Zeppelin Games
£2.99

With the increase in popularity of mountain bikes I suppose it was bound to happen: the influx of mountain bike simulator games from software houses. This is the second to be released on budget the first being Pro Mountain Bike Simulator.

What really gets to you in this game is the almost idiotic way you have to control the biker and the sensitivity of some of the obstacles. You control him by speeding up, slowing down or jumping. Some obstacles have be taken very slowly and some at top speed. This is really annoying for the first few goes until you adjust to it.

There are plenty of obstacles to be encountered on your journey, ranging from barrels to fences, rocks and thin walls which need special balance to get over. All the sprites are really quite good, especially on the special shop section between levels where you can buy new bits and pieces to attach to your bike: you're greeted by a cartoon style shop keeper and detailed icons showing ice chains, fat tyres and oil cans!

The game has one big, big let down: there's no sound at all! You'd think the programmers could have fitted in the odd effect or a little tune, even if it wasn't that good. But you don't even get a peep!

Mountain Bike Racer is fun for a while but with the annoying game play and lack of sound you'll soon get fed up with it. What I want to know is where are the mountains?

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Another delve into the recesses of Speccy softstuff with Dr Marcus "stand very still and try not to scream" Berkmann.

Zeppelin
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

A real oddity here. On first glance it's a dodo - dead from the neck up. Once again, we're off on a bicycle race across the nastiest conceivable terrain with the naffest possible bike. Good idea? I'd prefer to take a bus myself, but then there aren't many Four Stops On The No. 17 Simulators and I can think of a good few reasons why not. MBR, meanwhile, shapes up like a loser - it's not amazingly fast, its graphics are dullsville, and the gameplay seems mundane to say the least. But... but... well, it's just got to be butter.

The trick lies in working how to take every new bit of terrain. Some need to be attacked at high speed. Others, not appreciably smaller, need to be approached at the speed of a tortoise on Night Nurse. There's no real sense to it, and to be honest it has as much relation to real life as I do to Jeremy Beadle. But there's something about this game nonetheless. Not, of course, that originality rears its beautiful bonce anywhere hereabouts. Good Lord no. MBR is older than Mike Gerrard and twice as bearded. No matter - there's something curiously addictive about this simple little game, and I suspect that many Spec-chums will enjoy it.

Label: Zeppelin
Author: Stephen Anderson & David Taylor
Price: £2.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

A little competition. Look at these screenshots of Mountain Bike Racer and see if you can work out what they remind you of. When you've figured it out, write it on a postcard and send it to Zeppelin, or on second thoughts don't bother.

They must realise perfectly well that MBR is staggeringly similar to Gremlin's Motorbike Madness; take the engine out and it's practically the same game. This is a pity, since Zeppelin started off doing very original stuff, and it would be a pity if they ended up resorting to pinching concepts from other companies.

Anyhow, rather than just referring you to the review of Motorbike Madness, here's the idea; you control a mountain bike pedalling furiously left-to-right across a scrolling background. Different sorts of terrain and obstacle require different techniques; for brick ramps you have to pedal very slowly, for stone ramps very quickly, for jumps you need a lot of speed and a jump, for bumps you need a particular wiggle - you get the idea. To make life difficult, you get a ramp followed by a gap followed by a lump, and that's one level one. Easy-Peasy!

Finish a level and you get to visit the nice young lady in the bike shop - depending on how much dosh you make for finishing the level before the timer runs out, she'll sell you lots of nice bits for your bike - ice chains, oil, new tyres and like that. No Batman radio, I'm sorry to note.

Level Two looks remarkably like Level One expect it's a different colour, and there are twelve levels in all.

Nice clean graphics, precise joystick control, decent sounds and a tough old challenge; a pity it isn't more original.

Zeppelin
Spectrum £2.99

Mountain bikes are all the rage at the moment, and here's the first game based on this form of trendy transport. Ride and jump over ramps 'n' rocks but make sure you don't smash your front wheel against a wall! At the end of each level is a rad cycling add-ons shop which stocks super-wide wheels, chains and extra time.

Just when I thought I'd seen the last of the Kikstart clones, along comes this one, which, frankly, is nowhere near as good as the original. It looks okay (although your mount looks nothing like a mountain bike) but the problem lies in the fact that the joystick controls don't correspond to the actions which are being taken - for instance, up and down for speed? Right to pull a wheelie? Hmmm. I don't think so...