Points of Review!

Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off-Road Racer

by Killerbee

There's something about simplicity in gaming that is hugely appealing. Sure, the complex game mechanics of Metal Gear Solid 2 or the depth of the magic and character development structures of RPGs are entertaining in their own right; but sometimes you just want a game you can pick up and play. "Ironman" (as this reviewer came to know it) certainly had one of the lengthier titles in video gaming history, but the gameplay was so obvious that a newcomer could become skilled at the game within a few tries.

Ostensibly a simple racing game, Ironman was viewed from a top-down perspective, with the track filling just a single screen. Whilst this might seem hideously limiting by the standards of today's games, it was a perfect piece of game design – you could always see where were going next, and (more importantly) you could see how far ahead or behind your rivals were on the course. Controls consisted of just four buttons - accelerate, steer left, steer right and "nitro". So simple even your little sister could understand - and, for once, you'd want her to because multi-player gaming was what Ironman was all about.

Up to three of the four racers could be human-controlled - the fourth was always the CPU in the guise of Ivan "Ironman" Stewart himself, and it played with fiendish degrees of skill. But unlike many other racers, Ironman never made you feel the computer was cheating. If you lost, it was because of your driver error. Beating Ironman secured progression to the next track and as far as gaming objectives went, that was it. So far, so straightforward.

But then the strategy comes into play. Each race victory would net you cash to spend on upgrading your motor with better brakes, tyres, higher top speed, better acceleration, etc. Or you could spend the money on nitros. Just like the Mushroom in Mario Kart, a nitro was an extra boost of speed available at the press of a button. If you were lucky you could pick up extra nitros (and cash) on your way round the track, but it quickly became apparent that buying a sufficient stock of nitros to keep you ahead down that home straight was essential. Many a race was won or lost simply because one person had that vital extra nitro to boost them over the finishing line hundredths of a second before the other.