IVAN "IRONMAN" STEWART'S SUPER OFF-ROAD

 Based on the sport of stadium off-road racing, IVAN "IRONMAN" STEWART'S SUPER
OFF-ROAD never purports to be a simulation. Rather, it is a direct adaptation of
the fast-paced, multi-player coin-op game of the same name. Virgin
Mastertronic's translation of the title to the home computer screen is one of
the best in recent memory. But, as we've seen in the past, gameplay aspects that
are related to coinage (i.e., game "continues") introduce some difficult, and
occasionally critical, decisions into the translation process. (This review is
based on the IBM-PC version.)

 As with previous coin-op conversions, Virgin chose to keep the interface as
close to that of the original stand-up game as possible. The program opens in a
full demo mode, waiting for the players to hit their respective "start" keys in
order to enter the game. Once activated, you're asked to provide your initials
and birthdate, followed by your choice of a nationality to represent. Then it's
off to the races.

 The heart of the program, the racing itself, is _very_ close indeed to that of
the coin-op version. The track is presented from an elevated, third-person
perspective, and is quite effective at conveying all the action without becoming
confusing. There are four trucks competing with one another, three of which may
be controlled by human players. The fourth, a gray truck, is driven by the
game's namesake, the "Ironman" himself.

 There are no preliminaries. The race begins almost immediately, and lasts for
four laps. The players are obviously racing against each other, but the real
threat in the game is the computer car of Ivan Stewart. If any player is
_behind_ Stewart (or any other computer car, if fewer than three humans are
playing) when the race ends, that player loses a credit. Since a player begins
with only three credits, and can receive no more during the course of play,
staying ahead of the computer becomes a crucial concern.

 Throughout the race, two kinds of objects may appear on the track at random
locations. One is a nitro unit that can be used for brief spurts of
acceleration. The other is a money bag containing a random dollar value that
will be added to the winnings of that player after the race. Control of the
trucks is best handled by the keyboard, but if a third player is present, he or
she must use a joystick. The controls are simple enough, with keys for left,
right, throttle, and nitro. No brakes are necessary, because letting up on the
throttle slows the truck down very quickly. The trucks drive in a fairly
convincing manner, bouncing around and over mounds of dirt, diving into
potholes, even launching over (and occasionally into) water pits. It's great fun
to watch _and_ to play.

 The end of a race is followed by the podium screen, displaying the top three
finishers, their winnings for that race, and their best and average lap times
for the race. Also shown at the top of the screen is the best lap for any driver
in that race, along with the all-time record (and the holder's initials) for
that track.

 Players are then presented with the "Speed Shop" screen, allowing them to spend
their winnings on parts to improve the performance of their respective trucks.
Tires, shocks, acceleration, and top speed, in addition to the aforementioned
nitro units, can be had for various prices. Each of these items, with the
exception of nitro, has five levels of performance, so it can be quite costly to
"max-out" a truck. Players may also trade in credits for $200,000 of cash,
although this is handled in a _very_ annoying manner. The trade-in is triggered
whenever you attempt to purchase an item that costs more than you have. There is
_no_ confirmation, and it's far too easy to accidentally overspend.

 After all players have made their selections, it's off to the next track on the
circuit for more thrills and spills. There are eight tracks total, each of which
is run both clockwise and counter-clockwise from one race to the next. Each
player's winnings are tracked, regardless of how they're spent on parts, and the
high score chart is based on these earnings. So the name of the game is
longevity, but the computer-controlled Ivan Stewart becomes progressively more
difficult to beat as the game goes on, and some of the later tracks are
exceptionally difficult.

 The careful reader will have noticed by now that this review concentrates on
the multi-player aspect quite a bit, and with good reason. The coin-op version
was intended for multi-player competition and that's where the real fun
occurred. This is even more true with the home computer version. The reason lies
in gameplay balance: The home version plays much longer before the computer cars
become challenging to the single player. With even one other person, however,
this game is _never_ boring.

 But it is precisely this mode, multi-player, that harbors the greatest flaw in
the game. Once you have run out of credits, you're out of the game. Your car is
then controlled by the computer while the remaining players finish their games.
There is _no_ way for an ejected player to get back into the game until everyone
else has finished and a new game is begun. It would've been so simple to just
allow players to re-enter the game with a zero score, but retain their parts
purchases. This is a typical problem with adaptations of coin-op games. In this
case, the coin-op version allowed you to continue pumping in coinage as long as
you wished. Virgin chose to set a fixed number of credits at the beginning of
the game, and simply eject a player after those credits are used. Even in the
coin-op game, if the player didn't continue, another could come along and jump
in at any time with a new car (without parts enhancements). It's just bad design
to expect persons of varying skill levels to start up a game, and then have the
less skilled players sit around half the time waiting for others to finish up.
It's a mystery why Virgin chose to approach this game element as they did, but
it's a serious detractor from an otherwise near-flawless translation.

 SUPER OFF-ROAD requires 512K of RAM and supports CGA, EGA, Tandy, and VGA
graphics. A joystick and game card is necessary for three-player competition,
but two players can go against each other with keyboard alone. The VGA graphics
are full 256-color, and render the tracks beautifully. 16-color EGA graphics are
satisfactory, but it's clear that more effort went into the 256-color screens,
since VGA is becoming so widespread. The only gameplay problem posed by the CGA
graphics is that the "power-up" items that appear on the track are somewhat
difficult to discern. The program adjusts for different CPU speeds, so it plays
at virtually the same speed on an AT-level 8MHz 286 as on a 386/33 -- and 8 MHz
is plenty fast for this game. Sound board support is provided for the AdLib
card, though it consists primarily of some rather carnival-like background music
during races, which adds virtually nothing to gameplay. There is no
copy-protection whatsoever -- either on-disk or off -- a factor worthy of
praise.

 Regardless of the multi-player drawback, there's just one word to describe IVAN
"IRONMAN" STEWART'S SUPER OFF-ROAD, and that is "fun!" Even for the more serious
gamer, it can serve as a relaxing and entertaining diversion. And if you loved
the coin-op game, there's no reason not to bring this one into your home. It
shows that a good adaptation can indeed retain the flavor of the original,
despite reduced graphic and sound capabilities.

 IVAN "IRONMAN" STEWART'S SUPER OFF-ROAD is published and distributed by Virgin
Mastertronic.

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