Game Review: Speed King 2 (ZX Spectrum, Mastertronic)

Circuits and Laps

Before starting a race, you can choose one of the nine tracks available that you’d like to race around.  You can also select if this is anywhere between 1-9 laps (with the default being 2).

The tracks are Brands Hatch (Brands H’Ch), Daytona, Donnington, Jarma, Monza, Paul Ricard, San Marino, Silverstone and Anderstorp.  You will notice here that these are in alphabetical order with the exception of Anderstorp.  The reason why I’ve typed them this way is because the game defaults to Brands H’Ch. and to choose Anderstorp you need to go select through the others to select it.

One or Two Players Gameplay

In one player mode, you always start at the back of the grid in position 20 with the other 19 racers all being computer controlled.

In two player mode, the screen is split into half and is purely a head-to-head race.  There are no computer motorcycles on the track to get in the way so it’s a full out race against your friend instead to get pole position.

Although not labelled, player one races in the bottom area of the screen and player two at the top.

Graphics

From the opening menu screen, Speed King 2 has coloured lighting effects moving anti-clockwise around the edges.

The motorcycles are very well animated and when they are leaning from side-to-side, all look seamless smooth.  The race tracks, have straights, winding bends and twists, that all run at a fast frame refresh rate.  Distant buildings along the horizon add to the sense of speed as you move around bends.

Before each race starts, four traffic lights are in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.  The first three lights change (top to bottom) from red to yellow with the fourth changing to green.  Once the race has started, the lights vanish of the screen.

Inside the inlay card, there are drawings of the circuits but there is nothing shown on the screen before or during the race. The only thing I’d say is missing is a loading screen.

Playability

Being that this is a fast-paced game, I’m very pleased to say that the collision detection is spot-on and the controls are responsive.  Getting next to or near another biker is fine nut should you collide with another racer you know it is your fault and not some poor programming.

If you do go too fast at a bend, you will see your bike gradually drift to the side of the track onto the grass.  Slowing down sometimes didn’t help (the top speed is 192 mph) but with practice, you do get the hang of it.  This is all part of the skill in becoming a better player and gaining a better position during the race.

During the races, the game doesn’t show any signs of stress or lagging (whether there was just your bike on the screen or even five others), it all plays out very well.

The downside when using the keyboard for the controls.  They aren’t re-definable and are very cramped up.  The keys for player 1 are Q and W to lean left and right with A to accelerate and D to decelerate.  Player 2 has O and P to lean left and right with L to accelerate and full-stop to decelerate.  The idea is obviously to give 2 players more space apart on the keyboard should you not want to use (of have a joystick).  A re-define option (especially for one player races).

Sound

As each light traffic light changes colour, there is a beep with final one sounding higher pitched and marginally longer.

Whilst racing you will hear a whirring that changes pitch depending on the speed that you are doing.  Should you approach a bend going to fast, you will hear higher pitched beeps to warn you to slow down.  Should you bump into another biker, there is a deeper sounding beep and you will hear your bikes pitch decrease downwards.

The only other sound is when choosing which controls you want on the main menu, changing the number of laps or which of the circuits to play.

Accelerate and Decelerate

To make the game flow well, your motorcycle never crashes (even when bumping into someone else of sliding too far of the track).

What happens is if you do go of the track, you will slow down to zero mph and then have to move back towards the track slowly before accelerating off.  Colliding with another biker will result in your bike decelerating down towards zero before you can start to accelerate again.  Whilst this happens (unless you are last!) you will probably see two or three bikes overtake you if you are higher up in track position.

My Final Thought

One of the great things about playing 8-bit racing games (such as Speed King 2) is that (unlike modern games), none of the tracks are locked away and inaccessible from the start.  You can simply choose the track you want to race around and of you go.  Simplicity at its best!

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