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	Speed Punks "It's another great reason to stick two fingers up at your friends who own an N64 !" Developer  Fun Com Game Type  Racer Distributor  Sony Review Date  Apr 00

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Playability:         The learning curve of this game is about 30 minutes. This is mainly due to the number of buttons you are required to master on your joypad, combined with the initial un-natural feel of your cart. You will need to forget everything you know about driving and re-learn from scratch. Don't despair though, with a little practice, everything starts to click into place and you will finally begin to enjoy the game. The cart can be steered with either Analog or Digital controllers (I found the Analog to be much easier). Two of the back 'L and R' buttons are used for power-skids which are essential to win on the 'twistier' tracks. Weapons are collected at various points on each track and fired with one of the symbol buttons. There are lots of different things that can be hurled at your fellow racers, such as guided and manual-aim missiles, machine gun fire, oil slicks and more. If that still ain't enough, then there is even a 'invisibility' pickup that lets you sneak past (or through) the other Karts. The most original feature in this game is the use of the Booster on the back of your cart. Charge it up by collecting 'lightning-bolt' pickups and then use it in short bursts (saving the energy), or discharge it completely to achieve maximum speed. Speed Punks can be played in several different ways ranging from the TIME TRIAL mode that allows you to practice on each of the tracks (which is essential) and try to beat your own personal best time. Once you feel confident on a track you can move to the SINGLE RACE mode, where you meet all of the other competitors for the first time. When you have mastered each track the TOURNAMENT mode will reward your skills by unlocking new tracks and characters. If your mates pop round to see you then head for either the VERSUS (2 player) or MULTIPLAYER (4 player multi-tap) sections. This is where the true fun-factor of this game is realised. But beware, this will bring out the very worst side of your personality as you bash and crash, bomb and blast your friends off the track at every opportunity. The first of the tracks is SHIPWRECK SHORE, which sees you racing through a beach area with a nice wide tarmac track and barriers keeping you out of too much trouble. You will race over Pirate Ships and boardwalks, taking care not to stray into some of the water hazards that will seriously slow your progress. From here you head through the countryside, past turning windmills over jumps and under tunnels. The second track is NEON CITY, which is best described as a tribute to Namco's Ridge Racer series as you travel through the night past brightly-lit skyscrapers and through city streets. More similarities include the long tunnels and the traffic crossing over high above the track. Again this is a tarmac road surface so grip is not so much of a problem and the layout can be quickly memorised. The MILLENIUM PARK comes next and is another prime example of the quality of the programming in the game. There is lots of activity going on all around you, with various fairground rides operating at the side of the track, the most stunning being a huge roller-coaster. There is also a huge arena full of admiring fans who will raise the roof with their cheers if you are winning the race as you pass them by. The difficulty is increased here with the inclusion of both dirt-track and tarmac areas and will force you to adapt your racing style according to the conditions. Things really start to get tricky on the THUNDER TRAIL track. Everything starts off easy enough in the dense jungle rainforest but as soon as you reach the volcanic caves with their very narrow roads and molten lava flowing freely all over the place you realise that this area ain't gonna be easy ! You quickly forget about all of the power-ups in favour of just trying to make it around the track without getting barbecued. There are three difficulty levels to keep you busy and lots of new tracks and racers to unlock. The higher difficulty levels will keep even the most accomplished racers occupied for quite some time as competitors start nicking all of the powerups and aiming them in your direction. Bloody Hell, someone has finally made a Kart racer that kicks the ass of MarioKart, Diddy Kong and the millions of other games of this type that seem to get released on Nintendo's current console every other week. The graphics are fast, smooth, state of the art and don't cut-up even when the action is at its most frantic. The developers have managed to break-out from the shallow gameplay that usually accompanies games of this type and produce something that needs a certain amount of strategy (as well as racing ability) to complete. The most fun will be had when you invite your friends around and get into the multi-player modes. Don't get me wrong, this game won't change the world and you won't be playing it for months and months, but it's the best Kart game on the PlayStation at the moment and it's another great reason to stick two fingers up at your friends who own an N64 ! Damn! I must say, Speed Punks really impressed the hell out of me. I figured this would just be another "wanna be" racer in the ever-growing Kart race genre…but I was very wrong. Instead what I got was in all likelihood the best overall Kart racer available on the Playstation to date and that is saying a lot with all of the competition out there right now.   Game Options:         This is a 1 disk game for 1-4 Players. It is compatible with the standard (digital) joypad and the analog stick controls of the dual shock joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1 block per save).

	Staff Opinions Tom R  "What separates Speed Punks from the rest of the pack is the fact that the tracks are nice and wide open with plenty of room to maneuver around. I also liked the fact that the other drivers are extremely aggressive and are out to make sure that you do not finish ahead of them in any particular race. There are other reasons as well… The graphics are top notch as is the frame rate in the game. I liked the way the cars are depicted (the wheels seems to float apart from the body…think of the characters models in Rayman and get the idea here). The character models are very well done and the background scenery is highly detailed and animated….and boy, does this game move! The frame rate is very impressive with no slowdown anywhere to be found…even in the four player mode. In the fact the four-player also retains the majority of detail found in the two-player mode, which I thought was mighty impressive. About the only miss that I would give this game is the fact that in versus mode you only get to race against one other opponent…the rest of the pack is not in this mode…too bad. Of course the tournament feature in the multi-player mode more than makes up for this omission in my opinion. Overall, Speed Punks is a pure adrenaline rush as far as Kart racers go. There are a good number of tracks to race, a lot of secrets to unlock when you finish first in all races and a rock solid game engine that will thrill even the mode jaded racer out there. If you want the current best Kart racer available on any console system to date then look no further than Speed Punks…it's definitely a game with attitude!" Graphics  19/20 Playability  48/50 Sound  9/10 Lastability  16/20 94%

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	Staff Opinions Jim  "Bloody Hell, someone has finally made a Kart racer that kicks the ass of MarioKart, Diddy Kong and the millions of other games of this type that seem to get released on Nintendo's current console every other week. The graphics are fast, smooth, state of the art and don't cut-up even when the action is at its most frantic. The developers have managed to break-out from the shallow gameplay that usually accompanies games of this type and produce something that needs a certain amount of strategy (as well as racing ability) to complete. The most fun will be had when you invite your friends around and get into the multi-player modes. Don't get me wrong, this game won't change the world and you won't be playing it for months and months, but it's the best Kart game on the PlayStation at the moment and it's another great reason to stick two fingers up at your friends who own an N64 !" Graphics  19/20 Playability  45/50 Sound  6/10 Lastability  16/20 86%

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