Fire and Flames Racing

Fire and Flames Racing – Put the pedal to the metal

Driving games have always been a pretty firm favourite for just about every gamer out there. Whether it’s looking over the dashboard through the city streets in Gran Tourismo, rallying in one of Colin McCrae’s epic dirt circuits or more retro top-down style racers, there’s been something to tempt your inner petrol-head for you to play.

Fire and Flames Racing is in the latter style, very much retro, less simulator and more full-on fun. This game offers you a fantastic range of entertaining circuits to keep your head (and car) in a spin. More importantly however, before you get to even look at the circuits, you must pick your car and you have four vehicles at your disposal.

In truth two of the four cars have no real difference (apart from the paintwork) but there are some variations in terms of power, speed, suspension and handling. So whether you’re more into how the car handles corners or simply blasting passed your competitors on the straights, there’s something in the garage to suit your style.

Once you’ve selected your car you must prove yourself through winning the race, as anything other than first place will mean you don’t advance to the next course. To help you achieve this goal there are a number of icons which litter the course; thrust, fuel and money. Thrust helps you gain a sudden but short burst of boost of speed but this does drain your fuel very quickly. The fuel icon replenishes your fuel tank and money helps you buy something to increase the car in time for the next race.

However, there are a few obstacles which you would be well advised to avoid, such as oil slicks and traffic cones. The oil slicks cause you to have less control and speed on the track and should you be very unlucky, you’ll end up either wedged into the crash barrier or facing the wrong way. With all the courses being very quick, it’s very crucial to make as few mistakes as possible as even one will cost you your entry to the next course.

Overall this is a very simple but fun and thoroughly enjoyable racing game. The power-ups help to make each course a little more challenging and combining this with the other drivers on the course you have quite stiff opposition. The handling is very plain, with you only having to steer left or right to navigate your way round corners and to collect power-ups or avoid hazards. If you’re looking for more serious racing games then I would suggest looking elsewhere, but if you’re looking for a quick race and some fuel injected fun then look no further than Fire and Flames Racing.

Rating 82%

Positives

Simplistic controls

Power ups and hazards on the courses provide some good entertainment

A number of different courses to outwit your opponents’ on

Negatives

A little too basic for serious racing fans

Courses are very short

Improving your car as the courses increase can make this a very one-sided race