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'Choose your car, grab the wheel and go!'
The Liverpool-based software developer Psygnosis was a company full of contradictions! How else can it be explained that technically as well as graphically excellent works like 'Shadow of the Beast', 'Beast II', 'Awesome' or 'Agony' leave a lot to be desired in terms of their playability? On the other hand, the very same software producer released timeless masterpieces like e.g. the shoot 'em up 'Blood Money', the platformer 'Benefactor' or, most notable, 'Lemmings', the classic par excellence but particularly these titles feature only quite average graphics (well, at least for a Psygnosis game)...
'Nitro', released at the end of 1990, belongs to the latter category, too...
Basically, 'Nitro' is nothing else than a further program of the once extremely popular top-down racing games. Like in other titles of that kind, the goal is, of course, to cross the finish line first. But actually, the fuel consumption of the own vehicle plays a far more important role - if the player runs out of gas during a race, the game's over immediately...
Strictly speaking, 'Nitro' is Psygnosis' own interpretation of Sega's/Activision's top-down racer 'Hot Rod', because the gameplay of both titles is nearly the same. However, the quality of the Psygnosis product turns out to be much better than the conversion of the coin-op...
'Nitro's' title screen...
Faster than a speeding Bullet...
The game starts as you're used from Psygnosis with a short, but nevertheless formidable intro. Similar to the brilliant prelude of 'The Killing Game Show', the introduction of 'Nitro' was apparently created with the assistance of a ray tracing tool. But no matter which technique has been used here the stunning animated 'Super Car' as well as the awesome 3D effect look really great! After this remarkable demonstration (and a quite nice title screen, which is based on the image of the game's packaging) the 'Enter New Player Option Screen' appears: Here, the number of (human) drivers (up to three players) and their names/initials (up to three letters can be entered) as well as their wheels will be set the motor pool includes three different vehicles, namely a classic Formula 1 car, a stylish sports car and a nimble Turbo Buggy...
Psygnosis' 'Nitro' contains over thirty different racing tracks, which are separated into four sections these are: 'City', 'Forest', 'Desert' and the futuristic 'Apocalypse'. Of course, each of these four sections has its specific composition of ground, the consequence being that the player/driver must choose his car wisely in terms of the corresponding landscape: After all, a Formula 1 car might be unsuitable for sandy terrain a buggy would be obviously much more preferable! That adds a certain strategic element to the game, too...
The cowboy way! Moore, Eastwood, Stallone Hollywood's action heroes are good for business! But no matter how you look at it: Clint is the coolest of them all...
'Gentlemen, start your Engines...'
No matter how many players enter the racing event there are always four cars on the track, because the remaining roadsters will be controlled by the CPU. Moreover, the program includes some function which I would call 'teleportation feature': If one car (that is controlled by a player of flesh and blood) drops behind the rest of the field and threatens to disappear from the screen, it will be warped right into the middle of the competing drivers with lightning speed, similar to genre titles like 'Hot Rod' or 'Moto Roader' (PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16) but this applies only to the multiplayer mode. However, such an action costs a lot of fuel and if you had run out of gas, the race is over and the driver will be disqualified immediately! To avoid this, you should collect the rolling oil drums, which appear here and there (by simply driving over them). But also other 'goodies' could come in handy like e.g. nitro boosters (improve the vehicle's acceleration), bulbs (recommendable for night-time sections), extra points or extra cash (after all, there's nothing for free in this world). But not only on the road you can find useful extras such equipment you can buy in the shop, too (of which more later)...
Just like in other games of this category the own car's speed will be increased by holding down the fire button whereas the driving direction will be altered by moving the joystick to the left/right. Unlike to similar programs such as Gremlin Graphic's 'Super Cars', 'Nitro' doesn't offer any weapons whereby you're able to put your opponents out of action. Actually, that's too bad, because Psygnosis' racing game doesn't take place only in the present, but also in the post-apocalyptic future as it's the case in Domark's/Tengen's 'Badlands' so, such a feature would have been almost absolutely necessary in 'Nitro', too! Therefore, the extras, the player can collect during the races/buy in the shop are limited to conditional additional parts such as a better engine or better tyres missiles or the like are off-limits in this racer...
