I've never understood these loonies who drive from Paris (in France) to Dakar (in, er, Africa). I mean why take your car to the dustiest, sandiest, hottest place in the world? I prefer to race my red XR3i around somewhere more comfy (like the Vatican City or Sark).
    Anyway, here's Paris To Dakar from the Codies, and no, it's not a 'sim'. Instead, it's a 3D scrolling avoid-everything-as-it-comes-over-the-horizon game. You can choose to drive a truck (which is tough but has a crap top speed), a Mini Metro (?) which is quite fast and quite strong (Don't make me laugh! Ed), or a motorbike which belts along (but will tip you off if you bump into anything). Whichever you choose, you get a back view of your vehicle on the road in front of you and the dashboard at the bottom third of the screen. This tells you your speed, revs, damage, fuel and position (usually about 800th in the race order).
    Armed with these amazing statistics you have to race 99 kilometres per stage and collect extra fuel, time bonuses and damage recovery points as you go. Oh, and you've also got to avoid all the trees, jumps and other vehicles. And there are about eight stages (but I couldn't be bothered to count them properly).
    And guess what? It's not incredibly crap! It's fast, it's fairly flicker-free and it's just about hard enough. If you want something that's mildly fun-packed and isn't too taxing on the brain cells (or in the slightest bit revolutionary) then this one fits the bill. It's certainly better than doing a 'Mark Thatcher' in the middle of the Sahara and getting roasted like a peanut.

Ratings given by other magazines

5/10    Crash Review

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