Following on from Grand Prix Circuit, which put the player in a Formula One racing car, comes The Cycles, which puts you astride a 125, 250, 500c motorcycle.

There are fifteen international tracks to race around (thirteen on a 125) and nine computer-controlled riders to beat. Pick your bike and spend a couple of laps practising before setting out on a real race. In this mode your competitors get out of your way, the gearbox is auto, you can't blow your engine through over-revving and spin-outs are impossible. Step up a couple of difficulty levels, though, and you'll have to start changing gear yourself while ensuring you don't blow your engine.

The number of laps per race can be set by the player (up to 99) but the default setting is three High-score fans will be pleased to learn that the four top times for each circuit and for each bike class are saved to disk.

In the real race you have one qualifying lap to determine grid position and starting. Then it's a case of avoiding the other riders (crash into one and you'll probably go flying across the track and out of the race) and also trying to stay on the higher difficulty levels your bike's handling can be harmed by riding across the grass. Select the bike type, choose the circuit and go!

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

It's all viewed over the handlebars, which works well, and it's faster than Grand Prix Circuit, giving a good impression of speed. The animation is not outstanding but it's more important to have that impression of speed. The rear-view mirror is a nice idea and can be useful at times. The sound is nice, though not as throaty as you'd expect.

LASTING INTEREST

Biggest problem with other riders is crashing into them as you overtake; otherwise they're not difficult to beat even at Pro level. A shame, because you're left to beat your own lap times. Still, there are plenty of circuits to race on and most of them take a lot of practice, which means you'll be at it for a fair while.

JUDGEMENT

A classy racing game, fractionally better than its predecessor. If you're a fan of racing sims (cars or bikes) then you'll find this well worth some shelf space.

If ever a company could be accused of milking an idea dry, it would have to be Accolade. By simply changing the graphics they've come up with Test Drive 1, Test Drive 2, Grand Prix Circuit and now Cycles. S'true! Just take a look at the front end, and the way the road moves. Interesting, huh?

Based (loosely) upon the same idea as RVF, Cycles mounts you on the saddle of a tournament motorcycle racer and lets you burn rubber around 20 of the world's most famous tracks, as well as competing against some of the most devious computer riders every conceived. Well, not quite.

What Cycles actually does is exactly the same thing as Grand Prix Circuit, only now with motorbike handlebars at the bottom of the screen rather than a car dashboard. You race around twenty identical looking stretches of grey track and try to do it as fast as possible.

Racing against other bikes isn't that spectacular at all. The bikes all look identical, and each one has five frames of animation upright, leaning slightly left/right and leaning heavily left/right.

One of the most disturbing things I noticed about the other cyclists is that they don't really exist. You can actually race hell bent for leather through a tight pack of them and come out on the other side completely unscathed. Strange but true.

But on the other side of the coin, there are lots of nice things I can say about Cycles. Erm. Well. The road has hills and bridges across it. They're nice. And there are half a dozen or so skill levels, ranging from very easy automatic gearbox against simple riders through to the most delicate gear changes against hell on wheels.

Much as I like racing/driving simulations, I don't think I can recommend Cycles. There just isn't enough in there to make it worthwhile, especially when RVF exists on the market. Sorry Accolade, but this has to get a thumbs down.