Rush hour...
'It's better to light a Candle than curse the Darkness...'
So, destructive action comes off rather badly in 'Nitro'... too bad but on the other hand, the Psygnosis title comes up with a delicious feature that is sadly missed in other top-down racing games (well, at least right now I can't think of another competitive product): I talk about the already above-mentioned night drives. And these live up to their name, because you can't see your hand in front of your face not to mention the road before you! Now the headlamps come into play: Similar to the two cult adventures 'Maniac Mansion' and 'Zak McKracken', in which you can see only a small part of the surrounding area, when one of your characters is located in a dark room (provided he/she is in possession of a lit flashlight), also in 'Nitro' just a small segment of the road is shown. Fortunately, the streets are usually marked with 'cat's eyes' that make the orientation much easier at least in the first levels. Moreover, the drivers have the chance to collect bulbs in such sections there are two of them: standard bulbs increase the range of vision whereas black bulbs turn off the headlamps of the opponent cars without further ado (ha, ha)...
As you can see, the guys from Liverpool come up with some cool ideas to keep enthusiastic racing fans happy. Okay, 'Nitro' is neither particularly extraordinary (however, for Psygnosis standards it's an unusual game, after all this development studio was specialized in creating mainly action games till the release of that racer) nor particularly groundbreaking but technically as well as in terms of playability the company has done a very good job. So, in retrospect it's no wonder that the once competitor 'Jupiter's Masterdrive' by Ubi Soft came off second best against the far more stylish Psygnosis product. Apart from Gremlin's 'Super Cars', Team 17's 'ATR: All Terrain Racing' and Codemasters' 'Micro Machines', 'Nitro' belongs to the crθme de la crθme of classic top-down racers... and of course to one of the best creations by the British company...
Let there be light!
'We've created a Monster...'
I don't know whether 'Nitro' was a commercial success or not; nevertheless it was included in Psygnosis' 'Monster Pack Volume 1' compilation - together with 'Shadow of the Beast' and 'Infestation' - which has been released in 1991. Considering the pretty mediocre quality of the two other games (well, at least in terms of the gameplay), 'Nitro' is without doubt the definite highlight of the collection... and let's be honest, that's no big surprise...
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Within its sub(genre) 'Nitro' has really good graphics and represents itself much more attractive than rival titles such as 'Super Cars' or the arcade adaptation of 'Hot Rod' particularly the splendid (although short) intro as well as the images of the three drivers, which are based on famous Hollywood icons (personally, I would have preferred Sir Sean Connery as Bond), have their own specific charm... however: Somehow I would have expected more especially from a program by the renowned label Psygnosis. Compared to the usual standard of the Liverpool company ('Chrono Quest', 'Shadow of the Beast', 'The Killing Game Show' or the later released 'Leander', to name but a few), 'Nitro' appears almost minimalist. Nevertheless, also the animations of the four racing cars as well as the eight-way scrolling are beyond any doubt...
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There's only a handful of tunes in 'Nitro' but these sound quite good and fit to the topic of the game. On a less positive note, the sfx keep a low profile, but on the other hand, music and sfx can be heard simultaneously - such a fact is not to be taken for granted... not even on the Amiga!
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Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with the playability of 'Nitro', but nevertheless the degree of difficulty should not be underestimated, because the game's a real challenge! The several elements (different cars, useful items on the road, the shop) were well implemented into the gameplay - moreover, the control of the own racing car is very accurate, just like in other programs of this kind. But take care: If your roadster hits a traffic cone or crashes into brick walls, bollards, pipelines or other obstacles, it starts to smoke after a while and is hard to control for a few seconds. Furthermore, oil spills appear from time to time and in the later post-apocalyptic levels, even the pavement is heavily damaged and has dangerous cracks, so watch out! No, Psygnosis' 'Nitro' isn't an easy game indeed...
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| 'Nitro' is without doubt one of the best representatives of the top-down racing genre: It's fast, it's challenging, it's stylish... it's kinda cool... and it's still worth playing - even today... |
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