Buggy 2

Copyright : Chip | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Buggy 2 really took arcade racing back to the days of the Atari Classic Pole Position on day of release but they also added some elements from the Elite Systems Ltd classic "Buggy Boy" but how well do the two games mix? well this review will show you exactly how good or bad this game is.

Graphics

Well we did say they took things back to basics when they released Buggy 2 and the graphical side of the game certainly proves this. Things look more than a little dated even for the CPC from the moment you hit the fire button, a little effort has been put in here and there though and it certainly looks better than Pole Position, but only just.

The course is pretty badly designed but we are now almost certain that this wasn?t a problem on Chips part but rather that the game itself was designed like this on purpose, given it?s location. Colours are few and far between but far from being as bad as some racing games we have seen on the CPC, these will remain anonymous but you know what we are talking about and the game does run at a fairly nice speed.

Another problem is the collision detection, you can plainly see that the car has blocks around the edges when you approach the obstacles on the course, these are set as collision areas along with the car itself which of course make it fairly difficult to get around them in one piece (see screen grab 2).

Sound

Sound is a little bit of a let down too, while we didn?t expect much from this title we have been surprised by other titles which offered much more. There isn?t any title music or in-game music to listen too, the sound effects go way back to the days of the Atari 2600 and there are no effects that are worth noting at this point.

Could have been a lot better than this.

Gameplay

Sadly Buggy 2 is one game that won?t keep you coming back for more, the control system is a nightmare, the collision routine is just awful and there are no graphical highlights that would possibly push this game into your favourties list.

We do however recommend Pole Position by Atari Games if you plan to go back to basics as at least that game has some retro value.