want to take things easy for a while and develop your speed skills during the six hour race at Monza. Alternatively, you could try the 1000 Kilometers at Zeltweg or the 24 hour race at Le Mans.

Each bike has a team of two riders ranked professionally from trainee to expert. They have sets of predetermined character ratings for skill, energy, and safety.

The performance of your bike depends upon factors you set before the start of the race. Those include power, safety, miles per gallon and the type of tyres you use. The first three factors are interrelated. If you push power to its limits and then assign large ratings for safety and miles per gallon, the power rating will decrease.

Often something will go wrong - you may run out of fuel and be forced to make a stop. Bike numbers are displayed on the grandstand and when a problem occurs yours will light up red. If you have a monumental disaster, or crash, the number square turns white.

When the bike comes into the pit the rider gets off and you can replace him. Then you move the mechanic over the bike until the part you want is displayed in the message window. Much use is made of menus, and a joystick is handy to move the pointer arrow from one option to another without getting the numerous control keys mixed up.

As the event draws to a close the chequered flag is dropped. Determination, strategy and luck will determine whether you have the cup and points.

Endurance is an excellent simulation but rides on the back of Formula One, its prequel. The standard of presentation in both games is high but the pattern of play is subtly different. If you enjoy motorbike racing - and it is becoming more popular by the season - you can now have the satisfaction of running your own team.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: CRL
PRICE: £7.95

From the programmers who brought you CRL's popular Formula One team-manager simulation comes Endurance Racing - which does the same thing for long distance motorcycling racing.

You have to look after a team or teams of racing bikes out to win the World Endurance Racing Championship. You control the preparation of the team, the selection of riders, the turning of the machines - and must also oversee the pit work for team during these all important championship races.

Endurance motorcycle racing is a team effort. Success depends as much on the maintenance of the bikes during many pit stops as on racing ability of riders.

A crash may not be terminal. If your rider can ride or push the bike back to the pits, repairs can be carried out and lost time made up.

Authentic team names and riders are already stored in the computer, but these can be changed. You can customise you own team, selecting your team name, bike type, colour, numbers and rider names.

Each bike must be prepared for the race. The engine or chassis characteristics are adjustable and you must make your own decisions in line with the level of play. A bar-graph will increase showing an increase of power, m.p.g. etc

Throughout the race the first six bikes are displayed on the score-board and the order of first sixteen bikes are shown from left to right in front of the grandstand.

The team name of the leader and distance he had covered are also displayed. If your bike number turns red it shows that something is wrong.

During the race, instruction can be given to your riders by pressing the select keys and entering the bike number. All riders start off riding normally but they can be instructed to take things easy, if protecting a good lead or ride as fast as possible.

CRL
£7.95

Beware! From the picture on the cover you may think that this is an arcade game - not so. This is in fact a strategy and tactical game game par excellence, if this game is bought by mistake then it may well convert a few hardened arcade addicts.

One to six players can compete and the keys are redefinable or a Kempston joystick can be used. Games may be saved to tape to allow you to continue with a game later on.

The first stage is in selecting the bike components and the riders, this is done by choosing between options displayed graphically. During the race messages will be given and you can send instructions to your riders. Wear and tear must be dealt with as well as refueling. Unexpected problems such as headlamp failure and crash damage will add to your headaches.

As a motorbike fanatic I loved this game and I suppose you had better take that into account when looking at my rating, I find the arcade simulations of motorcycle racing unsatisfying but the program seemed to produce all the atmosphere and excitement of the track. I felt sorry for the unsung managers of the teams after playing this.