Early Driving Games #8

Pitstop II (1984)
By: Epyx Genre: Driving Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Commodore 64
Also Available For: PC, Amstrad CPC, Atari 800, Apple II, TRS-80
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

One of my many objectives when starting this humble blog was to finally force myself to try out some titles on the systems that have gone largely ignored by me over the years. The first one to enter my mind was the mighty C64. I may have become somewhat distracted since, but the process began with the pair of 'Exploring the C64' posts for which I requested some game recommendations from seasoned C64 veterans. One of these recommendations was Pitstop, a game that turned out to be so bad I immediately thought I'd been the victim of a practical joke. Subsequent research, however, has revealed its sequel to be substantially better thought of. It's taken me a good while to work up the courage, but here I shall find out if the 'Pitstop' name has been redeemed...

It's no surprise to find that it's an F1-based game once again but it's immediately apparent that it offers far more than its prequel. Impressively for the day, it's a one or two-player game but regardless of which you choose, the game employs a split-screen viewpoint anyway - player one occupies the top half of the screen and drives a red car, player two occupies the bottom half and drives a blue car which is controlled by the computer in one-player games. The pre-race options screen offers you the choice of three difficulty levels, you can set the number of laps (3, 6, or 9), and you can select any of six real racing circuits from Europe and the US. As the name hints at, however, it can get a little more complicated than that.

As well as the 'red' and 'blue' cars, there are also a seemingly unlimited number of other racers pootling around the circuits, at a much slower pace of course, which means they're pretty much just there to make your life more difficult. That's to be expected with a game of this nature but unlike most similar games, or at least ones from this time period, you also have to be careful how you drive as not only can you run out of fuel but you can also wear out your tyres too. Driving too fast around corners too often, for example, will soon see your car squeal off to the side like a burst balloon and stop dead. This, as well as the fuel situation, can be overcome by making one of the titular pit-stops. These can take some time but are unfortunately necessary if you want to make it to the end of a race in anything resembling a decent position.

Mercifully, the CPU car also makes pit-stops from time to time as well which makes this a surprisingly fair game. It looks a lot nicer than the first game too - it's far from a stunner but streets ahead of the hideous original. Control of the cars is a bit odd to start with - they feel very skiddy, as if you're actually playing a bobsleigh racing game or something, but it's fine after a bit of practise. There's no in-game music here either, but apart from these minor grumbles Pitstop II is notable improvement over the original which scared me so. You'll probably tire of the one-player game before too long but this was meant as a two-player game and in that capacity it's fantastic. It's still hardly the most complex racing game, even for its time, but Epyx have certainly made this a much more enjoyable game than the first effort.

RKS Score: 7/10