Title: Enduro Racer
Vintage: 1987
Developer: Activision

I have some very fond memories of Enduro Racer thanks to my friend’s ZX Spectrum version. Activision did a wonderful job porting the high speed, large sprites, undulating tracks and thrilling aerobatics to the 8-bit machine. It was really good. Honest. I am inspired to don helmet once more thanks to STOT (The ST Offline Tournament) which is still going strong and has picked Enduro Racer for its second week of season four.

First impressions of this Atari ST conversion – also coded by Activision – were not good. While the frame rate is acceptable and the nice big sprites are present, all the drivers seem to be wearing the same nasty puke-beige jackets and the lazy mirroring of the sprites is unforgivable (the highlight on the driver’s helmet inexplicably swaps sides when you steer left).

Second impressions did not improve matters. Negotiating the meandering tracks with such a lightweight bike (the smallest contact with enemies sees it listing across the track unpredictably) with spongy controls and woeful traction while being thrown into the air every five seconds could be compared to wrestling a viper with greasy hands whilst bungie jumping.

To top it all off the game’s third stage has you attempt this on a course that is situated in the middle of a lake, making veering from the track all the more punishing. The lack of track boundaries during jumping sections add insult to injury, making it nigh-on impossible to tell where the shallows end and where the lake begins. Extremely frustrating.

Though all these negative traits condemn Enduro Racer to gaming mediocrity, they are also, paradoxically, the crux of the game’s charm. Even the game’s more frustrating moments can raise a chuckle as you career off a rival just before a ramp for the umpteenth time, legs in the air, on a ballistic flight-path for the nearest cactus.

The game’s mechanic of requiring a wheelie just before each jump and landing will test your dexterity and your joystick (you will be cursing it’s inability to be in two different postitions at once) to their limits. As the game progresses and the time limit becomes more restrictive, the pressure on you as a gamer mounts, and the pulse quickens. Which is, after all, the idea of these against the clock racers.

Also, David Whittaker provides us with some aural pleasure to soothe our ears even as our wrists take a pounding.

Gameplay Video