Power Drift
| Developer: Software Studios | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Activision | Sound: |
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| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Racing | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
4/10 | |
This page is merely a pretext to mention this interesting arcade game.
Power Drift (arcade, 1988) is a bold twist on the classic 2D racing game, popularised notably by Pole Position (1982) and then OutRun (1986), on the theme of karting.
The vehicle style is far from being the only difference, as everything is designed to increase dynamism and dazzle the spectator. First and foremost, the camera rotates 45 degrees during turns, as if driving a motorbike. The tracks are winding, horizontally, but also, and especially, vertically, giving the impression of being on a rollercoaster. Finally, the appreciation of 3D is reinforced by the use of sprites (2D images) to represent not only objects on the roadside but, well … the road itself! Goodbye to the traditional border made of blinking dots, giving a movement effect through optical illusion. This profusion of sprites, to which rotation and zoom effects are applied, required a powerful configuration to maintain the speed expected from this type of game. This explains why it was extremely difficult to create a port for contemporary consoles and microcomputers.
In the arcade, it worked with a steering wheel. For this reason, I am not certain it is easily playable on an arcade emulator, but quite similar versions exist on Sega Dreamcast and Saturn (accessible through emulation).
The Amiga version (and Atari ST, same struggle) suffers from omnipresent jerkiness and a serious lack of visibility when negotiating turns (at some points, I couldn’t even tell which way to turn!). Still, I would’ve had a blast taking surreal screenshots.
Lastly, I may have imagined it, but the voice shouting “Turn left!” never seems to tell me to “Turn right”…
As a reward, if you finish the five races in the “D” series in first place, a special vehicle becomes available: the bike from Super Hang-On. Do the same in any other series (“A”, “B”, “C”, or “E”) and you’ll get to pilot the fighter jet from After Burner!
It’s worth noting that the Commodore 64 version (1988) took an opposite direction: less ambitious, less faithful to the model, but fast, manoeuvrable and logically more appreciated by players.
A modern heir? Trackmania United Forever (2008)!
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