Mini Review: Hard Drivin’

Game: Hard Drivin’
System: Atari Lynx

Imediately you can appreciate the effort Tengen has put into this game. This is as close to the original Arcade machine as could ever be possible on Atari’s handheld. If the Atari Lynx had a Steering wheel and a gear stick, they would have succeeded.

The 3D graphics are stunning considering its running on a handheld and even more so when you consider the other formats it was converted to. Amiga, Atari ST, Sega Megadrive, DOS. This is the most accurate by far.

The control system works well considering it was designed for a steering wheel and the sound is as close as you can get with the Atari Lynx’s 4 channel sound chip. Even the Cow’s Moo is faithfully replicated.

There is one problem, however. The game has no depth and it monotonous to say the least. There are only so many times you can drive around the same track and the loop the loop is exciting for the first time only. I think this game demonstrates the technological potential the Atari Lynx had. It had 3D graphics far superior to anything else on the market at the time. Hard Drivin’ shows the potential in Atari’s handheld. Its just a shame the gameplay doesn’t match up to the high standard of the conversion.

Honglong’s Rating:
A realistic driving simulator which isn’t exactly that realistic. Slow, unresponsive and dull to play.

4 out of 10

+ Great polygon graphics
+ The synthesised “Moo” is close to the original Arcade machine

- Gameplay is very limited
- Very dull
- This game just isn’t the same without the Steering wheel and gear stick