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I have my 15 years old Amiga 500 set up on my garage. Sometimes, whenever I’m feeling more nostalgic or just up for a nice retrogaming I go there, turn the sturdy machine up and do some playing. I tend to prefer old games over new ones. Somehow, the PC and the PS2 that I have don’t feel as intense as the Amiga, so I spend quite some hours in the garage. Surely there’s nothing wrong with the PC or the PS2, the “problem” is probably me. But that’s OK.
So, the screenshot as given it away (as did the link you just clicked). I’ll be reviewing Thalion’s “No Second Prize”. You see, it’s 2:06am here in Portugal as I type these words (I’m writing this review while watching “Escape to Victory” on the telly). I just came home from the garage after a two-hour gaming session on my glorious Amiga computer. Today I loaded a game that I hadn’t played for quite some time now (several months, I guess…). It was “No Second Prize”.
Oh my! What to say about this game? It’s fantastic! Completely mind-blowing! If you pay attention to the screen shots, you’ll see that the game is built in 3D graphics. In action or platform games, I’d rather have them 2D (call me old fashioned), but in simulations, the advantage of having 3D environment is obvious. The 3D setting allows the use of far more advanced physics.
Today we all take 3D for granted and we don't even notice it's there anymore. But at the time, 3D was still in its “experimental” days, and many 3D games developed for the Amiga were sub-par and, many times, totally horrible. The Amiga’s hardware was not made with 3D in mind and so many of these games were not running at their best.
There are, however, a few exceptions. On the racing department, I can only recall “Stunt Car Racer”, MicroProse’s “Formula One Grand Prix” (both by coder-guru Geoff Crammond), “Indianapolis 500” and… “No Second Prize”, as bearing good 3D AND playability.
“Team Suzuki” and “Red Zone” were the big rivals of No Second Prize. Rivals in terms of sales, ‘cos in terms of gaming… they’re not even in the same league. Contrary to the slow, uninspired and dull “action” of its competitors, No Second Prize was fast, furious and engaging. It felt just well. The game is played with the mouse (to ensure a good analogue control method) and it works very, very well.
You have the chance to race in championship or in practice. You have an interesting pick of riders to choose from and an excellent choice of real-life tracks. You can also choose between automatic or manual shifting. The AI is laughable for today’s standard, but even so, they do a very good job and were great back in the day. Once on the track, everything unfolds with blistering speed, excellent graphics and nice sound effects. What else can you ask for?
Many good 3D games have came out for the Amiga after 1995 (the apogee time), but in the golden years (1989 to 1993, if you ask me), No Second Prize stood as the best 3D bike game for the Amiga. That’s worthy of remembrance. Every Amiga owner should try this game out. Do as I say. NOW!
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Graphics are as good as they can be in an Amiga. Very well drawn, good colours, fast, accurate and very well assembled. Sure, they're plain instead of mapped (what do you expect from a 1992 game?) but for what they're worth, they're great. Perfect 10!
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It's good, but not as good as the rest of the package. The engine sound is not perfect and the music is somewhat average. Still, much better than many things out there...
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Downright excellent! You won't find a 3D bike game any better than this for the Amiga. You know why? Because there is none. Fast, engaging and addictive, it allows you to save your championships and high scores. The analogue control (using the mouse) is excellent!
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| Great game! The absolute king of 3D bike racing for the Amiga. Oh, and it saves your high scores! It would get the top mark if the sound was a little batter. Highly recommended. |
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