Lotus Turbo Challenge II

Buckle up!

If there was one racer I adored on my old Atari ST, it was Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge. The semi-realistic physics helped to make it utterly addictive without ever crossing over into boring old simulator land. It has such amazing graphics, almost an arcade-like quality, with fun gameplay that was both exciting and challenging.

Lotus 2 offers more of the same excitement but is different from the original in several ways. Firstly, we aren't racing a set number of laps around a circuit, as there are checkpoints to reach during a road trip across the lush American continent in our flashy car! Also, don't drool, but the entire screen is now used!

Do you wanna see a cool screenshot with blue skies and an open road? Let's road trip...

Vroom!! The roads are absolutely superb to provide a thrilling challenge!

Fast open roads...

This isn't just a racer but more of a road trip adventure across the States. Also, the environments can change depending on the conditions, as we have the weather to endure, which adds an element of pseudo-realism. Even if the other drivers fail to use their headlights at night (what? Am I being too picky lol)

I also think they captured the feeling of speed incredibly well - it's almost Vroom standards. Strangely, our car appears to be running on fairy dust because there is never a need to refuel your Esprit or Elan. Which is good, who needs that kinda realism? These differences certainly help Lotus II leap away from the original and into a whole new driving experience, whilst still remaining familiar with the original.

It's now time for another screenshot, but this one is of a lawbreaker. What? You heard me...

Come on, it's nighttime, and nobody is using their lights. Where's the police? Ha!

The CryptO'pinion?

Lotus II is incredible and one of the best racers on the Atari ST. It perfectly combines elements of a good race with the feeling of a Bullrun combined. So we get to see the 16-bit world in this speedster.

I cannot stress enough how much I recommend Lotus II. It's just as enjoyable as the magnificent original, so it zooms in high on my Top 10 list of Atari ST drivers. Download it right now - you won't regret it!!

Downloads for floppy or hard disk!!

Carlos

Not Batman, it's FATMAN!

Les Adventures de Carlos was released in 1994 by Microids and isn't the best example of an Atari ST platformer. We are in control of a bearded fat man wearing a rather odd costume! This might sound strange, but our best friend appears to be a parrot who shadows and attempts to help us. There is no gun, so he must use our enormous weight to squish the baddies! You can even use some of that blubber to create a miniature earthquake when falling farther. It's hardly original when you think about it, but whatever works, right?

Aesthetically, Carlos looks and sounds good. The visuals feature stunning colours and beautiful sprites. However, the engine features no scrolling, which is odd for a game that requires 4-way scrolling to be playable. What that means is the gameplay stops while the screen is pushed along. This becomes extremely irritating, especially during diagonal jumps, which may require the screen to STOP and scroll in two directions!!

This could have been great, but the end result looks good, but it plays terribly. In fact, I found it quite agonising because of the constant pauses as the screen scrolls in four different directions. A platformer like this demands real scrolling. The Atari ST has a wealth of decent platformers, so we don't need rubbish like this.

This is what a lazy port looks like. Stay well clear of this utterly terrible game!!

I may not recommend Carlos (lol), but masochists can give it a play using these download links floppy & hard drive.

Access Codes for the brave

Level 2=BONGO

Level 3=GALET

Level 4=PATAU

Level 5=SIRTA