From: darper.coxmon@xtra.co.nz (Darren Perrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: MINI-REVIEW: Virtual Karting II
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
Date: 23 Sep 1998 12:40:51 -0400
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
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Sender: barrett@belvedere.cs.umass.edu
Message-ID: <6ub8aj$5mk@belvedere.cs.umass.edu>
Reply-To: darper.coxmon@xtra.co.nz (Darren Perrett)
Keywords: game, race, commercial
X-Review-Number: Volume 1998 Number 22
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I was impressed with the demo of the original Virtual Karting -
mainly because it was a demo I couldn't download to try until I got
my A1200.

After playing the Full-Version of the original Virtual Karting I was
happy with the beginners track but noticed that the other 2 tracks
looked like confetti on my screen.

With the arrival of Vk2 a new 2x1 render mode has been added.

Users of the V1 will be happy to know that playing the game in Vk1
mode ie background, 2x2 and no trees/reflections is a LOT faster
than the original.

After trying Vk2 at first I was not impressed because the graphics
were the same flyscreen type dithered display.  However after
running through composite input my opinion quickly changed, especially
with all details switched on in 2x1.

I'm still not happy with the overall graphic quality - even if the
game was 1x1 I wouldn't appreciate the graphics - some of the
backgrounds are beautiful...

3 extra tracks, all are easier than the Vk1 tracks.  The new advanced
track ROCKS, the new beginner's is a bit of a letdown (it's set
in space) - I could care less about the new expert track.  Anybody
who has played Xtreme Racing will have noticed the look of the
graphics in I think Forbidden City with cobblestone tiles - similar in the 
VK track execept it just don't look good, even in 2x1 composite.

All in all a much improvement on the original.  I recommend purchase
to keep development of this product alive as I'd really like to
see a 1x1 mode, the Cpu-blitted modes of Xtreme Racing,  a helluva
lot more tracks (actually the ability to import IFF's as tracks
would be nice, remember DriveIFF?), track editor and a full
championship mode.  Also I know this is a Kart sim, but how about
LONGER races, pitstops, car setup's, wet races....

- Darren Perrett, darper.coxmon@xtra.co.nz
** To reply in e-mail, remove ".coxmon" from address **

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