Review: Pitstop II
Alternatively: just stop. Right now
Sometimes, you just can’t go back. Games built solely around engrossing gameplay (Pac-Man) or a core of fantastic gameplay but with added fantastic visual effects (Defender) still engage today. But for some genres, notably racing, it’s all about thrills driven by visual excitement. And if there’s one thing lacking in early 1980s C64 racers, it’s visual excitement. And thrills. (OK, two things.)
Back in the day, Pitstop II wowed. Its split-screen enabled two players to battle it out head-to-head (well, tyre-to-tyre), or for Billy no-mates to take on computer opponents. As the name suggests, Epyx were rather excited about the pitstop component, which enabled you to refuel and change worn tyres.
On playing the game now, it’s almost impossible to see it as anything other than a relic. The graphics are dull, the sound mind-numbingly tedious, and the gameplay shockingly boring. The pitstop, supposedly a high-point, is absurd in its sluggishness and just gets in the way. When it boils down to it, Pitstop II is merely a split-screen Pole Position, with an unwanted extra ‘scene’. The thing is, Pole Position is actually more fun.
Pitstop II is available now on Virtual Console for 500 Wii points (£3.50ish). You’ll also need some rose-tinted glasses, however, and those cost extra.
This is the news! Rising fuel costs slash pit team personnel!
Definitely one to avoid – I presume you have to hold UP on the D-pad to accelerate, in the same arm-breaking manner as holding up on the stick?
It’s more thumb-breaking than arm-breaking for this game. Well, if you play it for any length of time, in which case you’re a bit of a masochist. Like a lot of Epyx stuff, it’s aged really badly. Compared to, say, IK+, Pitstop II looks really old and tired.
Oh, I dunno. 1P vs CPU is pretty dull, but 1P vs 2P can be a bit of a laugh, particularly if you play it at the highest difficulty setting where the tyres wear out pretty quickly and fuel is consumed faster. The game then becomes a frantic cat & mouse chase, as the player in second place attempts ram the player ahead of him, wearing out his tyres to such an extent that he’ll be forced into the pitstop.