I keep banging on about this but I will give a game the benefit of the doubt even if it's not very good. Megarace falls happily into this category.
You see, quite a lot of Megarace is off-centre. It's Cyberpunk theme is almost right for instance, although it's watered down. Lance Boyle, the games digitized presenter I was very harsh about the last time I looked at this game, seems always at great pains to stress that death is virtual in Megarace. While obviously not that important, Megarace is pulling it's punches here and it's a little bit irritating. Suggesting perhaps if it wasn't pointed out that Megarace was a game, I would immediately run outside, jump in my car and start killing people with its front mounted laser canons.
No hold-on wait...
The next thing perilously close to being pretty good but sadly turns out to be merely okay, is the graphics. One of the unsung heros of video-games is the movie Blade Runner, and Megarace owes Blade Runner more than just a beer for it's style and presentation, and certainly Megarace owes a passing nod to Mad Max too in terms of content. That or Overlander on the Spectrum.
That said the first level; New San was the poster child for next-gen graphics in 1994. Even today the blinding white lights of the sky scrapers are impressive. Sadly none of the later levels quite manage to capture the awe of New San. Couple with this the sprite generated cars and sorry explosions and the first level of wonderment wears thin pretty quick.
Playing the game is strange experience. The cars handle very oddly, they have no-steer, then they suddenly over steer. The markings on the road that speed you up or slow you down or remove all your weapons are confusing at best and the decision to make the up-button on the D-pad the accelerator was an act of pure madness. The enemies show no signs of intelligence or personality, with only Lance Boyles dubious word that they are indeed evil speed-gangs. The whole thing is a mess.
From its dynamics and controls MegaRace is car game because of its graphics instead of despite of them. The game engine could just have easily been spaceships flying down a wormhole or submarines flyings flying down a drain - change the graphics and voila.
There is an element of fun while racing, it can get the old juices flowing, but just when you think it's actually not-too-bad your car runs out of bullets or you die and your one-life is over, reminding you that as a game Megarace is well below par.
That said Megrace is worth watching only because it encapsulates that era in gaming where we were changing from Cartridge to CD, from children's games to adults titles. It's also a nice celebration of mid-nighties Cyberpunk style.
Don't buy Megarace and expect a good game - you ain't going to get one, what you will enjoy is the spectacle of early disc gaming.
Not even mildly rare.
3DOkid.
I played this game to the end on the PC. It looks like the 3DO version was identical. i paid 5 dollars for it and i strangely dont feel that ripped off. If i remember correctly the later levels had a loop portion that was mildly impressive to a 13 yr old at the time. I remember the strange control and terrible AI but i still lokk back on it fondly even though i shouldn't.