Oh dear. It doesn't bode very well for a game when its protection system is so abysmal. It's not fair to operate on a first impressions basis, but when a game tells you that you've failed the security check when you haven't even been given a chance to enter anything, you know that this is going to be a sloppily programmed effort.

4D Sports Driving is an interesting game. It takes as its premise the idea that the fourth dimension is realism (and there was me thinking it was time) and that this game is 'amazingly' real. What a joke. If this game's amazingly real then obviously we've all been living in some kind of virtual reality for the last couple of decades.

Extremely hard drivin'
What we've got here is a very obviously Hard Drivin/Test Drive-influenced game. The idea is that you can race one of 11 performance cars (including a Ferrari, a Lamborghini Countach and the ubiquitous Porsche) around a series of tracks either against a computer-controlled car or the clock. The 'fun' aspects come from the stunt elements to the tracks.

Having picked your set of prestige wheels and decided which track you're going to potter around on, the screen display changes to show a fuzzy representation of the particular dashboard of your chosen car.

The garage doors then swing open and with a nudge of the joystick you can accelerate out. Unless of course you haven't been given the opportunity to enter a control word (usually I German), in which case the car will crash and you have to go all the way back to the main menu in the vain hope that the game will ask you for that previous word.

In the fast lane
If you do actually manage to make it out onto the track then the game doesn't get much more exciting. The programmers boast about the "Fast, detailed and smooth polygon graphics" which grace the game. However, all there seem to be are slow, grainy and hopelessly juddery graphics with about all the smoothness of a Channel crossing in a force 10.

Even on the supposedly fast graphic detail settings, it's impossible to get the car's handling right. You either need wrists of steel or some form of orthopedic support to help you maintain any reasonable cornering speed.

It's easy to spot the influences in this game, especially when you find out that it's from the same team who created Test Drive. Obviously, the main influence is Domark's Hard Drivin', but look a bit closer and you can see bits of Lombard RAC Rally and Powerdrift. However, those games were quite reasonable compared to this. Sadly, 4D Sports Driving is far more difficult to control and has got the kind of screen update you'd expect from a 1932 Kinotrope.

So you didn't like it much then?
Ahem. Nope. When this kind of game gets released for a machine as advanced as the Amiga you've got to wonder. Software houses think that by giving you such wonderful options as replays, camera viewpoints and re-designable tracks you'll miss the fact that there's naff all in the way of gameplay.

If the programmers had spent a little more time getting the graphics smooth and the cars controllable, they might have a half-decent game on their hands. As it is, this is wholly awful. 4D indeed. Try 4th rate!

The trouble with the majority of vector-based car games is that they are about as fast as a stalled Lada. All the thrills of cornering at speed are replaced by sluggish handling and jerky update - about as much fun as a stalled engine.

Notable exceptions have included Microprose's excellent Grand Prix and Domark's Hard Drivin', but other offerings have been incredibly drab affairs. Not to be outdone, Mindscape have now entered the fray with a Stunt Car variant. If high speed stunts, coupled with a competitive edge, set your pulse racing, then 4D Sports Driving is certainly worth a test drive.

Available cars range from a speedy Porsche March to off-road racers such as a Lancia Delta of the less-exotic Audi Quattro. Road cars include the Lamborhini Counttach or an Acura NXS and there's also an Arnie-style military vehicle, the tank-like Lamborhini LM-002. If you get fred up with the game's harder obstacles, you can always try demolishing 'em with this baby!

It's possible to either race against the clock or one of six opponents. These range from the accident-prone Bernie Rubber, who makes every race seem like a demolition derby, to the super-slick road-handling skills of Skid Vicious, a mean mutha who's learnt his amazing driving skills out-running cops in New York City.

Tracks range from off-road racing conditions to tarmac courses and all are jam-packed with a wide-variety of loops, pipes, slaloms and jumps. Some of these are almost impossible to pull off as you've got to reach speeds of more than 100mph while turning the car through 360°. Some of the jumps are more like the Grand Canyon and others force you to take off at such an angle that you could be airborne for weeks before coming down the other side.

The courses have been expertly put together and include just the right combination of stunts to make things challenging. Mastering the different stunts and courses will take time and the shortest path to the finishing line might not necessarily be the quickest. Don't think you can cheat by driving round the obstacles, either, as penalties are accrued each time you leave the track.

Luckily, you're aided in some of the trickier aerial stunts by a useful replay facility which lets you rewind events to just before you totalled the car. After you've pounded the game's six courses into submission and looped the loop until you're feeling sick, there's a neat track editor which allows you to design all manner of weird courses to test your driving skills to the absolute limit.

Unfortunately, the game's vector graphics tend to reduce each car to little more than a slab of metal and I found very little difference in their respective handling abilities. Once you've driven off the road, a pointer flashes to guide you back onto the track, but go too far and you're left stranded in green fields and it can often be difficult finding your way back.

A Stung Car-type crane to hoist you back onto the course would have been a good idea as would beefier FX. The best thing about the game are the intuitive gears which make it easy to move up and down the gears at the press of a firebutton.

It's not as instantly playable as Stunt Car Racer, but it's certainly fun nonetheless. The vector graphics aren't the fastest I've ever seen, but nor do they move at a snail's pace. If you're tired of Microprose's classic, then this is a welcome alternative offering a wide variety of stunts and some addictive gameplay.