Nitro (Second Review)


Title           Nitro (Second Review)
Publisher       Psygnosis, 1990
Game Type       Driving
Players         Up to 3
HD Installable  No
Compatability   A500
Submission      Shane Armstrong

Review
Let's start by saying this, Nitro by Psygnosis is seriously one of the
most underrated games ever released for the superb Commodore Amiga. The
game is a top down view racer, a la Micro Machines, however Micro Machines
and Supercars etc. are fondly remembered by a vast amount of Amiga gamers,
but not so many remember Nitro which came out in the good old days of 1990
when the Amiga was just starting to spread it's wonderful gaming wings and
give me and many other people out there a fantastic taste of computer
gaming. This is the game that the resultant games followed but in my
opinion never came close to replicating.

"Pure Gameplay" just about sums it up, not that the graphics were bad, in
fact for their age they were more than adequate, but the gameplay, oh the
gameplay!! I lost many, many hours to this game, just trying to get to the
next race that I lost out to before! The game is viewed from an eagle's
eye point of view directly above your car, be it a jeep, sports or racing
car, and the tracks range from apocalyptic wastelands to forests and city
streets. I can't stress just how good the controls felt though, it was
an absolute joy to play, which is pretty much essential in a game of this
sort.

The game is played race by race with you earning points in a championship
table for the position you come in (1 to 4) and along the course of the
race certain pick-ups are floating around the track, be it money, gas or
points. Money is used to upgrade the car with extra speed, traction and
acceleration etc. Gas is needed of course as through the course of the
race your gas is ultimately depleted, and points were the norm in the good
old days of gaming weren't they?!!

The game is played through certain terrains, be it city, forest, whatever,
but a couple of times in each section will see a night time track, with
just the car and headlights visible, therefore your need for reacting to
upcoming obstacles is greatly increased. The sound should also get a
mention for this game as the music that plays throughout the game is
superb. It's only the one tune played throughout every level in the game!
but it's superb, and I still hum it now and again to this day!!

The two player mode is also excellent, but if one is a lot better than the
other then the screen has to halt to wait for the lagging player to catch
up which can be annoying, but it is playable and is a worthy addition to
the game. The single player mode excels though, so if you like your
gameplay then check out this superb game from the masters of Amiga
programming Psygnosis.





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