Leger vs. Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 (Amiga)

Considering Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 being famous partly because of its by now classic soundtrack one may find it rather musicless.

Not to the point of the iconic intro being nothing but a perfect example of what the Amiga experience sounded like to many, or the short but mood defining track themes not managing to exactly what they set out to do.

Because it is, and they do.

But removing the car stereo was a bold move, only leaving the sounds of driving and interacting with the environment and objects therein.

I am almost surprised that it does not bother me, but it is not like Lotus 2 goes silent or fails to engage by not hosting a pumping soundtrack to driving.

Honestly, Lotus 2 released in 1991 is such a different experience to its precursor from previous year that it seems remarkable that it still manages to feel like a logical step forward in the series.

One reason for things working out as good as they do could be that the changes made seems to originate in aspects of the previous game that could be questioned.

Like having reduced the obviousness of the lack of artificial intelligance where cars while still pingponging from side to side do this in a much less annoying and apparent manner.

Or the fact that not only one third of the screen (or half of it in 60 Hz) is used for racing... but two thirds (or the entire screen if run in 60 Hz).

Another change is that one no longer is racing for first place, but instead need to reach the goal before time runs out with checkpoints every now and then bumping up the time limit somewhat.

Progress can now be saved with the help of a password to each new track reached (forget about chasing high scores if using passwords, though).

Gone is also the need for using a pit stop to refill fuel and the choice of three different levels of difficulty (with each higher difficulty offering new and more stages) is thrown out the window.

Now all there is is eight different tracks, each throwing something new into the mix aswell as ramping up the difficulty in a much more well balanced way than in Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge.

From an ordinary track without much fuzz, through nighttime driving, dealing with fog on really thin roads, a snowstorm making things slippery, putting the tires on sand, avoiding stumbling over to the wrong side of a motorway or sinking down in a swamp making things move at a snails pace.

It seems easy to understand why Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 is one of the most fondly remembered racers on the Amiga, because everything just feels like it falls into place.

The production is more or less flawless, each and every track feels memorable, the graphics have been somewhat updated, the cars are way more varied in colour, the punishment for crashing into stuff have been greatly reduced (so much that at times it may be a good idea to use an obstacle on the side of the road to ricochet back on track if one seems to get stuck in an unfortunate placement bringing shit almost to a halt.

Everything just seem to have a better flow to it, even if the framerate seldom reaches the same heights as in the precursor, and the combined competitive and co-op play have extended the number of possible simultaneous players from two to four (still making things somewhat easier by letting the game go on as long as any player reaches the goal in time).

Looking for things to complain about, besides the lack of in-game music while driving, one could mention the almost ridicilous difficulty of the eight, and final, track in the game.

Leaving almost no room for errors, I have yet not managed to even pass the very first checkpoint, it at least feels doable.

The ai, while way much pleasant than last time, could have done with some tweaking and of course one can complain about the lack of difficulty settings aswell as ask for more stages.

But, in the end, it just seems like nitpicking stuff in a package that feels complete and more or less perfect as it is.