Track Attack... Never heard of it? Neither had I until I found a demo of it a few years ago on a magazine cover disk. I then bought it for £2.99 from GAME who finally sold it off at a mere 99p. Track Attack is one of those racing games that tries to do everything plus a little bit more & in many ways it succeeds.
So whats it all about?
Track attack is a race set in the future whereby the fastest racer wins, no matter the cost with no rules. Its kindof like a cross between Death Race 2000 & CannonBall Run.
Whats so special?
Well despite Track attack being old (Around 1996 I believe) the graphics were very good at the time. Like many racing games you get the usual options of championship & time trials but the championship is really what stands out.
Once you've selected a car, you can then upgrade it with available cash. Such upgrades include armour, bumpers & engines but unlike games such as Gran Turismo on the Playstation the upgrades are actually visible on the car.
Another worthy mention is the Dynamic track system, to put it simply there are symbols on the track which if rammed/touched activate traps & adjustments to the track e.g. creates a hill, tightens corners. This is particually useful when you've got some opponents in your mirror :) (Hence the name)
How does it play?
The cars have very similar to car physics found in such games as the Carmageddon series with cars all reacting correctly to bumps in the road & deforming relative to where you crash. But basically the cars handle well & are enjoyable to drive especially with the nitrous boost!
The game however does get boring & the computer opponents often get out of predicaments a little too easy.
Easy to install/Will it run on my PC?
Track attack is a DOS based game if I remember correctly (I unfortunately don't have the CD anymore) & I found the sound (as with many DOS games) a pain to get working. I think I also had it working in Windows 95, but you may have problems on Windows XP & other new operating systems. Track attack will run well on pretty much on any CPU above 120 mhz & doesn't require a 3D card.
Overall :
An original but forgotten racing game, not fantastic but certaintly not poor and well worth giving it a go if you see it for a few quid :) The best places to find it would be bargin bins & any shop that sells cheap games. I may have seen it in BOYES once but I'm not really sure.
If all else fails you may want to try Abandonware sites...
by (57%):
01.04.2003 18:28
I've never seen this game on sale before, but I'll have a closeer look in stores