BARGAIN BASEMENT

Make a mug of cocoa and stick yer tired feet on the coffee table ("Get them off" oo-er- mum), as Duncan MacDonald guides you through the spooky world of budget games.

Silverbird
£1.99
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

Now... This is more like it. A FAST right to left scrolling race game against the clock. It's ATV Simulator meets Mask II.

You find yourself in a particular un-beach buggyish looking beach buggy in this viewed from the side, monochrome(ish), horizontal scroller. The object of the game is quite simple, insofar as you have to drive as fast as you can between A and B ('A' being the start line and 'B' being the finish line), before the timer ticks down to zero. Make it in time, and you get promoted to the next level. Fail and you, erm, don't!

Now it's time to tell you about the things that try to stop you. Yes, I'm terribly sorry, but this game isn't just a 'stroll in the woods'.

The terrain is extremely hilly, and it's a case of up, down, up, down as you fly off the crests. Scattered about on the ground are boulders and small flickering bonfire thingies, and these have to be jumped over. Lucky then, isn't it, that your buggy's got a 'hop' mode. Zoom zoom zooom, hop, hop, zoom. Zoom zoom zoom, hop, zoom (complacency starts to set in) hop, zoom BLAMMO!!! Yaaaarrgh, what was that Oh no, you get attacked by helicopters. Ah well, looks like that front bumper-mounted cannon might come in very handy after all. Zoom zoom, hop hop (helicopter approaches) bang, bang, bang. Ha ha, gottim.

The action in Beach Buggy Simulator can only be described as simple and frenetic. The scrolling is super-fast and the graphics are fine. Very addictive, and for the price... well, it's a steal chums.