Kikstart II Review

By Kristan Reed Published 26 October, 2007

It's got motorbikes in it!

Version tested: Retro

Not dissimilar to Stuntman in concept, the novel idea of Kikstart II was to complete a motorbike assault course in the quickest possible time - preferably quicker than your opponent.

Presented in a simple side-scrolling split-screen format, the sequel was, once again, released at the bargain price of GBP 1.99, but represented a monumental improvement on the tech demo that was the original Kikstart.

The gameplay might have looked pretty simple, but in reality it was a fiendish game with a challenging learning curve which would bloody the noses of hardcore games today. But once you sussed out the precise demands of each type of scenery, success became a matter of memorising the course layout and being able to adjust your speed at precisely the right time.

Featuring some 26 courses to race over (as opposed to the miserly three in the original), you could choose your courses on a whim and setup a five course challenge with a friend - and played against someone who knew what they were doing it was quickly apparent this was easily one of the most fun multiplayer games ever made for the C64. But such was the game's addictive appeal, that even racing against the AI was fun for a while; until you mastered it, at least.

1

One of the few games of the era to include its own track editor, really determined souls could even create their own courses, but with 26 included, the game already had more than enough for the asking price.

7 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (4) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • monkie_king #1 5 years ago

    good god, this was a budget title? it's one of the most polished releases on the C64. used to spend hours making courses, and editing existing ones to remove all the slow bits. I used to like the flat-out tracks that relied on precision bunny-hopping, that you could get a perfect time of 21:20 with.

  • IP #2 5 years ago

    7? For the second-best budget title on the platform? For a game that still appeals today? For a budget game that came with a fully fledged construction kit? Gnh.

  • Blerk #3 5 years ago

    We used to spend hours and hours making stupidly-lethal courses. Heh.

  • Tiger_Walts #4 5 years ago

    Certainly higher than a 7. One of my most-played C64 games. I've even played it on an N-Gage via the Frodo emulator.